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Working Paper
The macroeconomic forecasting performance of autoregressive models with alternative specifications of time-varying volatility
This paper compares alternative models of time-varying macroeconomic volatility on the basis of the accuracy of point and density forecasts of macroeconomic variables. In this analysis, we consider both Bayesian autoregressive and Bayesian vector autoregressive models that incorporate some form of time-varying volatility, precisely stochastic volatility (both with constant and time-varying autoregressive coeffi cients), stochastic volatility following a stationary AR process, stochastic volatility coupled with fat tails, GARCH, and mixture-of-innovation models. The comparison is based on the ...
Working Paper
Approximating high-dimensional dynamic models: sieve value function iteration
Many dynamic problems in economics are characterized by large state spaces, which make both computing and estimating the model infeasible. We introduce a method for approximating the value function of high-dimensional dynamic models based on sieves and establish results for the: (a) consistency, (b) rates of convergence, and (c) bounds on the error of approximation. We embed this method for approximating the solution to the dynamic problem within an estimation routine and prove that it provides consistent estimates of the model's parameters. We provide Monte Carlo evidence that our method can ...
Working Paper
It’s not just for inflation: The usefulness of the median CPI in BVAR forecasting
In this paper we investigate the forecasting performance of the median CPI in a variety of Bayesian VARs (BVARs) that are often used for monetary policy. Until now, the use of trimmed-mean price statistics in forecasting inflation has often been relegated to simple univariate or ?Philips-Curve? approaches, thus limiting their usefulness in applications that require consistent forecasts of multiple macro variables. We find that inclusion of an extreme trimmed-mean measure?the median CPI?significantly improves the forecasts of both headline and core CPI. across our wide-ranging set of BVARs. ...
Working Paper
What Do LLMs Want?
Large language models (LLMs) are now used for economic reasoning, but their implicit "preferences” are poorly understood. We study LLM preferences as revealed by their choices in simple allocation games and a job-search setting. Most models favor equal splits in dictator-style allocation games, consistent with inequality aversion. Structural estimates recover Fehr–Schmidt parameters that indicate inequality aversion is stronger than in similar experiments with human participants. However, we find these preferences are malleable: reframing (e.g., masking social context) and learned ...