Business tendency surveys in selected countries and their forecasting ability

Business tendency survey as a part of expectations surveys should provide valuable information on the future evolution of the economy represented by the indicator of gross domestic product. The thesis contains a brief description of the Harmonized System of the Business tendency survey that is created by the European Commission and the OECD. The system provides advice and recommendation to member and non member countries of the European Union. The aim of this thesis is to compare models containing gross domestic product and the various confidence indicators compiled for the six selected countries of the European Union. Emphasis is placed on verification of the ability of each indicator to predict the evolution of gross domestic product. The thesis uses appropriate methods of time series analysis, especially cointegration analysis and VAR models