Norges Bank

Working Paper

Nowcasting Norwegian GDP: The role of asset prices in a small open economy

Author:
by Knut Are Aastveit and Tørres G. Trovik
Series:
Working Paper
Number:
9/2007

This paper finds that asset prices on Oslo Stock Exchange is the single most important block of data to improve estimates of current quarter GDP in Norway. Other important blocks of data are labor market data and industrial production indicators. We use an approximate dynamic factor model that is able to handle new information as it is released, thus the marginal impact on mean square nowcasting error can be studied for a large number of variables. We use a panel of 148 non-synchronous variables covering a broad spectrum of the Norwegian economy. The strong impact from financial data is due to an ability of the market clearing process to impart information about the real activity in Norway in a timely manner.

Norges Bank’s Working Papers present research projects and reports that are generally not in their final form. Other analyses by Norges Bank’s economists are also included in the series. The views and conclusions in these documents are those of the authors.

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ISSN 1502-8143 (online)

Published 20 December 2007 14:00
Published 20 December 2007 14:00