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Are these classical business cycles?

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  • Michael Reiter
  • Ulrich Woitek

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to test formally the classical business cycle hypothesis, using data from industrialized countries for the time period since 1960. The hypothesis is characterized by the view that the cyclical structure in GDP is concentrated in the investment series: fixed investment has typically a long cycle, while the cycle in inventory investment is shorter. To check the robustness of our results, we subject the data for 15 OECD countries to a variety of detrending techniques. While the hypothesis is not confirmed uniformly for all countries, there is a considerably high number for which the data display the predicted pattern. None of the countries shows a pattern which can be interpreted as a clear rejection of the classical hypothesis.

Suggested Citation

  • Michael Reiter & Ulrich Woitek, 1999. "Are these classical business cycles?," Economics Working Papers 398, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
    • Handle: RePEc:upf:upfgen:398
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    Cited by:

    1. Zafeira Kastrinaki & Paul Stoneman, 2011. "Merger Patterns in the European Food Supply Chain," International Journal of the Economics of Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(3), pages 463-487, November.
    2. Ulrich Woitek, 1998. "A Note on the Baxter-King Filter," Working Papers 9813, Business School - Economics, University of Glasgow.
    3. Robert Hart & James Malley & Ulrich Woitek, 2009. "Real earnings and business cycles: new evidence," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 37(1), pages 51-71, September.
    4. A'Hearn, Brian & Woitek, Ulrich, 2001. "More international evidence on the historical properties of business cycles," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(2), pages 321-346, April.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    business cycles; investment cycles; spectral tests;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles
    • E22 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Investment; Capital; Intangible Capital; Capacity

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