New tools for analyzing the Mexican economy: indexes of coincident and leading economic indicators

New composite indexes presented in this article could prove useful in analyzing and forecasting the Mexican economy. Keith Phillips, Lucinda Vargas, and Victor Zarnowitz present composite indexes of leading and coincident indexes for Mexico. In constructing the indexes, the economists use an approach similar to that developed by the National Bureau of Economic Research to create the composite indexes of U.S. economic activity. The authors classify peaks and troughs in the Mexican business cycle since 1980. Using these business cycle turning points, the authors determine which indicators consistently turned down prior to recessions and turned up prior to expansions. Eight of the best performing indicators are combined to create a composite index of leading economic indicators.