Ongoing Changes in the Business Cycle - Evidence and Causes

Bericht

This paper first reviews a number of stylised facts concerning OECD country business cycles over the past four decades. In general, the amplitude of business cycles has fallen, driven mainly by declining fluctuations of domestic demand. As a result, international divergencies of cyclical positions have diminished but, outside the euro area, there is little evidence of increased synchronisation of cycles. The paper then reviews a number of influences on business cycles. The evidence suggests that, on balance, features of macroeconomic policies may have tended to reduce cyclical volatility and structural changes, notably the increased share of the service sector in the economies, have also tended to dampen the cycle. More recently, there are signs that financial market prices have increasingly moved in sympathy across countries, and the final section of the paper illustrates how this could affect the international transmission of cyclical shocks and the associated need for policy response.

Object Details

• ISBN: 978-3-902109-12-5
• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: SUERF Studies ; No. 20

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles: General (includes Measurement and Data) ; Business Fluctuations; Cycles ; Financial Markets and the Macroeconomy ; Comparative or Joint Analysis of Fiscal and Monetary Policy; Stabilization; Treasury Policy ; Open Economy Macroeconomics
• Subject: Konjunktur ; Konjunkturzusammenhang ; Stabilisierungspolitik ; Wirtschaftspolitik ; OECD-Staaten

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Dalsgaard, Thomas ; Elmeskov, Jørgen ; Park, Cyn-Young
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): SUERF - The European Money and Finance Forum
• (where): Vienna
• (when): 2002

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/163452
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:41 AM CET