diff --git a/src/SubModel.cc b/src/SubModel.cc
index 84ed0f51f56762dd6814e5e53d5d6f4b85eface3..20829a6122cf3995849de336d770a33cd7db07a5 100644
--- a/src/SubModel.cc
+++ b/src/SubModel.cc
@@ -262,6 +262,9 @@ TrendComponentModelTable::getOrigDiffVar(const string &name_arg) const
 void
 TrendComponentModelTable::writeOutput(const string &basename, ostream &output) const
 {
+  if (names.empty())
+    return;
+
   string filename = "+" + basename + "/trend_component_ar_ec.m";
   ofstream ar_ec_output;
   ar_ec_output.open(filename, ios::out | ios::binary);
@@ -426,6 +429,9 @@ VarModelTable::getSymbolListAndOrder() const
 void
 VarModelTable::writeOutput(const string &basename, ostream &output) const
 {
+  if (names.empty())
+    return;
+
   string filename = "+" + basename + "/var_ar.m";
   ofstream ar_output;
   ar_output.open(filename, ios::out | ios::binary);