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Trend and Cycles: A New Approach and Explanations of Some Old Puzzles

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Author Info
Tatsuma Wada
Pierre Perron

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Abstract

Recent work on trend-cycle decompositions for US real GDP yields the following puzzling features: method based on Unobserved Components models, the Beveridge-Nelson decomposition, the Hodrick-Prescott filter and others yield very different cycles which bears little resemblance to the NBER chronology, ascribes much movements to the trend leaving little to the cycles, and some imply a negative correlation between the noise to the cycle and the trend. We argue that these features are artifacts created by the neglect of the presence of a change in the slope of the trend function in real GDP in 1973. Once this is properly accounted for, the results show all methods to yield the same cycle with a trend that is non-stochastic except for a few periods around 1973. This cycle is more important in magnitude than previously reported, it accords very well with the NBER chronology and imply no correlation between the trend and cycle, since the former is non-stochastic. We propose a new approach to univariate trend-cycle decompositions using a generalized Unobserved Components models with errors having a mixture of Normals distribution for both the slope of the trend function and the cycle components. It can account endogenously for infrequent changes such as level shifts and change in slope, as well as different variances for expansions and recessions. It yields a decomposition that accords very well with common notions of the business cycles

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Paper provided by Society for Computational Economics in its series Computing in Economics and Finance 2005 with number 252.

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Date of creation: 11 Nov 2005
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Handle: RePEc:sce:scecf5:252

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Related research
Keywords: Trend-Cycle Decomposition; Structural Change; Non Gaussian Filtering; Unobserved Components Model; Beveridge-Nelson Decomposition;

Find related papers by JEL classification:
C22 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Time-Series Models; Dynamic Quantile Regressions
E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Sichel, Daniel E, 1994. "Inventories and the Three Phases of the Business Cycle," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 12(3), pages 269-77, July.
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  5. Andrews, Donald W K & Ploberger, Werner, 1994. "Optimal Tests When a Nuisance Parameter Is Present Only under the Alternative," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 62(6), pages 1383-1414, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  6. Canova, Fabio, 1998. "Detrending and business cycle facts," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(3), pages 475-512, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  7. Campbell, John Y & Mankiw, N Gregory, 1987. "Are Output Fluctuations Transitory?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 102(4), pages 857-80, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  8. Hamilton, James D, 1989. "A New Approach to the Economic Analysis of Nonstationary Time Series and the Business Cycle," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 57(2), pages 357-84, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Perron, Pierre, 1989. "The Great Crash, the Oil Price Shock, and the Unit Root Hypothesis," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 57(6), pages 1361-1401, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  10. Marianne Baxter & Robert G. King, 1999. "Measuring Business Cycles: Approximate Band-Pass Filters For Economic Time Series," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 81(4), pages 575-593, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  11. Canova, Fabio, 1999. "Does Detrending Matter for the Determination of the Reference Cycle and the Selection of Turning Points?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 109(452), pages 126-50, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  12. Kim, Chang-Jin, 1994. "Dynamic linear models with Markov-switching," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 60(1-2), pages 1-22. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  15. Hodrick, Robert J & Prescott, Edward C, 1997. "Postwar U.S. Business Cycles: An Empirical Investigation," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 29(1), pages 1-16, February.
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  16. Ansley, Craig F. & Newbold, Paul, 1980. "Finite sample properties of estimators for autoregressive moving average models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 159-183, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Ghent, Andra, 2006. "Comparing Models of Macroeconomic Fluctuations: How Big Are the Differences?," MPRA Paper 180, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
  2. Rao, B. Bhaskara, 2007. "Deterministic and stochastic trends in the time series models: A guide for the applied economist," MPRA Paper 3580, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
  3. Pierre Perron & Tomoyoshi Yabu, 2007. "Testing for Shifts in Trend with an Integrated or Stationary Noise Component," Boston University - Department of Economics - Working Papers Series WP2007-025, Boston University - Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
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