We examine the existence of herding and anti-herding (positive herding) behavior in major European benchmarking stock market indices. Following the recent events that unfolded in the Eurozone sovereign debt crisis our analysis is further expanded on two subsamples namely north and south European...

The political transition in the Arab Spring countries has been accompanied by a deterioration of economic and financial indicators like the Tunisian case. Therefore, this paper aims to get a deeper understanding the nature of the rule that reflects the behavior of the Tunisian monetary authority...

Euro area GDP and components are nowcast and forecast one quarter ahead. Based on a dataset of 163 series comprising the relevant monthly indicators, simple bridge equations with one explanatory variable are estimated for each. The individual forecasts generated by each equation are then pooled,...

Economic policy makers, international organisations and private-sector forecasters commonly use short-term forecasts of real GDP growth based on monthly indicators, such as industrial production, retail sales and confidence surveys. An assessment of the reliability of such tools and of the...

The New IS and Phillips Curves state that output and inflation are purely forward-looking but this theory is conflicting with the empirical results. This note analyses how an augmented version of those curves, called hybrid IS and Phillips curves are more consistent with the data properties

This note applies H-infinite methods to an estimated hybrid monetary policy model (cf. Sahuc, Applied Economics Letters, 9, pp. 949-55, 2002) and derives standard and robust optimal interest rate rules. We find that the "robust" central banker responds more aggressively than it does without...

For most academics and policy makers, the depth of the 2007-09 financial crisis, its longevity and its impacts on the real economy resulted from an erosion of confidence. This paper proposes to assess empirically the link between consumer sentiment and consumption expenditures for the United...

Many empirical studies have shown that factor models produce relatively accurate forecasts compared to alternative short-term forecasting models. These empirical findings have been established for different macroeconomic data sets and different forecast horizons. However, various specifications...

Many empirical studies have shown that factor models produce relatively accurate forecasts compared to alternative short-term forecasting models. These empirical findings have been established for different macroeconomic data sets and different forecast horizons. However, various specifications...

For most academics and policy makers, the depth of the 2007-09 financial crisis, its longevity and its impacts on the real economy resulted from an erosion of confidence. This paper proposes to assess empirically the link between consumer sentiment and consumption expenditures for the United...