This paper presents a threshold uncertainty investment model for Dutch firms. The proposed uncertainty measure is constructed as an empirical proxy for the standard real options multiple. The uncertainty measure serves as the threshold variable in estimating a piecewise linear accelerator...

This article proposes a solution to one of the issues in the rapidly growing literature on dynamic factor models, i.e., how to determine the optimal number of factors. Our formal test, based upon the canonical correlation procedure related to concepts from information theory, produces estimates...

We construct a money market pressure index based on central bank reserves and the short-term nominal interest rate to identify banking crises, thereby extending the index proposed by Von Hagen and Ho (2007), also in terms of the number of countries covered. We compare the crises identified by...

This paper analyses revisions of Swiss current account data, taking into account the actual data revision process and the implied types of revisions. In addition we investigate whether the first release of current account data can be improved upon by the use of survey results as gathered by the...

Business cycle indexes are used to get a timely and frequent description of the state of the economy and its likely development in the near future. This paper discusses two methods for constructing business cycle indexes, the traditional NBER method and a recently developed dynamic factor model,...

Empirical analyses of firm behaviour typically assume that there is a stable relationship between investment on the one hand and changes in the relative prices of inputs, output demand and other determinants on the other hand. However, because of the lumpy nature and irreversibility of...