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The HP-filter in cross-country comparisons

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  • Albert Marcet
  • Morten O. Ravn

Abstract

Many empirical studies of business cycles have followed the practise of applying the Hodrick-Prescott filter for cross-country comparisons. The standard procedure is to set the weight \lambda, which determines the 'smoothness' of the trend equal to 1600. We show that if this value is used for against common wisdom about business cycles. As an example, we show that the long recession occurred inSpain between 1975 and 1985 goes unnotoced by the HP filter. We propose a method for adjusting \lambda by reinterpreting the HP-filter as the solution to a constrained minimization problem. We argue that the common practice of fixing \lambda across countries amounts to chankging the constraints on trend variability across countries. Our proposed method is easy to apply, retains all the virtues of the standard HP-filter and when applied to Spanish data the results are in the line with economic historian's view. Applying the method to a number of OECD countries we find that, with the exception of Spain, Italy and Japan, the standard choice of \lambda=1600 is sensible.

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Bibliographic Info

Paper provided by Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra in its series Economics Working Papers with number 588.

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Date of creation: Nov 2001
Date of revision: Dec 2003
Handle: RePEc:upf:upfgen:588

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Web page: http://www.econ.upf.edu/

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Keywords: Business cycles; cross-country comparisons; macroeconomic volatility;

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References

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  1. David K. Backus & Patrick J. Kehoe & Finn E. Kydland, 1987. "International real business cycles," Working Papers 426, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
  2. 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.
  3. Ambler, S. & Cardia, E. & Zimmermann, C., 2000. "International Business Cycles: What Are the Facts?," Cahiers de recherche 2000-05, Centre interuniversitaire de recherche en économie quantitative, CIREQ.
  4. Uhlig, H.F.H.V.S. & Ravn, M., 1997. "On Adjusting the H-P Filter for the Frequency of Observations," Discussion Paper 1997-50, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
  5. Luis A. Puch & Omar Licandro, 1997. "Are there any special features in the Spanish business cycle?," Investigaciones Economicas, Fundación SEPI, vol. 21(2), pages 361-394, May.
  6. Backus, David K & Kehoe, Patrick J, 1992. "International Evidence of the Historical Properties of Business Cycles," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 82(4), pages 864-88, September.
  7. Blackburn, K. & Ravn, M.O., 1991. "Contemporary Macroeconomics Fluctuations : An International Perspective," Economics Working Papers 1991-132, School of Economics and Management, University of Aarhus.
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Cited by:
  1. Rand, John & Tarp, Finn, 2002. "Business Cycles in Developing Countries: Are They Different?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 30(12), pages 2071-2088, December.
  2. Pablo García S. & Rodrigo Valdés P, 2003. "Dinero e Inflación en el Marco de Metas de Inflación," Working Papers Central Bank of Chile 198, Central Bank of Chile.
  3. Jorge Enrique Restrepo & Claudio Soto, 2004. "Regularidades Empíricas de la Economía Chilena," Working Papers Central Bank of Chile 301, Central Bank of Chile.
  4. Rafael Doménech & Víctor Gómez, 2005. "Ciclo económico y desempleo estructural en la economía española," Investigaciones Economicas, Fundación SEPI, vol. 29(2), pages 259-288, May.
  5. Angel J. Ubide & Kevin Ross, 2001. "Mind the Gap: What is the Best Measure of Slack in the Euro Area?," IMF Working Papers 01/203, International Monetary Fund.
  6. Imbs, Jean, 2000. "Sectors and the OECD Business Cycle," CEPR Discussion Papers 2473, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
  7. Kosei Fukuda, 2010. "Three new empirical perspectives on the Hodrick–Prescott parameter," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 39(3), pages 713-731, December.
  8. Valdivia, Daney & Yujra, Paola, 2009. "Identificación de ciclos económicos en Bolivia: 1970-2008
    [Identification of business cycles in Bolivia: 1970-2008]    ," MPRA Paper 35884, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  9. Francisco Xavier Lores, 2001. "Cyclical Behaviour Of Consumption Of Non-Durable Goods: Spain Versus U.S.A," Economics Working Papers we014710, Universidad Carlos III, Departamento de Economía.
  10. Paul Cashin, 2004. "Caribbean Business Cycles," IMF Working Papers 04/136, International Monetary Fund.

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