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Journal Article
Chile: the big saver
Journal Article
Texas-Mexico trade after NAFTA
Working Paper
News, noise, and estimates of the \"true\" unobserved state of the economy
Which provides a better estimate of the "true" state of the U.S. economy, gross domestic product (GDP) or gross domestic income (GDI)? Past work has assumed the difference between each estimate and the "true" state of the economy is pure noise, taking greater variability to imply lower reliability. We posit instead that each difference may be pure news; then greater variability implies higher information content and greater reliability. This is a general point, applicable to numerous situations beyond the case of combining GDP and GDI. For that particular case, we analyze various vintages ...
Working Paper
Incorporating vintage differences and forecasts into Markov switching models
This paper discusses extensions of standard Markov switching models that allow estimated probabilities to reflect parameter breaks at or close to the end of the sample, too close for standard maximum likelihood techniques to produce precise parameter estimates. The basic technique is a supplementary estimation procedure, bringing additional information to bear to estimate the statistical properties of the end-of-sample observations that behave differently from the rest. Empirical results using real-time data show that these techniques improve the ability of a Markov switching model based on ...
Working Paper
Lack of signal error (LoSE) and implications for OLS regression: measurement error for macro data
This paper proposes a simple generalization of the classical measurement error model, introducing new measurement errors that subtract signal from the true variable of interest, in addition to the usual classical measurement errors (CME) that add noise. The effect on OLS regression of these lack of signal errors (LoSE) is opposite the conventional wisdom about CME: while CME in the explanatory variables causes attenuation bias, LoSE in the dependent variable, not the explanatory variables, causes a similar bias under some conditions. In addition, LoSE in the dependent variable shrinks the ...
Working Paper
Regime-Switching Models for Estimating Inflation Uncertainty
This paper constructs regime-switching models for estimating the probability of inflation returning to its relatively high levels of variability and persistence in the 1970s and 1980s. Forecasts and probabilities of extreme events from the models are evaluated against comparable estimates from other statistical models, from surveys, and from financial markets. The paper then uses the models to construct prediction intervals around Federal Reserve Board staff forecasts of PCE price inflation, combining the recent non-parametric forecast error distribution with parametric information from the ...
Working Paper
Forecasting recessions using stall speeds
This paper presents evidence that the economic stall speed concept has some empirical content, and can be moderately useful in forecasting recessions. Specifically, output tends to transition to a slow-growth phase at the end of expansions before falling into a recession, and the paper designs Markov-switching models that behave in that way. While the switching models using output growth alone produce a considerable number of false positive recession signals, adding the slope of the yield curve, the percent change in housing starts, and the change in the unemployment rate to the model reduces ...
Working Paper
Inflation Expectations and the Stabilization of Inflation : Alternative Hypotheses
This paper examines two candidate hypotheses explaining the stabilization of U.S. inflation since the 1970s and 1980s. The first explanation credits the stabilization of inflation expectations, and assumes those expectations have a strong positive causal effect on actual subsequent inflation, while the second explanation credits the disappearance of such a strong positive causal effect. The paper reports statistical tests favorable to both a stabilization of inflation expectations and a marked decline in the effect of the general public?s inflation expectations on subsequent inflation.
Working Paper
Missing Variation in the Great Moderation: Lack of Signal Error and OLS Regression
This paper studies measurement errors that subtract signal from true variables of interest, labeled lack of signal errors (LoSE). The effect on OLS regression of LoSE is opposite the conventional wisdom about classical measurement errors, with LoSE in the dependent variable, not the explanatory variables, causing attenuation bias under some conditions. The paper provides evidence of LoSE in US GDP growth during the period known as the Great Moderation (roughly the mid-1980s to the mid-2000s), illustrating attenuation bias in regressions of GDP growth on asset prices. These biases may have ...