Misclassification errors in labor force statuses and the early identification of economic recessions

Accurate identification of economic recessions in a timely fashion is a major macroeconomic challenge. The so-called Sahm recession indicator (Sahm, 2019), one of the most reliable early detectors of the U.S. recessions, relies on changes in unemployment rates, and is thus subject to misclassification errors in labor force statuses based on survey data. We propose a novel misclassification-errors correction to improve the predictive timeliness and provide a proper threshold value. Using historical data, we show that the adjusted unemployment-based recession indicator offers earlier identification of economic recessions.     

G-3经济“L型”衰退,中国经济“V型”调整

2008年9月以来,随着雷曼兄弟的破产及此后一连串重大金融机构事件的发生,美国次贷危机急剧恶化,并迅速演变为全球性金融危机。各国政府,特别是美国政府采取了一系列紧急救市行动,由于这些政策措施只是暂时稳定了市场信心,未能解决引发危机的根本性问题,因此全球金融危机仍在继续发展,金融市场仍将巨幅波动。金融危机进一步冲击了实体经济增长。基于此次危机的特殊性和严重性,我们认为G-3(美、欧、日,下同)经济体将会陷入"L型"衰退。尽管中国金融体系受到金融危机的直接影响较小,但是危机却通过出口和投资等间接渠道对中国实体经济产生了较大影响。随着中国政府及时出台系列重大应对措施,中国经济有望走出与G-3经济体不同的"V型"调整轨迹。     

Using newspapers for tracking the business cycle: a comparative study for Germany and Switzerland

The use of news-based data for tracking the real economy has gained popularity recently as newspapers archives have become accessible and the need for timely information has soared. In this article, on the basis of keyword searches in newspaper articles we construct several versions of the so-called Recession-word Index (RWI) for Germany and Switzerland and exploit its use for forecasting. Our main findings are the following. First, we show that augmenting benchmark autoregressive models with the RWI leads to improvement in accuracy of one-step-ahead forecasts of GDP growth compared with those obtained by benchmark models. Second, the accuracy of out-of-sample forecasts obtained with models augmented with the RWI is comparable to that of models augmented with established economic indicators, such as the Ifo Business Climate Index and the ZEW Indicator of Economic Sentiment for Germany, and the KOF Economic Barometer and the Purchasing Managers Index in manufacturing for Switzerland. Our results are robust to changes in estimation/forecast samples, the use of rolling versus expanding estimation windows and the inclusion of a web-based recession indicator from Google Trends. As our indices are timely and simple to construct, they could be replicated in countries or regions where no reliable economic indicators exist or their provision is very costly.     

The rise in student loan defaults

We examine the rise in student loan defaults in the Great Recession by linking administrative student loan data at the individual borrower level to student loan borrowers’ individual tax records. A Blinder-Oaxaca style decomposition shows that shifts in the composition of student loan borrowers and the massive collapse in home prices during the Great Recession can each account for approximately 30% of the rise in student loan defaults. Falling home prices affect student loan defaults by impairing individuals’ labor earnings, especially for low income jobs. By contrast, when comparing the default sensitivities of homeowners and renters, we find no evidence that falling home prices affect student loan defaults through a home equity-based liquidity channel. The Income Based Repayment (IBR) program introduced by the federal government in the wake of the Great Recession reduced both student loan defaults and their sensitivity to home price fluctuations, thus providing student loan borrowers with valuable insurance against negative shocks.     

The Effectiveness of Fiscal Policy Over the Business Cycle: A CEE Perspective

In this article we analyze the effectiveness of fiscal policy—for a group of four Central and Eastern European countries. The recent literature shows that fiscal multipliers in the developed economies are higher during recession than expansion. So far, similar empirical analyses have been lacking for CEE countries. The results presented in this article show that fiscal multipliers in CEE countries differ with respect to the phase of the business cycle. Based on the SVAR methodology in which we allow for deterministic regime switching, we show that the government spending multipliers are significantly higher when the output gap is negative.     

区域创新系统衰退机理研究

本文运用社会燃烧理论分析了区域创新系统的衰退以及衰退机理,并进行实证研究,结果表明：区域创新系统存在衰退现象;区域创新系统衰退可发生在区域创新系统发展的任一阶段;区域创新系统的衰退存在着阶段性。本文首次将社会燃烧理论引入对区域创新系统研究中,并首次用来分析区域创新系统的衰退机理,丰富了区域创新系统的理论研究,并对区域创新系统的发展具有指导意义。     

我国物流产业的形势和对策浅析

在对物流行业的经济属性的分析基础上．探讨了国际金融危机及实体经济衰退对于物流行业的影响机制．认为金融危机和实体经济衰退既直接冲击了物流产业．更通过衰退的需求在长期内严重影响物流产业的发展。然后分析了中际物流行业的现状。并在此基础上结合国务院《物流业调整和振兴规划》的相关内容,提出在当前背景下我国物流行业的应对策略和建议。     

Out of Recession?

Britain is emerging uncertainly from recession. This essay looks at the character of the recession, the financial crisis that inaugurated it and the key issues that will dominate the recovery phase. In particular, it argues that the underlying and deeply entrenched political conditions which underpinned the crisis, notably bi-partisan encouragement of a ‘property-owning democracy’, show no signs of abating. Without such a change, a recurrence of the crisis appears highly likely.     

Was the recent downturn in US real GDP predictable?

This article uses a small set of variables – real GDP, the inflation rate and the short-term interest rate – and a rich set of models – atheoretical (time series) and theoretical (structural), linear and nonlinear, as well as classical and Bayesian models – to consider whether we could have predicted the recent downturn of the US real GDP. Comparing the performance of the models to the benchmark random-walk model by root mean-square errors, the two structural (theoretical) models, especially the nonlinear model, perform well on average across all forecast horizons in our ex post, out-of-sample forecasts, although at specific forecast horizons certain nonlinear atheoretical models perform the best. The nonlinear theoretical model also dominates in our ex ante, out-of-sample forecast of the Great Recession, suggesting that developing forward-looking, microfounded, nonlinear, dynamic stochastic general equilibrium models of the economy may prove crucial in forecasting turning points.