This paper aims to identify the actual objectives of monetary authorities in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) that promote an independent monetary policy. In this sense we consider the study of central banks (CBs) behavior in the Czech Republic, Poland, Romania and Hungary in establishing...

Does economic theory help in forecasting key macroeconomic variables? This article aims to provide some insight into the question by drawing lessons from the literature. The definition of "economic theory" includes a broad range of examples, such as accounting identities, disaggregation and...

One basic feature of aggregate data is the presence of time-varying variance in real and nominal variables. Periods of high volatility are followed by periods of low volatility. For instance, the turbulent 1970s were followed by the much more tranquil times of the great moderation from 1984 to...

This paper develops and applies tools to assess multivariate aspects of Bayesian Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium (DSGE) model forecasts and their ability to predict comovements among key macroeconomic variables. We construct posterior predictive checks to evaluate conditional and...

This paper aims to identify the actual objectives of monetary authorities in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) that promote an independent monetary policy. In this sense we consider the study of central banks (CBs) behavior in the Czech Republic, Poland, Romania and Hungary in establishing...

We build a time varying DSGE model with financial frictions in order to evaluate changes in the responses of the macroeconomy to financial friction shocks. Using US data, we find that the transmission of the financial friction shock to economic variables, such as output growth, has not changed...

DSGE models have recently received considerable attention in macroeconomic analysis and forecasting. They are usually estimated using Bayesian methods, which require the computation of the likelihood function under the assumption that the parameters of the model remain fixed throughout the...

In this paper, we provide a brief introduction to a new macroeconometric model of the Spanish economy named MEDEA (Modelo de EquilibrioDinámico de la Economía EspañolA). MEDEA is a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) model that aims to describe the main features of the Spanish...