Using Bayesian tests for a structural break at an unknown break date, we search for a volatility reduction within the post-war sample for the growth rates of U.S. aggregate and disaggregate real GDP. We find that the growth rate of aggregate real GDP has been less volatile since the early...

The relative importance of permanent (trend) versus cyclical shocks to GDP has been a central issue in macroeconomics, since the work of Nelson and Plosser (1982) and Morley et al. (2003) found large trend shocks. In contrast, Perron and Wada (2009) argued for a one time change in the mean...

Recessions and subsequent recoveries are frequently classified as “L-shaped” or “U-shaped,” with output losses in the former being permanent and losses in the latter at least partially made up by higher than average growth during the recovery. We estimate the probability of a U-shaped...

I use a Bayesian Markov-switching model to forecast world GDP per capita over the next 100 years. The switching model estimates the probability that a country is currently on a path to converge to the world frontier for each country in the world, as well as the probability that a country that is...