Time series non-linearity in the real growth / recession-term spread relationship

This paper examines the existence of time series non-linearity in the real output growth / recession-term spread relationship. Vector Autoregression (VAR), Threshold VAR (TVAR), Structural break VAR (SBVAR), Structural break threshold VAR (SBTVAR) are applied in the analysis. The in-sample results indicate there are non-linear components in this relationship. And this non-linearity tend to be caused by structural breaks. The best in-sample model also shows its robustness on arrival of new information in the out-of-sample tests. We find evidence the model with only structural break non-linearity outperform linear models in 1-quarter, 3-quarter and 4-quarter ahead forecasting.