Global Business Cycles: Convergence or Decoupling?

51 Pages Posted: 6 Apr 2008

See all articles by M. Ayhan Kose

M. Ayhan Kose

World Bank; Brookings Institution; Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR); Australian National University (ANU)

Chris Otrok

University of Missouri; Federal Reserve Banks - Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

Eswar S. Prasad

Cornell University - Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management; Cornell University - Department of Economics; Brookings Institution; NBER; IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Multiple version iconThere are 5 versions of this paper

Date Written: April 1, 2008

Abstract

This paper analyzes the evolution of the degree of global cyclical interdependence over the period 1960-2005. We categorize the 106 countries in our sample into three groups - industrial countries, emerging markets, and other developing economies. Using a dynamic factor model, we then decompose macroeconomic fluctuations in key macroeconomic aggregates - output, consumption, and investment - into different factors. These are: (i) a global factor, which picks up fluctuations that are common across all variables and countries; (ii) three group-specific factors, which capture fluctuations that are common to all variables and all countries within each group of countries; (iii) country factors, which are common across all aggregates in a given country; and (iv) idiosyncratic factors specific to each time series. Our main result is that, during the period of globalization (1985-2005), there has been some convergence of business cycle fluctuations among the group of industrial economies and among the group of emerging market economies. Surprisingly, there has been a concomitant decline in the relative importance of the global factor. In other words, there is evidence of business cycle convergence within each of these two groups of countries but divergence (or decoupling) between them.

Keywords: Globalization, Business cycles, Macroeconomic fluctuations, Convergence, Decoupling

JEL Classification: C11, C32, E32, F42, F41

Suggested Citation

Kose, M. Ayhan and Otrok, Christopher and Prasad, Eswar S., Global Business Cycles: Convergence or Decoupling? (April 1, 2008). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1116989 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1116989

M. Ayhan Kose (Contact Author)

World Bank ( email )

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Brookings Institution ( email )

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Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) ( email )

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Australian National University (ANU) ( email )

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Christopher Otrok

University of Missouri ( email )

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Eswar S. Prasad

Cornell University - Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management ( email )

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Cornell University - Department of Economics ( email )

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Brookings Institution ( email )

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NBER ( email )

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IZA Institute of Labor Economics

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