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Are economic growth and the variability of the business cycle related? Evidence from five European countries

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  • Stilianos Fountas
  • Menelaos Karanasos

Abstract

We use a long series of annual data that span over 100 years to examine the relationship between output growth and its uncertainty in five European countries. Using the GARCH methodology to proxy uncertainty, we obtain two important results. First, more uncertainty about output leads to a higher rate of growth in three of the five countries. Second, output growth reduces its uncertainty in all countries except one. Our results are robust to alternative specifications and provide strong support to the recent emphasis by macroeconomists on the joint examination of economic growth and the variability of the business cycle.

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  • Stilianos Fountas & Menelaos Karanasos, 2008. "Are economic growth and the variability of the business cycle related? Evidence from five European countries," International Economic Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(4), pages 445-459.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:intecj:v:22:y:2008:i:4:p:445-459
    DOI: 10.1080/10168730802497478
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    3. Balaji Bathmanaban & Raja Sethu Durai S & Ramachandran M, 2017. "The relationship between Output Uncertainty and Economic Growth-Evidence from India," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 37(4), pages 2680-2691.
    4. Don Bredin & Stilianos Fountas & Christos Savva, 2021. "Is British output growth related to its uncertainty? Evidence using eight centuries of data," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 68(3), pages 345-364, July.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    output growth; output growth uncertainty; GARCH;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C22 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Time-Series Models; Dynamic Quantile Regressions; Dynamic Treatment Effect Models; Diffusion Processes
    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles

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