This paper presents the most comprehensive and up-to-date panel data set of invoicing currencies in global trade. It provides data on the shares of exports and imports invoiced in US dollars, euros, and other currencies for more than 100 countries since 1990. The evidence from these data confirms findings from earlier research regarding the globally dominant role of the US dollar in invoicing – despite the comparatively smaller role of the US in global trade – and the overall stability of invoicing currency patterns. The evidence also points to several novel facts. First, both the US dollar and the euro have been increasingly used for invoicing even as the share of global trade accounted for by the US and the euro area has declined. Second, the euro is used as a vehicle currency in parts of Africa, and some European countries have seen significant shifts toward euro invoicing. Third, as suggested by the dominant currency paradigm, countries invoicing more in US dollars (euros) tend to experience greater US dollar (euro) exchange rate pass-through to their import prices; also, their trade volumes are more sensitive to fluctuations in these exchange rates.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

This paper proposes a new methodology based on textual analysis to forecast US recessions. Specifically, it presents an index in the spirit of Baker et al. (JAMA 131:1593(JAMA 131: -1636(JAMA 131: , 2016 and Iacoviello (JAMA 1222, 2018) that tracks developments in US real activity. When used in a standard recession probability model, this index outperforms the yield curve-based forecast, a standard method to forecast recessions, at medium horizons, up to 8 months. Moreover, the index contains information not included in yield data, that are useful to understand recession episodes; when included as an additional control along with the slope of the yield curve, it improves forecasting accuracy by between 5% and 40%, depending on the horizon considered. These results are stable to a number of different robustness checks, including different estimation methods, different definitions of recession and controlling for asset purchases by major central banks. Our textual analysis data also improve the forecasting accuracy of several other popular leading indicators for the US business cycle.