We examine the relation between US stock market returns and the US business cycle for the period 1960-2003 using a new methodology that allows us to estimate a time-varying equity premium. We identify two channels in the transmission mechanism. One is through the mean of stock returns via the...

Missing data or missing values are a common phenomenon in applied panel data research and of great interest for panel data unit root testing. The standard approach in the literature is to balance the panel by removing units and/or trimming a common time period for all units. However, this...

We investigate the relationship between non-performing loans (NPLs) and their fundamentals, mainly bank and macroeconomic variables. This is done based on aggregate portfolio loans in the Greek economy. Greece constitutes an interesting case to study the factors determining NPLs, given the...

This paper suggests term spread regression based tests allowing for time-varying term premium effects, with the aim of explaining the empirical failures of the term spread to forecast future movements in interest rates. To capture the e¤ects of a time-varying term premium on the term spread,...

We contribute a new method for dealing with the problem of endogeneity of the threshold variable in threshold vector auto-regression (TVAR) models. Drawing on copula theory, enables us to capture the dependence structure between the threshold variable and the vector of TVAR innovations,...

We suggest a new method dealing with the problem of endogeneity of the threshold variable in single regression threshold models and seemingly unrelated systems of them based on copula theory. This theory enables us to relax the assumption that the threshold variable is normally distributed and...

This paper suggests an affine term structure model of real interest rates to predict changes in real consumption growth. The model is estimated, jointly, by real interest rates and consumption data, and it is found to be consistent with the consumption smoothing hypothesis. The paper shows that...

This paper presents a new stochastic volatility model which allows for persistent shifts in volatility of stock market returns, referred to as structural breaks. These shifts are endogenously driven by large return shocks (innovations), reflecting large pieces of market news. These shocks are...

This paper provides clear cut evidence that the slope and curvature factors of the yield curve contain more information about future changes in economic activity than the term spread alone, often used in practice as an indicator of future economic conditions. These two factors constitute...