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Working Paper
Minimal state variable solutions to Markov-switching rational expectations models
We develop a new method for computing minimal state variable solutions (MSV) to Markov-switching rational expectations models. We provide an algorithm to compute an MSV solution and show how to test a given solution for uniqueness and boundedness. We construct an example that is calibrated to U.S. data and show that the MSV solution in our example is unique. This solution can potentially explain in three different ways the observed reduction in the variance of inflation and the interest rate after 1980: The policy rule might have changed, the variance of the fundamental shocks might have ...
Working Paper
Uniform Priors for Impulse Responses
There has been a call for caution when using the conventional method for Bayesian inference in set-identified structural vector autoregressions on the grounds that the uniform prior over the set of orthogonal matrices could be nonuniform for individual impulse responses or other quantity of interest. This paper challenges this call by formally showing that, when the focus is on joint inference, the uniform prior over the set of orthogonal matrices is not only sufficient but also necessary for inference based on a uniform joint prior distribution over the identified set for the vector of ...
Working Paper
Inference in Bayesian Proxy-SVARs
Motivated by the increasing use of external instruments to identify structural vector autoregressions (SVARs), we develop an algorithm for exact finite sample inference in this class of time series models, commonly known as Proxy-SVARs. Our algorithm makes independent draws from any posterior distribution over the structural parameterization of a Proxy-SVAR. Our approach allows researchers to simultaneously use proxies and traditional zero and sign restrictions to identify structural shocks. We illustrate our methods with two applications. In particular, we show how to generalize the ...
Working Paper
Understanding the New Keynesian model when monetary policy switches regimes
This paper studies a New Keynesian model in which monetary policy may switch between regimes. We derive sufficient conditions for indeterminacy that are easy to implement and we show that the necessary and sufficient condition for determinacy, provided by Davig and Leeper, is necessary but not sufficient. More importantly, we use a two-regime model to show that indeterminacy in a passive regime may spill over to an active regime no matter how active the latter regime is. As a result, a passive monetary policy is more damaging than has been previously thought. Our results imply that the ...
Working Paper
Asymmetric expectation effects of regime shifts and the Great Moderation
We assess the quantitative importance of the expectation effects of regime shifts in monetary policy in a DSGE model that allows the monetary policy rule to switch between a ?bad? regime and a ?good? regime. When agents take into account such regime shifts in forming expectations, the expectation effect is asymmetric across regimes. In the good regime, the expectation effect is small despite agents? disbelief that the regime will last forever. In the bad regime, however, the expectation effect on equilibrium dynamics of inflation and output is quantitatively important, even if agents put a ...
Working Paper
Inference Based on SVARs Identified with Sign and Zero Restrictions: Theory and Applications
In this paper, we develop algorithms to independently draw from a family of conjugate posterior distributions over the structural parameterization when sign and zero restrictions are used to identify SVARs. We call this family of conjugate posterior distributions normal-generalized-normal. Our algorithms draw from a conjugate uniform-normal-inverse-Wishart posterior over the orthogonal reduced-form parameterization and transform the draws into the structural parameterization; this transformation induces a normal-generalized-normal posterior distribution over the structural parameterization. ...
Working Paper
Generalizing the Taylor principle: comment
Davig and Leeper (2007) have proposed a condition they call the generalized Taylor principle to rule out indeterminate equilibria in a version of the New Keynesian model, where the parameters of the policy rule follow a Markov-switching process. We show that although their condition rules out a subset of indeterminate equilibria, it does not establish uniqueness of the fundamental equilibrium. We discuss the differences between indeterminate fundamental equilibria included by Davig and Leeper's condition and fundamental equilibria that their condition misses.
Working Paper
Monetary Stimulus amid the Infrastructure Investment Spree: Evidence from China's Loan-Level Data
We study the impacts of the 2009 monetary stimulus and its interaction with infrastructure spending on credit allocation. We develop a two-stage estimation approach and apply it to China's loan-level data that covers all sectors in the economy. We find that except for the manufacturing sector, monetary stimulus itself did not favor state-owned enterprises (SOEs) over non-SOEs in credit access. Infrastructure investment driven by nonmonetary factors, however, enhanced the monetary transmission to bank credit allocated to local government financing vehicles in infrastructure and at the same ...
Working Paper
Inference Based On Time-Varying SVARs Identified with Time Restrictions
We propose an approach for Bayesian inference in time-varying structural vector autoregressions (SVARs) identified with sign restrictions. The linchpin of our approach is a class of rotation-invariant time-varying SVARs in which the prior and posterior densities of any sequence of structural parameters belonging to the class are invariant to orthogonal transformations of the sequence. Our methodology is new to the literature. In contrast to existing algorithms for inference based on sign restrictions, our algorithm is the first to draw from a uniform distribution over the sequences of ...
Working Paper
Conditional forecasts in dynamic multivariate models
In the existing literature, conditional forecasts in the vector autoregressive (VAR) framework have not been commonly presented with probability distributions or error bands. This paper develops Bayesian methods for computing such distributions or bands. It broadens the class of conditional forecasts to which the methods can be applied. The methods work for both structural and reduced-form VAR models and, in contrast to common practices, account for the parameter uncertainty in small samples. Empirical examples under the flat prior and under the reference prior of Sims and Zha (1998) are ...