Search Results
Journal Article
Understanding U.S. cross-border securities data
Working Paper
Block distributed methods for solving multi-country econometric models.
This paper examines variations on a baseline Fair-Taylor algorithm used to solve multi-country, rational expectations models. One notable feature of these variations is the ability to exploit small-scale distributed processing using a network of workstations or PCs. Using four processors to solve MX-4 (152 endogenous variables), the largest speedup factor relative to Fair-Taylor is 59; for RE-7 (978 endogenous variables) the maximum speedup factor is 12.
Working Paper
The structure and properties of the FRB multicountry model.Part I: Model description and simulation results
The FRB Multicountry Model (MCM) is a linked system of five quarterly national macroeconometric models of the United States, Canada, Germany, Japan, and the United Kingdom. The MCM emphasizes international linkages, and has equations for trade in goods and services, investment income flows, and exchange rates. This paper documents the current version of the MCM. The paper describes the theoretical structure of the model, and presents the empirical estimation results. The paper also describes a series of simulations of fiscal and monetary policy scenarios and external shocks. A complete ...
Working Paper
A distributed block approach to solving near-block-diagonal systems with an application to a large macroeconometric model
This paper demonstrates two advantages of well-known block variants of standard algorithms for solving nonlinear systems. First, if a problem is sufficiently close to block-diagonal, block algorithms may offer significant speed advantages on a single processor. Second, block Jacobi algorithms can easily and efficiently be distributed across multiple processors. We illustrate the use of a distributed block Jacobi algorithm to solve a large nonlinear macroeconometric model. For our application, on a four-processor Unix server, the algorithm achieves a speedup factor of more than 6 over the ...
Working Paper
A guide to FRB/Global
This paper describes the structure and illustrates the key features of FRB/Global, a large-scale macroeconomic model used in analyzing exogenous shocks and alternative policy responses in foreign economies and in examining the impact of these external shocks on the U.S. economy. FRB/Global imposes fiscal and national solvency constraints and utilizes error-correction mechanisms in the behavioral equations to ensure the long-run stability of the model. In FRB/Global, expectations play an important role in determining financial market variables and domestic expenditures. Simulations can be ...
Working Paper
ABS inflows to the United States and the global financial crisis
The "global saving glut" (GSG) hypothesis argues that the surge in capital inflows from emerging market economies to the United States led to significant declines in long-term interest rates in the United States and other industrial economies. In turn, these lower interest rates, when combined with both innovations and deficiencies of the U.S. credit market, are believed to have contributed to the U.S. housing bubble and to the buildup in financial vulnerabilities that led to the financial crisis. Because the GSG countries for the most part restricted their U.S. purchases to Treasuries and ...
Journal Article
Evaluating International Economic Policy with the Federal Reserve's Global Model
FRB/Global is a large-scale macroeconomic model developed and maintained by the Board's staff. This article provides a historical perspective on the development of the model, gives an overview of its structure, and highlights its dynamic properties with three simulation experiments: a reduction in U.S. government purchases; a depreciation of the U.S. dollar; and an increase in the price of oil exported by OPEC. The article illustrates other uses of FRB/Global by examining the spillover effects of fiscal and monetary policy under alternative European monetary policy regimes.