In this paper, the natural rate of interest in Denmark, Norway and Sweden are estimated. This is done by augmenting the Laubach and Williams (2003) framework with a dynamic factor model linked to economic indicators - a modelling choice which allows us to better identify business cycle...

Using a dynamic factor model with stochastic volatility, we examine the synchronization of temperature and precipitation changes across countries and regions. By doing so, we analyze the implications for the medium-term economic outlook and vulnerability to climate risks. Our findings reveal...

We propose a multicountry quantile factor augmeneted vector autoregression (QFAVAR) to model heterogeneities both across countries and across characteristics of the distributions of macroeconomic time series. The presence of quantile factors allows for summarizing these two heterogeneities in a...

The empirical evidence on the linkage of the informal economy and GDP is ambiguous. It depends on the method used to estimate the size of the informal economy. I propose a common factor of four different approximations of the size of the informal economy as an alternative. Using Spain as an...

The analysis of large panel data sets (with N variables) involves methods of dimension reduction and optimal information extraction. Dimension reduction is usually achieved by extracting the common variation in the data into few factors (k, where k N). In the present project, factors are...

We analyze connectedness between the real and financial sectors of the U.S. economy. Using the weekly ADS index of the Philadelphia FED (the widely used business conditions indicator) to represent the real side, we find that during times of financial distress and/or business cycle turning points...

We study the extent of global inflation synchronization using a dynamic factor model in a large set of countries over a half century. Our methodology allows us to account for differences across groups of countries (advanced economies and emerging market and developing economies) and to analyze...

In this paper, we propose a method for jointly estimating indexes of economic and financial conditions by exploiting the intertemporal link between their cyclical behavior. This method combines a dynamic factor model for the joint modeling of economic and financial variables with mixed...

We use a dynamic factor model and a detailed panel data set with quarterly accounts data on all Norwegian banks to study the effects of banks' funding costs on their retail rates. Banks' funds are categorized into two groups: customer deposits and long-term wholesale funding (market funding from...

We use a dynamic factor model and a detailed panel data set for six Norwegian bank groups to analyze i) how funding costs affect retail loan rates and ii) how retail rate differences between banks affect market shares. The data set consist of quarterly data for 2002Q1-2011Q3 and include...