Switzerland; Selected Issues and Statistical Appendix

This Selected Issues paper and Statistical Appendix compares two alternative time series approaches to analyzing Switzerland’s recent business cycle experience: first, the traditional “smooth-trend-plus-cycle approach,†which envisages observed output growth as fluctuating around a relatively smooth potential output growth path; and, second, the more recently developed “regime change approach,†which views business cycles as shifts between “high-growth†states (expansions) and “slow-growth†states (recessions) of the economy. The paper also examines Switzerland’s monetary policy framework, and describes the challenges to the Swiss tax system.