In this paper we provide a multivariate framework for temporal disaggregation of time series observed at a certain frequency into higher frequency data. The suggested method uses the seemingly unrelated time series equations model and is estimated by the Kalman filter. The methodology is flexible enough to allow for almost any kind of temporal disaggregation problem of both raw and seasonally adjusted time series. Comparisons with other temporal disaggregation methods proposed by the literature are presented using a wide OECD data set.

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This paper analyzes the relation between night lights and poverty rates in Chile using information derived from the US Earth Observations Group through the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS), Day/Night Band. Official poverty data are modeled at the municipality level with a fractional multinomial logit model. Indicators of night lights are applied to the estimated model to predict poverty and extreme‐poverty rates of municipalities for which official data are not available, and estimates are aggregated at provincial, regional, and national levels using population data. Results are consistent with official estimates published for the year 2015 and can be effectively used for policy purposes to derive maps of poverty indices with a definition of 500 m2.

This paper tests for business cycle symmetry in G7 countries during the post-World War II period using a number of tests, each reflecting alternative definitions of business cycle asymmetry. The tests are applied to monthly coincident economic indicators of business cycles. This found that business cycles in the US are characterized by both longitudinal (deepness) and transversal (steepness and sharpness) asymmetries: further, it is found that asymmetric transition probabilties and time irreversibility are due to nonlinearities. On the contrary, business cycles in Germany exhibits a symmetric behaviour. Between these extremes are the other countries, for which at least one of the tests here considered rejects the null of cyclical symmetry. Particularly, business cycle is characterized by deepness and sharpness in Canada, asymmetry in persistence in France and Japan, and asymmetric transition probabilities in France and United Kingdom.

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