On the regime-switching and asymmetric dynamics of economic growth in the OECD countries

This study estimates the SETAR and STAR models and examines the regime-switching and asymmetric dynamics of economic growth for a comprehensive set of 10 OECD countries. The SETAR models of both Tsay and Hansen consistently reject the null hypothesis of linearity against the alternative hypothesis of threshold nonlinearity for all the sample countries. The STAR model reinforces the evidence and rejects the null hypothesis of linearity against STAR nonlinearity for all the sample countries, except Italy. The sequential F tests for the nested nulls suggest LSTAR nonlinearity for Austria, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Netherlands and New Zealand, and ESTAR nonlinearity for Finland, Germany and Norway. The forecast evaluations suggest that the SETAR models of Tsay and Hansen perform better, as compared to the AR, ARMA and STAR models. The forecasting performance of the STAR model is approximately similar to the forecasting performance of the linear AR and ARMA rivals. The persistence of lower regimes (with negative-growth or moderate-expansions) necessitates the need for the adoption of expansionary economic policies. While the longer durations of upper regimes (with positive-growth or fast-expansions) support the sustainability of the expansionary economic policies, the adequate precautions need to be taken for the inflationary implications of these policies.