This paper analyzes the relationship between the volatility of corporate bond returns and standard financial and macroeconomic indicators reflecting the state of the economy. We employ the GARCHMIDAS multiplicative two-component model of volatility that distinguishes the short-term dynamics from...

We propose a new approach to evaluating the usefulness of a set of forecasts, based on the use of a discrete loss function de…ned on the space of data and forecasts. Existing procedures for such an evaluation either do not allow for formal testing, or use tests statistics based just on the...

In an endogenous growth model with public consumption and public investment, we explore the time-consistent optimal choice for two policy instruments: an income tax rate and the split of government spending between consumption and investment. We show that under the time-consistent, Markov...

In an endogenous growth model with public consumption and investment and an elastic labour supply, we explore the time-consistent optimal choice for two policy instruments: an income tax rate and the split of government spending between consumption and investment. We compare the Markovian...

We analyze the effect of parameter estimation error on the size of unconditional population level tests of predictive ability when they are implemented under a class of loss functions we refer to as ‘discrete functions’. The analysis is restricted to linear models in stationary variables. We...

The behaviour of volatility across the term structure of interest rate swaps is characterized in three currencies (Deutsche mark, Japanese yen and US dollar). For that purpose, a modified GARCH-in mean model is used allowing for seasonal patterns in the mean and variance of interest rates and...

In an endogenous growth model where the fiscal authority cannot commit to policy decisions beyond the current period, we explore the time-consistent optimal choice for two policy instruments: the income tax rate and the split of government spending between utility bearing consumption and...