This Thesis is composed by three independent papers that investigate central debates in empirical macroeconomic modeling. Chapter 1, entitled “A Model for Real-Time Data Assessment with an Application to GDP Growth Rates”, provides a model for the data revisions of macroeconomic variables that distinguishes between rational expectation updates and noise corrections. Thus, the model encompasses the two polar views regarding the publication process of statistical agencies: noise versus news. Most of the studies previous studies that analyze data revisions are based on the classical noise and news regression approach introduced by Mankiew, Runkle and Shapiro (1984). The problem is that the statistical tests available do not formulate both extreme hypotheses as collectively exhaustive, as recognized by Aruoba (2008). That is, it would be possible to reject or accept both of them simultaneously. In turn, the model for the DPP presented here allows for the simultaneous presence of both noise and news. While the “regression approach” followed by Faust et al. (2005), along the lines of Mankiew et al. (1984), identifies noise in the preliminary figures, it is not possible for them to quantify it, as done by our model. The second and third chapters acknowledge the possibility that macroeconomic data is measured with errors, but the approach followed to model the missmeasurement is extremely stylized and does not capture the complexity of the revision process that we describe in the first chapter. Chapter 2, entitled “Revisiting the Success of the RBC model”, proposes the use of dynamic factor models as an alternative to the VAR based tools for the empirical validation of dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) theories. Along the lines of Giannone et al. (2006), we use the state-space parameterisation of the factor models proposed by Forni et al. (2007) as a competitive benchmark that is able to capture weak statistical restrictions that DSGE models impose on the data. Our empirical illustration compares the out-of-sample forecasting performance of a simple RBC model augmented with a serially correlated noise component against several specifications belonging to classes of dynamic factor and VAR models. Although the performance of the RBC model is comparable to that of the reduced form models, a formal test of predictive accuracy reveals that the weak restrictions are more useful at forecasting than the strong behavioral assumptions imposed by the microfoundations in the model economy. The last chapter, “What are Shocks Capturing in DSGE modeling”, contributes to current debates on the use and interpretation of larger DSGE models. Recent tendency in academic work and at central banks is to develop and estimate large DSGE models for policy analysis and forecasting. These models typically have many shocks (e.g. Smets and Wouters, 2003 and Adolfson, Laseen, Linde and Villani, 2005). On the other hand, empirical studies point out that few large shocks are sufficient to capture the covariance structure of macro data (Giannone, Reichlin and Sala, 2005, Uhlig, 2004). In this Chapter, we propose to reconcile both views by considering an alternative DSGE estimation approach which models explicitly the statistical agency along the lines of Sargent (1989). This enables us to distinguish whether the exogenous shocks in DSGE modeling are structural or instead serve the purpose of fitting the data in presence of misspecification and measurement problems. When applied to the original Smets and Wouters (2007) model, we find that the explanatory power of the structural shocks decreases at high frequencies. This allows us to back out a smoother measure of the natural output gap than that resulting from the original specification.

O objetivo deste trabalho é a construção de um indicador coincidente (IC) para a atividade econômica do segmento de Comércio Varejista dentro da economia do estado do Rio Grande do Sul. A utilização de variáveis que apresentem comportamento comum entre si e altamente correlacionado com as Vendas do Varejo é o ponto de partida para a investigação a seguir. A metodologia adotada é a dos modelos de Fator Dinâmico de Stock e Watson (1988, 1989, 1991, 1993). Os resultados encontrados apontam um indicador final satisfatório, em termos de MAPE (erro absoluto percentual médio, em inglês) com relação às séries de Vendas do Varejo, especificamente a série da FEE/Fecomércio-RS – que tratava-se de uma pesquisa censitária. Em termos de fundamentos econômicos o IC é composto por variáveis que sabidamente afetam o consumo de bens: renda, crédito e confiança do consumidor. Um destaque está para o alto peso das variáveis de Crédito e Sentimento sobre a Situação Presente, o que sugere que o fluxo de renda futuro e a confiança para assumir endividamentos longos são determinantes para o segmento. Considerando um horizonte maior para a ampliação dessa pesquisa, postula-se que a construção de novos dados regionalizados para crédito, renda pela PNAD Contínua, séries mais longas para índices de confiança, e indicadores sobre estoques no Comércio podem melhorar os resultados encontrados. / The following research intends to build a coincident indicator to the Retail sector’s economic activity within the regional economy of Rio Grande do Sul. The starting point to reach this objective is to use variables which present common cyclical behavior with each other, as well as with Retail Trade indices. The investigation will be carried on using Stock and Watson’s (1988, 1989, 1991, 1993) Dynamic Factor models methodology. The research returned a result a final index which can be classified as satisfactory, when evaluated by the mean absolute percentage error with Retail Trade indices, specially the FEE/Fecomércio-RS’ index – which was a censitary research. The built Coincident Indicator is composed by variables correlated with consumption, according to the economic theory: income, credit and consumer’s confidence. Variables such as Consumer Credit and Consumer’s Sentiment towards Present Economic Situation presented high weight in the indicator, which suggests that future income flows and confidence to take long term debt are crucial for the sector’s economic activity. Considering an expanded horizon for this research, one believes that new regional data for Household Credit, income through PNAD Contínua, a longer sample for Consumer’s Confidence indices, and indicators measuring stock levels in Retail might improve the coincident indicator.

O objetivo deste trabalho é a construção de um indicador coincidente (IC) para a atividade econômica do segmento de Comércio Varejista dentro da economia do estado do Rio Grande do Sul. A utilização de variáveis que apresentem comportamento comum entre si e altamente correlacionado com as Vendas do Varejo é o ponto de partida para a investigação a seguir. A metodologia adotada é a dos modelos de Fator Dinâmico de Stock e Watson (1988, 1989, 1991, 1993). Os resultados encontrados apontam um indicador final satisfatório, em termos de MAPE (erro absoluto percentual médio, em inglês) com relação às séries de Vendas do Varejo, especificamente a série da FEE/Fecomércio-RS – que tratava-se de uma pesquisa censitária. Em termos de fundamentos econômicos o IC é composto por variáveis que sabidamente afetam o consumo de bens: renda, crédito e confiança do consumidor. Um destaque está para o alto peso das variáveis de Crédito e Sentimento sobre a Situação Presente, o que sugere que o fluxo de renda futuro e a confiança para assumir endividamentos longos são determinantes para o segmento. Considerando um horizonte maior para a ampliação dessa pesquisa, postula-se que a construção de novos dados regionalizados para crédito, renda pela PNAD Contínua, séries mais longas para índices de confiança, e indicadores sobre estoques no Comércio podem melhorar os resultados encontrados. / The following research intends to build a coincident indicator to the Retail sector’s economic activity within the regional economy of Rio Grande do Sul. The starting point to reach this objective is to use variables which present common cyclical behavior with each other, as well as with Retail Trade indices. The investigation will be carried on using Stock and Watson’s (1988, 1989, 1991, 1993) Dynamic Factor models methodology. The research returned a result a final index which can be classified as satisfactory, when evaluated by the mean absolute percentage error with Retail Trade indices, specially the FEE/Fecomércio-RS’ index – which was a censitary research. The built Coincident Indicator is composed by variables correlated with consumption, according to the economic theory: income, credit and consumer’s confidence. Variables such as Consumer Credit and Consumer’s Sentiment towards Present Economic Situation presented high weight in the indicator, which suggests that future income flows and confidence to take long term debt are crucial for the sector’s economic activity. Considering an expanded horizon for this research, one believes that new regional data for Household Credit, income through PNAD Contínua, a longer sample for Consumer’s Confidence indices, and indicators measuring stock levels in Retail might improve the coincident indicator.

O objetivo deste trabalho é a construção de um indicador coincidente (IC) para a atividade econômica do segmento de Comércio Varejista dentro da economia do estado do Rio Grande do Sul. A utilização de variáveis que apresentem comportamento comum entre si e altamente correlacionado com as Vendas do Varejo é o ponto de partida para a investigação a seguir. A metodologia adotada é a dos modelos de Fator Dinâmico de Stock e Watson (1988, 1989, 1991, 1993). Os resultados encontrados apontam um indicador final satisfatório, em termos de MAPE (erro absoluto percentual médio, em inglês) com relação às séries de Vendas do Varejo, especificamente a série da FEE/Fecomércio-RS – que tratava-se de uma pesquisa censitária. Em termos de fundamentos econômicos o IC é composto por variáveis que sabidamente afetam o consumo de bens: renda, crédito e confiança do consumidor. Um destaque está para o alto peso das variáveis de Crédito e Sentimento sobre a Situação Presente, o que sugere que o fluxo de renda futuro e a confiança para assumir endividamentos longos são determinantes para o segmento. Considerando um horizonte maior para a ampliação dessa pesquisa, postula-se que a construção de novos dados regionalizados para crédito, renda pela PNAD Contínua, séries mais longas para índices de confiança, e indicadores sobre estoques no Comércio podem melhorar os resultados encontrados. / The following research intends to build a coincident indicator to the Retail sector’s economic activity within the regional economy of Rio Grande do Sul. The starting point to reach this objective is to use variables which present common cyclical behavior with each other, as well as with Retail Trade indices. The investigation will be carried on using Stock and Watson’s (1988, 1989, 1991, 1993) Dynamic Factor models methodology. The research returned a result a final index which can be classified as satisfactory, when evaluated by the mean absolute percentage error with Retail Trade indices, specially the FEE/Fecomércio-RS’ index – which was a censitary research. The built Coincident Indicator is composed by variables correlated with consumption, according to the economic theory: income, credit and consumer’s confidence. Variables such as Consumer Credit and Consumer’s Sentiment towards Present Economic Situation presented high weight in the indicator, which suggests that future income flows and confidence to take long term debt are crucial for the sector’s economic activity. Considering an expanded horizon for this research, one believes that new regional data for Household Credit, income through PNAD Contínua, a longer sample for Consumer’s Confidence indices, and indicators measuring stock levels in Retail might improve the coincident indicator.

In the first essay, I study the power of predictive regressions in a world of forecastable returns and find it to be quite poor. Using a simple model, I investigate the properties of short- and long-horizon regressions. The mechanisms biasing coefficients in short-horizon regressions differ from those affecting longer horizons. Further, I demonstrate that R\(^2s\) are biased and give an estimable bias correction. A calibration exercise shows sample lengths will be insufficient to determine what predicts asset returns until beyond the year 2100. The problem is not isolated to highly persistent predictors; even modestly persistent predictors have difficulties. Further, long-horizon regressions have inferior power relative to their single-period counterparts. These results present a predicament. If return predictability exists, then our ability to identify its source using predictive regressions alone is exceedingly poor. The second essay, written with James Stock and Mark Watson, considers the estimation of approximate dynamic factor models when there is temporal instability in the factors, factor loadings, and errors. We demonstrate that estimators for the factors and for the number of those factors are consistent for their population values even when affected by these instabilities. Further, we characterize the inferential theory in our framework for the estimated factors and for diffusion index forecasts and factor-augmented vector autoregressions that make use of the estimated factors. These results illustrate the broad robustness factor models have against temporal instability. In the third essay, co-author Peter Tufano and I consider the complex accounting rules, explicit fund sponsor supports, and government actions, that grant US money market mutual fund investors an implicit put option allowing them to redeem their shares at a fixed price of $1.00, regardless of the portfolio's market value. We describe the institutional features that generate these options, identify their writers, and estimate their premia. Using a hypothetical MMMF, we find that currently, non-redeeming shareholders, fund sponsors, and the government collectively bear annual premia of 22 to 44 basis points to give MMMF shareholders the right to redeem their shares at $1.00 rather than at the market value of the fund portfolio. These premia rose dramatically during the financial crisis, with the put value potentially being over 50 basis points.

Esse trabalho propõe estudar o grau de integração da estrutura a termo da taxa de juros com o mercado global e regional nos países da América Latina. Modelos de fatores dinâmicos foram usados para extrair os fatores globais, regionais e idiossincráticos da estrutura a termo como em Diebold, Li e Yue (2008) e Bae e Kim (2011). Foi encontrado que a estrutura a termo da taxa de juros da América Latina é integrada ao mercado global além de existir uma integração regional entre os países. Esse resultado é robusto ao fazer análises de subpériodos. No entanto, o proporção de variância explicada por cada fator varia conforme mudamos a amostra analisada. Essa variação pode ser consequência do período pós-crise e das politicas monetárias realizadas pelos principais Bancos Centrais no período. Ademais, a curva de juros do Brasil parece ter sido pouca influenciada por fatores globais pois o país apresentava condições macroeconômicas diferentes do restante do mundo. / In this work we propose to study the degree of integration of the term structure of interest rate of Latin America countries with global and regional markets. Using dynamic factor models as Diebold, Li e Yue (2008) and Bae e Kim (2011) to extract the global, regional and country specific factors we found that the term structure of interest rates of Latin America countries is integrated with global and regional markets. This result is robust studying different sample periods. However, the proportion of variance explained by those factors change when the sample periods change. This variation in the proportion of variance can be understood as consequence of the post crises period and the unconventional monetary policy that followed. Brazil term structure doesn\'t seem to be affected to global components. We interpret this last result as being a consequence of the different economic cycle that the country had comparing to the rest of the world.

Submitted by Pedro Montero Mattos (pmattos90@gmail.com) on 2017-09-05T14:09:34Z No. of bitstreams: 1 nowcasting-brazilian-gdp-ficha.pdf: 808279 bytes, checksum: 3b790fa6a2be106b618a354ab1f18650 (MD5) / Rejected by Joana Martorini (joana.martorini@fgv.br), reason: Prezado Pedro, boa noite, Seu trabalho não condiz com as normas necessárias para aprovação. Favor corrigir para que possamos aceitar o arquivo. Na capa faltou o nome completo da Escola, e ao identificar o local, na parte inferior da página, colocar somente o nome da cidade e o ano, retirar páginas em branco. Dissertação, banca examinadora, data da aprovação, campo de conhecimento devem estar ao lado inferior direito da página e deve haver um resumo em português. No link abaixo, a partir da página 11, tem o modelo dos requisitos necessários que podem auxiliá-lo: http://sistema.bibliotecas-sp.fgv.br/sites/bibliotecas.fgv.br/files/bibnormas1.pdf Se preferir, entre em contato pelo telefone: Thais Oliveira Cursos de Pós-Graduação (55 11) 3799-7764 SRA - Secretaria de Registros Acadêmicos on 2017-09-05T22:51:54Z (GMT) / Submitted by Pedro Montero Mattos (pmattos90@gmail.com) on 2017-09-06T18:29:03Z No. of bitstreams: 1 nowcasting-brazilian-gdp-final.pdf: 2797146 bytes, checksum: bc06f3221f99621eef79ac27ea0570ed (MD5) / Rejected by Joana Martorini (joana.martorini@fgv.br), reason: Prezado, boa tarde. Seu trabalho foi rejeitado pelo seguintes motivos: - O título na capa, contracapa e dissertação devem ser em negrito; - A numeração de páginas começa a partir da Introdução; - As Dissertações, Data da Aprovação e Banca Examinadora devem estar ao lado direito da página. Favor fazer a correção para que possamos aprovar o item. Qualquer dúvida entrar em contato no mestradoprofissional@fgv.br ou ligue 3799-7764 Att. on 2017-09-11T17:59:58Z (GMT) / Submitted by Pedro Montero Mattos (pmattos90@gmail.com) on 2017-09-11T20:14:04Z No. of bitstreams: 1 nowcasting-brazilian-gdp-final.pdf: 1435677 bytes, checksum: f7158565f421de4eacc385ee98d3348b (MD5) / Rejected by Joana Martorini (joana.martorini@fgv.br), reason: Prezado Pedro, boa noite. O trabalho está correto, exceto pela numeração de páginas, começa a partir da "Introdução", mas com o número de páginas certo, que no caso do seu arquivo seria "14" contando a partir da folha de rosto. Favor fazer a correção para que possamos aprovar o item. Grata. on 2017-09-11T21:34:20Z (GMT) / Submitted by Pedro Montero Mattos (pmattos90@gmail.com) on 2017-09-11T21:53:46Z No. of bitstreams: 1 nowcasting-brazilian-gdp-final.pdf: 1436704 bytes, checksum: 65555fa1bc7c021e54edc92cf70d35f2 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Joana Martorini (joana.martorini@fgv.br) on 2017-09-11T22:28:54Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 nowcasting-brazilian-gdp-final.pdf: 1436704 bytes, checksum: 65555fa1bc7c021e54edc92cf70d35f2 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-09-12T17:16:25Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 nowcasting-brazilian-gdp-final.pdf: 1436704 bytes, checksum: 65555fa1bc7c021e54edc92cf70d35f2 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-08-16 / Based on recent surveys on nowcasting methods, we apply the one-step estimation of dynamic factor models to the Brazilian case. Such methodology copes well with the problems of mixed-frequency series, ragged edges, timeliness and high dimensionality of data sets. We use the daily expectation published by the Brazilian Central Bank as a benchmark for our model and we do not find enough evidence to reject that both models have equal predictive accuracy, under non-distressed circumstances. / Baseado em recentes pesquisas em métodos de Nowcasting, foi aplicada a estimação de modelos de fatores dinâmicos em um passo ao caso brasileiro. Esta metodologia lida com os problemas de frequências mistas, amostras recortadas, horizonte temporal e alta dimensão da amostra. Foram utilizadas as expectativas diárias do PIB publicadas pelo Banco Central como um benchmark do modelo. Não foram encontradas evidências que rejeitam a hipótese de igual poder preditivo, para circunstâncias econômicas não estressadas.

This Thesis is composed by three independent papers that investigate<p>central debates in empirical macroeconomic modeling.<p><p>Chapter 1, entitled “A Model for Real-Time Data Assessment with an Application to GDP Growth Rates”, provides a model for the data<p>revisions of macroeconomic variables that distinguishes between rational expectation updates and noise corrections. Thus, the model encompasses the two polar views regarding the publication process of statistical agencies: noise versus news. Most of the studies previous studies that analyze data revisions are based<p>on the classical noise and news regression approach introduced by Mankiew, Runkle and Shapiro (1984). The problem is that the statistical tests available do not formulate both extreme hypotheses as collectively exhaustive, as recognized by Aruoba (2008). That is, it would be possible to reject or accept both of them simultaneously. In turn, the model for the<p>DPP presented here allows for the simultaneous presence of both noise and news. While the “regression approach” followed by Faust et al. (2005), along the lines of Mankiew et al. (1984), identifies noise in the preliminary<p>figures, it is not possible for them to quantify it, as done by our model. <p><p>The second and third chapters acknowledge the possibility that macroeconomic data is measured with errors, but the approach followed to model the missmeasurement is extremely stylized and does not capture the complexity of the revision process that we describe in the first chapter.<p><p><p>Chapter 2, entitled “Revisiting the Success of the RBC model”, proposes the use of dynamic factor models as an alternative to the VAR based tools for the empirical validation of dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) theories. Along the lines of Giannone et al. (2006), we use the state-space parameterisation of the factor models proposed by Forni et al. (2007) as a competitive benchmark that is able to capture weak statistical restrictions that DSGE models impose on the data. Our empirical illustration compares the out-of-sample forecasting performance of a simple RBC model augmented with a serially correlated noise component against several specifications belonging to classes of dynamic factor and VAR models. Although the performance of the RBC model is comparable<p>to that of the reduced form models, a formal test of predictive accuracy reveals that the weak restrictions are more useful at forecasting than the strong behavioral assumptions imposed by the microfoundations in the model economy.<p><p>The last chapter, “What are Shocks Capturing in DSGE modeling”, contributes to current debates on the use and interpretation of larger DSGE<p>models. Recent tendency in academic work and at central banks is to develop and estimate large DSGE models for policy analysis and forecasting. These models typically have many shocks (e.g. Smets and Wouters, 2003 and Adolfson, Laseen, Linde and Villani, 2005). On the other hand, empirical studies point out that few large shocks are sufficient to capture the covariance structure of macro data (Giannone, Reichlin and<p>Sala, 2005, Uhlig, 2004). In this Chapter, we propose to reconcile both views by considering an alternative DSGE estimation approach which<p>models explicitly the statistical agency along the lines of Sargent (1989). This enables us to distinguish whether the exogenous shocks in DSGE<p>modeling are structural or instead serve the purpose of fitting the data in presence of misspecification and measurement problems. When applied to the original Smets and Wouters (2007) model, we find that the explanatory power of the structural shocks decreases at high frequencies. This allows us to back out a smoother measure of the natural output gap than that<p>resulting from the original specification. / Doctorat en Sciences économiques et de gestion / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Diese Dissertation befasst sich mit europäischer und US-amerikanischer Konjunkturgeschichte und Marktintegration im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert. Zur Analyse von konjunkturellen Schwankungen stellt sie der weitverbreiteten Historischen Volkswirtschaftlichen Gesamtrechnung (VGR) die Methode dynamischer Faktoranalyse zur Seite, die dazu beiträgt, die begrenzten historischen Zeitreihen effizient zu nutzen. Die nationale und internationale Entwicklung von Weizenmärkten seit dem Ende der Napoleonischen Kriege wird mit einem multivariaten dynamischen Faktormodell untersucht. Spektralanalyse wird zur Berechnung frequenzspezifischer Kohärenz von historischen Börsenindizes und konkurrierenden Schätzungen des Nationalprodukts in Deutschland zwischen 1850 und 1913 herangezogen. Ein wichtiges Ergebnis ist, dass Finanzdaten die Datierung der Konjunktur im Deutschen Kaiserreich erleichtern, was auch durch die Ergebnisse der Faktoranalyse bestätigt wird. Der verwendete Aktienindex, einzelne reale Konjunkturindikatoren und der dynamische Faktor korrelieren eng miteinder. Die Bildung sektoraler Sub-Indizes zeigt, dass der Übergang von einer landwirtschaftlich zu einer industriell geprägten Volkswirtschaft vermutlich früher geschehen ist als Beschäftigungsanteile aus der Historischen VGR vermuten lassen. Die Untersuchung der U.S.-Konjunktur ergibt die Annahme zeitvariierender Strukturparameter eine Erhöhung der Konjunkturschwankungsbreite nach dem 2. Weltkrieg verglichen mit der Zeit vor dem 1. Weltkrieg. Für die Weizenmarktintegration in Europa zeigt sich, dass die Entwicklung vor der Mitte des 19. Jahrhunderts schneller voran ging als danach, was eine Neuinterpretation der Rolle von Technologien wie dem Metallrumpf und dem Dampfschiff sowie dem Eintritt Amerikas als Weizenproduzenten nahelegt. / This thesis addresses historical business cycles and market integration in Europe and America in the 19th and 20th centuries. For the analysis of historical business cycles, the widely used methodology of historical national accounting is complemented with a dynamic factor model that allows for using scarce historical data efficiently. In order to investigate how national and international markets developed since the early 1800s, a multivariate dynamic factor model is used. Spectral analysis helps in measuring frequency specific correlation between financial indicators and rivaling national income estimates for Germany between 1850 and 1913. One result is that the historical stock market index used helps to discriminate between competing estimates of German national income. A dynamic factor estimated from a broad time series data set confirms this result. Sub-indices for agriculture and industry suggest that the German economy industrialized earlier than evidence from national accounting shows. The finding for the U.S. business cycle is that relaxing the assumption of constant structural parameters yields higher postwar aggregate volatility relative to the period before World War I. Concerning market integration, it is found that European wheat markets integrated faster before mid-19th century than after. Thus, the impact of the metal hull and steam ship as well as the relevance of American wheat for the world wheat market have perhaps been overstated.

Diese Arbeit besteht aus vier Essays, die empirische und methodische Beiträge zur Messung von Konjunkturzyklen und deren Zusammenhänge zu demographischen Variablen liefern. Der erste Essay analysiert unter Zuhilfenahme eines Bayesianischen Dynamischen Faktormodelles die Volatilität des US-amerikanischen Konjunkturzyklus seit 1867. In dem Essay wird gezeigt, dass die Volatilität in der Periode vor dem Ersten Weltkrieg und nachdem Zweiten Weltkrieg niedriger war als in der Zwischenkriegszeit. Eine geringere Volatilität für die Periode nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg im Vergleich zu der Periode vor dem Ersten Weltkrieg kann nicht bestätigt werden. Der zweite Essay hebt die Bayesianischen Eigenschaften bezüglich dynamischer Faktormodelle hervor. Der Essay zeigt, dass die ganze Analyse hindurch - im Gegensatz zu klassischen Ansätzen - keine Annahmen an die Persistenz der Zeitreihen getroffen werden muss. Des Weiteren wird veranschaulicht, wie im Bayesianischen Rahmen die Anzahl der Faktoren bestimmt werden kann. Der dritte Essay entwickelt einen neuen Ansatz, um altersspezifische Sterblichkeitsraten zu modellieren. Kovariate werden mit einbezogen und ihre Dynamik wird gemeinsam mit der von latenten Variablen, die allen Alterklassen zugrunde liegen, modelliert. Die Resultate bestätigen, dass makroökonomische Variablen Prognosekraft für die Sterblichkeit beinhalten. Im vierten Essay werden makroökonomischen Zeitreihen zusammen mit altersspezifischen Sterblichkeitsraten einer strukturellen Analyse unterzogen. Es wird gezeigt, dass sich die Sterblichkeit von jungen Erwachsenen in Abhängigkeit von Konjunkturzyklen deutlich von den der anderen Alterklassen unterscheidet. Daher sollte in solchen Analysen, um Scheinkorrelation vorzubeugen, zwischen den einzelnen Altersklassen differenziert werden. / The thesis consists of four essays, which make empirical and methodological contributions to the fields of business cycle analysis and demography. The first essay presents insights on U.S. business cycle volatility since 1867 derived from a Bayesian dynamic factor model. The essay finds that volatility increased in the interwar periods, which is reversed after World War II. While evidence can be generated of postwar moderation relative to pre-1914, this evidence is not robust to structural change, implemented by time-varying factor loadings. The second essay scrutinizes Bayesian features in dynamic index models. The essay shows that large-scale datasets can be used in levels throughout the whole analysis, without any pre-assumption on the persistence. Furthermore, the essay shows how to determine the number of factors accurately by computing the Bayes factor. The third essay presents a new way to model age-specific mortality rates. Covariates are incorporated and their dynamics are jointly modeled with the latent variables underlying mortality of all age classes. In contrast to the literature, a similar development of adjacent age groups is assured, allowing for consistent forecasts. The essay demonstrates that time series of covariates contain predictive power for age-specific rates. Furthermore, it is observed that in particular parameter uncertainty is important for long-run forecasts, implicating that ignoring parameter uncertainty might yield misleadingly precise predictions. In the fourth essay the model developed in the third essay is utilized to conduct a structural analysis of macroeconomic fluctuations and age-specific mortality rates. The results reveal that the mortality of young adults, concerning business cycles, noticeably differ from the rest of the population. This implies that differentiating closely between particular age classes, might be important in order to avoid spurious results.