Policy makers are primarily interested in fluctuations in the level of activity - the classical cycle. Academics have in recent times focused their efforts on studying fluctuations and co-movement in aggregate variables that have been rendered stationary after some appropriate transformation....

Applied econometric research frequently encounters the difficulty that estimation of the parameters of interest is complex owing to the presence of incidental parameters. It is tempting therefore to try to circumvent the difficulties by proceeding in two stages. In the first, some estimates are...

Our discussion is structured by three concerns - model design, matching the data and operational requirements. The paper begins with a general discussion of the structure of dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) models where we investigate issues like (i) the type of restrictions being...

The paper looks at the role of inventories in U.S. business cycles and fluctuations. It concentrates upon the goods producing sector and constructs a model that features both input and output inventories. A range of shocks are present in the model, including sales, technology and inventory cost...

The paper looks at estimation of structural VARs with sign restrictions. Since sign restrictions do not generate a unique model it is necessary to find some way of summarizing the information they yield. Existing methods present impulse responses from different models and it is argued that they...

This paper proposes a set of formal tests to address the goodness-of-fit of Markov switching models. These formal tests are constructed as tests of model consistency and of both parametric and non-parametric encompassing. The formal tests are then combined with informal tests using simulation in...