TY - JOUR AU - Zarnowitz,Victor AU - Braun,Phillip TI - Major Macroeconomic Variables and Leading Indexes: Some Estimates of Their Interrelations, 1886-1982 JF - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series VL - No. 2812 PY - 1991 Y2 - August 1991 UR - http://www.nber.org/papers/w2812 L1 - http://www.nber.org/papers/w2812.pdf N1 - Author contact info: Victor Zarnowitz Conference Board 845 3rd Avenue New York, NY 10022-6679 Tel: 212/339-0432 Fax: 212/836-9757 E-Mail: no email available Phillip Braun University of Chicago E-Mail: phillip.braun@ChicagoBooth.edu AB - We examine the interactions within sets of up to six variables representing output, alternative measures of money and fiscal operations, inflation, interest rate, and indexes of selected leading indicators. Quarterly series are used, each taken with four lags, for three periods: 1949-82. 1919-40, and 1886-1914. The series are in stationary form, as indicated by unit root tests. For the early years, the quality of the available data presents some serious problems. We find evidence of strong effects on output of the leading indexes and the short-term interest rate. The monetary effects are greatly reduced when these variables are included. Most variables depend more on their own lagged values than on any other factors, but this is not true of the rates of change in output and the composite leading indexes. Some interesting interperiod differences are noted and discussed. ER -