This paper employs concepts from information theory for choosing the dimension of a data set. We propose a relative information measure connected to Kullback–Leibler numbers. By ordering the series of the data set according to the measure, we are able to obtain a subset of a data set that is...

The objective of the paper is to evaluate the forecasting power of the leading composite index of Macedonia. The leading index is a weighted index of indicators which are considered to lead the economic cycle. The main dynamic model in which, first, GDP is represented as autoregressive process,...

Clusters of cyclical turning points in the coincident indicators help us identify and date Euro Area recessions and recoveries in the past several decades. In the U.S. and some other countries, composite indexes of coincident indicators (CEI) are used to date classical business cycle turning...

A major shortcoming of the U.S. leading index is that it does not use the most recent information for stock prices and yield spreads. The index methodology ignores these data in favor of a time-consistent set of components (i.e., all of the components must refer to the previous month). An...

Effectively predicting cyclical movements in the economy is a major challenge. While there are other approaches to forecasting, the U.S. leading index has long been used to analyze and predict economic fluctuations. We describe and test a new procedure for making the index more timely. The new...

Two indicators of the Argentinean economic cycle prove to be useful for economic forecasts, the leading and coincident indexes. The former points out the level of economic activity monthly. The latter anticipates the future direction of the economy. The purpose of this paper is to estimate the...