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Forming priors for DSGE models (and how it affects the assessment of nominal rigidities)


Abstract: This paper discusses prior elicitation for the parameters of dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) models and provides a method for constructing prior distributions for a subset of these parameters from beliefs about the moments of the endogenous variables. The empirical application studies the role of price and wage rigidities in a New Keynesian DSGE model and finds that standard macro time series cannot discriminate among theories that differ in the quantitative importance of nominal frictions.

Keywords: DSGE models; Bayesian analysis; prior elicitation; nominal rigidities; model comparisons;

JEL Classification: E30; C32;

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Provider: Federal Reserve Bank of New York

Part of Series: Staff Reports

Publication Date: 2008-03-01

Number: 320

Pages: 39 pages

Note: For a published version of this report, see Marco Del Negro and Frank Schorfheide,"Forming Priors for DSGE Models (and How It Affects the Assessment of Nominal Rigidities)," Journal of Monetary Economics 55, no. 7 (October 2008): 1191-208.