Research problem:

Survey data is often gathered as qualitative data for the sake of time and cost efficiency. For any useful interpretation of such data we need to transform it into quantitative data.

Key questions:

1. Can we improve over existing transformation (that is quantification) methods, and if yes, how?
2. What can we learn from that data about the economy as a whole and about individual behaviour?

Key asset:

• Micro firm level data on identical qualitative and quantitative questions. (See an example.)

Recently:

• Forecast update. The latest reading of the «surprise index» shows an essentially constant value of -0.02 which indicates the end of the period of accelerating growth. The growth estimate for 2011, second quarter based on the «surprise index» of 2.4 percent in comparison to a year earlier points to an onset of a cyclical slowdown of the Swiss economy.NEXT update due: Nov 25, 2011

• October 15, 2010: Eva Koeberl and Sarah Lein receive the 2010 Young Economist "Isaac Kerstenetzky Award" for their outstanding paper The NIRCU and the Phillips curve.

• August 19, 2010: Release of Business Cycle indicator and GDP forecast through 2010, second quarter.
• June 24, 2010: Conference papers Quantification of qualitative data now on!
• "You CAN Carlson-Parkin" Economics Letters article now online
• November 26, 2009: Release of Business Cycle indicator and GDP forecast through 2009, third quarter.
• Intermediate report to the Swiss Science foundation delivered by September, 9
• 2009-06-27: The SSES Young Economist Award goes to project members Sarah Lein and Eva Köberl for their paper: Capacity Utilisation, Constraints and price Adjustments under the Microscope - Congratulations!!
• June 27, 2009 Annual Conference of the Swiss Economc Society: "Is the New Keynesian Phillips Curve Nonlinear?"
• April 9-11, 2009: University of California Riverside conference on Business Cylces: Theoretical and Practical Advances, presentations by Eva Köberl and Christian Müller.
• March 27, 2009: ifo-INSEE-ISAE 1st macroeconomic forecasting conference, presentation of "A new business cycle indicator based on semantic identification approach" by Eva Köberl