Validity is a key issue for consumers of computable general equilibrium (CGE) modeling services. What assurance can producers of CGE results give to consumers that a CGE analysis: (i) is computationally sound, (ii) uses accurate up-to-date data, (iii) adequately captures behavioral and...

This paper presents a new approach to solve dynamic decision models in economics. The proposed procedure, called Nonlinear Model Predictive Control (NMPC), relies on the iterative solution of optimal control problems on finite time horizons and is well established in engineering applications for...

Although the empirical evidence about the leading indicator property of the term spread (LIPTS) is powerful, this property lacks a rigorous theoretical foundation. This paper investigates whether dynamic equilibrium asset pricing models are able to provide a theoretical underpinning for the...

We propose a general simulation-based procedure for estimating quality of approximate policies in heterogeneous-agent equilibrium models, which allows to verify that such approximate solutions describe a near-rational equilibrium. Our procedure endows agents with superior knowledge of the future...

The overlapping generations (OLG) model is an important framework for analyzing any type of question in which age cohorts are affected differently by exogenous shocks. However, as the dimensions and degree of heterogeneity in these models increase, the computational burden imposed by rational...

The Treasury is the New Zealand government's lead advisor on economic and financial issues. Part of this advice consists of providing the government with forecasts of economic and fiscal variables. Economic forecasts are important, not only as a basis for forecasts of tax revenue, but also in...

We argue that gamma discounting (Weitzman, 2001) can be understood as a veridical approach to combining experts' forecasts, in which experts are treated as either right or wrong and are weighted equally in pursuit of the 'true' forecast. More appropriate is the optimal-seeking approach in which...