This paper proposes a Bayesian approach to assess if the data support candidate set-identifying restrictions for Vector Autoregressive models. The researcher is uncertain about the validity of some sign restrictions that she is contemplating to use. She therefore expresses her uncertainty with a...

In nonlinear state-space models, sequential learning about the hidden state can proceed by particle filtering when the density of the observation conditional on the state is available analytically (e.g. Gordon et al. 1993). This condition need not hold in complex environments, such as the...

Investors recently are really concerned about the risk aspects associated with the investment in securities. Volatility calculation, therefore, has become an important aspect in the financial markets. For these reasons time series models are greatly used to forecast volatility. One such model is...

In many, if not most, econometric applications, it is impossible to estimate consistently the elements of the white-noise process or processes that underlie the DGP. A common example is a regression model with heteroskedastic and/or autocorrelated disturbances,where the heteroskedasticity and...

Holston, Laubach and Williams’ (2017) estimates of the natural rate of interest are driven by the downward trending behaviour of ‘other factor’ z(t). I show that their implementation of Stock and Watson’s (1998) Median Unbiased Estimation (MUE) to determine the size of parameter λ(z)...

This paper aims at providing a primer on the use of big data in macroeconomic nowcasting and early estimation. We discuss: (i) a typology of big data characteristics relevant for macroeconomic nowcasting and early estimates, (ii) methods for features extraction from unstructured big data to...

Bayesian predictive synthesis (BPS) is a method of combining predictive distributions based on agent opinion analysis theory, which encompasses many common approaches to combining density forecasts. The key ingredient in BPS is a synthesis function. This is typically specified parametrically as...

A number of recent studies in the economics literature have focused on the usefulness of factor models in the context of prediction using "big data". In this paper, our over-arching question is whether such "big data" are useful for modelling low frequency macroeconomic variables such as...

There are simple well-known conditions for the validity of regression and correlation as statistical tools. We analyse by examples the effect of nonstationarity on inference using these methods and compare them to model based inference using the cointegrated vector autoregressive model. Finally...