This paper proposes new iterative reduced-rank regression procedures for seasonal cointegration analysis. The suggested methods are motivated by the idea that modelling the cointegration restrictions jointly at different frequencies may increase efficiency in finite samples. Monte Carlo...

By focusing on the Italian experience, we ask whether the relationship between labor taxes and unemployment varies across regions. In spite of similar national labor market institutions, we show that this relationship is significantly stronger in the highly industrialized North than in the less...

This paper proposes a reduced rank regression framework for constructing coincident and leading indexes. Based on a formal definition that requires that the first differences of the leading index are the best linear predictor of the first differences of the coincident index, it is shown that the...

We analyze herein the importance of four types of shocks in contributing to the business cycles of the G7 economies. After disentangling the common permanent and transitory shocks in the G7 outputs, we identify the domestic and foreign components of such shocks for each country. This provides us...

Since the early 1990s, regional economic growth processes assume a key role in the EU policy agenda as a main tool to enhance social and economic convergence within the EU spatial landscape. Literature on regional economic growth and convergence provides some evidence on the most relevant...

In this paper we propose a new methodology to build composite coincident and leading indexes. Based on a formal definition which requires that the first difference of the leading index is the best linear predictor of the first difference of the coincident index, we show that the notion of...

This paper provides a further generalization of co-integration tests in a nonparametric setting. We adopt Bierens' approach in order to give an extension for processes I(d), with a fixed integer d. A generalized eigenvalue problem is solved, and the test statistics involved are obtained starting...

This paper develops an econometric framework to understand whether co-movements observed in the international business cycle are the consequences of common shocks or common transmission mechanisms. Then we propose a new statistical measure of the importance of domestic and foreign shocks over...

This paper contributes to the literature on the role of technology shocks as source of the business cycle in two ways. First, we document that time-series of US productivity and hours are apparently affected by a structural break in the late 60’s, which is likely due to a major change in the...

Over the time a large number of reciprocal preferential trade agreements (RTAs) have been concluded among countries. Recently many studies have used gravity equations in order to estimate the effect of RTAs on trade flows between partners. These studies report very different estimates, since...