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Business Cycles in the Euro Area Defined with Coincident Economic Indicators and Predicted with Leading Economic Indicators

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Listed:
  • Ataman Ozyildirim

    (The Conference Board)

  • Brian Schaitkin

    (The Conference Board)

  • Victor Zarnowitz

    (The Conference Board)

Abstract

Clusters of cyclical turning points in the coincident indicators help us identify and date Euro Area recessions and recoveries in the past several decades. In the U.S. and some other countries, composite indexes of coincident indicators (CEI) are used to date classical business cycle turning points; also indexes of leading indicators (LEI) are used to help in the difficult task of predicting these turning points. This paper reviews a selection of the available data for monthly and quarterly Euro Area coincident and leading indicators. From these data, we develop composite indexes using methods analogous to those tested in the U.S. CEI and LEI published by The Conference Board. We compare the resulting business cycle chronology with the existing alternatives and evaluate our selection of leading indicators in the context of how well they predict current economic activity and its major fluctuations for the Euro Area.

Suggested Citation

  • Ataman Ozyildirim & Brian Schaitkin & Victor Zarnowitz, 2008. "Business Cycles in the Euro Area Defined with Coincident Economic Indicators and Predicted with Leading Economic Indicators," Economics Program Working Papers 08-04, The Conference Board, Economics Program.
    • Handle: RePEc:cnf:wpaper:0804
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    Cited by:

    1. Emília Jakubíková & Andrea Tkáčová & Anna Bánociová, 2014. "Kompozitné predstihové indikátory hospodárskych cyklov krajín V4 a ich komparácia s CLI Eurostatu a OECD [Composite Leading Indicators of Economic Cycles of V4 Countries and their Comparison to the," Politická ekonomie, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2014(2), pages 194-215.
    2. Heij, Christiaan & van Dijk, Dick & Groenen, Patrick J.F., 2011. "Real-time macroeconomic forecasting with leading indicators: An empirical comparison," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 466-481.
    3. Smimou, K. & Khallouli, W., 2015. "Does the Euro affect the dynamic relation between stock market liquidity and the business cycle?," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 125-153.
    4. Deimena KIYAK & Erika ŽUPERKIENĖ, 2017. "Expression Of The Transport Sector Operational Efficiency Evaluation Methodology (Trends) At Different Stages Of The Economic Cycle," Transport Problems, Silesian University of Technology, Faculty of Transport, vol. 12(4), pages 109-118, December.
    5. Heij, C. & van Dijk, D.J.C. & Groenen, P.J.F., 2009. "Macroeconomic forecasting with real-time data: an empirical comparison," Econometric Institute Research Papers EI 2009-27, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Erasmus School of Economics (ESE), Econometric Institute.
    6. Andrea Tkáčová, 2014. "Composite Coincident Indicator of the Czech Business Cycle [Kompozitný súbežný indikátor hospodárskeho cyklu českej ekonomiky]," Acta Oeconomica Pragensia, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2014(3), pages 45-60.
    7. Brunhart, Andreas, 2019. "Der neue Konjunkturindex "KonSens": Ein gleichlaufender, vierteljährlicher Sammelindikator für Liechtenstein," EconStor Preprints 225261, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    8. Carstensen Kai & Wohlrabe Klaus & Ziegler Christina, 2011. "Predictive Ability of Business Cycle Indicators under Test: A Case Study for the Euro Area Industrial Production," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 231(1), pages 82-106, February.
    9. Kiss, Tamás & Österholm, Pär, 2020. "Fat tails in leading indicators," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    10. Petr Rozmahel & Ladislava Issever Grochová & Marek Litzman, 2014. "The Effect of Asymmetries in Fiscal Policy Conducts on Business Cycle Correlation in the EU. WWWforEurope Working Paper No. 62," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 47249, Juni.
    11. Scarpel, Rodrigo Arnaldo, 2014. "A demand trend change early warning forecast model for the city of São Paulo multi-airport system," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 23-32.
    12. Ataman Ozyildirim & Brian Schaitkin & Victor Zarnowitz, 2010. "Business cycles in the euro area defined with coincident economic indicators and predicted with leading economic indicators," Journal of Forecasting, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(1-2), pages 6-28.
    13. Dries, Liesbeth & Ciaian, Pavel & Kancs, d’Artis, 2012. "Job creation and job destruction in EU agriculture," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(6), pages 600-608.
    14. Donadelli, Michael & Paradiso, Antonio & Riedel, Max, 2015. "A novel ex-ante leading indicator for the EU industrial production," SAFE Working Paper Series 118, Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE.
    15. Marco Rubilar-González & Gabriel Pino, 2018. "Are Euro-Area expectations about recession phases effective to anticipate consequences of economic crises?," SERIEs: Journal of the Spanish Economic Association, Springer;Spanish Economic Association, vol. 9(2), pages 141-161, June.
    16. Michael Donadelli & Antonio Paradiso & Max Riedel, 2019. "A Quasi Real‐Time Leading Indicator for the EU Industrial Production," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 87(4), pages 510-542, July.
    17. Anna Pestova, 2015. "Leading Indicators of the Business Cycle: Dynamic Logit Models for OECD Countries and Russia," HSE Working papers WP BRP 94/EC/2015, National Research University Higher School of Economics.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Business Cycle; Indicators; Leading Index; Times Series; Forecasting;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles
    • C52 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling - - - Model Evaluation, Validation, and Selection
    • C53 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling - - - Forecasting and Prediction Models; Simulation Methods
    • C22 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Time-Series Models; Dynamic Quantile Regressions; Dynamic Treatment Effect Models; Diffusion Processes

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