The paper investigates inference in nonlinear and non-Gaussian models with moderately time varying parameters. We show that for many decision problems, the sample information about the parameter path can be summarized by an artificial linear and Gaussian model, at least asymptotically. The...

We compare direct forecasts of HICP and HICP excluding energy and food in the euro area and five member countries to aggregated forecasts of their main components from large Bayesian VARs with a shared set of predictors. We focus on conditional point and density forecasts, in line with...

This paper proposes a parsimonious threshold stochastic volatility (SV) model for financial asset returns. Instead of imposing a threshold value on the dynamics of the latent volatility process of the SV model, we assume that the innovation of the mean equation follows a threshold distribution...

Quantile and least-absolute deviations (LAD) methods are popular robust statistical methods but have not generally been applied to state filtering and sequential parameter learning. This paper introduces robust state space models whose error structure coincides with quantile estimation...

A novel simulation-based methodology is proposed to test the validity of a set of marginal time series models, where the dependence structure between the time series is taken "directly" from the observed data. The procedure is useful when one wants to summarize the test results for several time...

Bayesian inference requires an analyst to set priors. Setting the right prior is crucial for precise forecasts. This paper analyzes how optimal prior changes when an economy is hit by a recession. For this task, an autoregressive distributed lag model is chosen. The results show that a sharp...

The occurrence of decision problems with changing roles of null and alternative hypotheses has increased interest in extending the classical hypothesis testing setup. Particularly, confirmation analysis has been in the focus of some recent contributions in econometrics. We emphasize that...

The occurrence of decision problems with changing roles of null and alternative hypotheses has increased interest in extending the classical hypothesis testing setup. Particularly, confirmation analysis has been in the focus of some recent contributions in econometrics. We emphasize that...

We analyze Granger causality testing in a mixed-frequency VAR, where the difference in sampling frequencies of the variables is large. Given a realistic sample size, the number of high-frequency observations per low-frequency period leads to parameter proliferation problems in case we attempt to...

In order to identify structural shocks that affect economic variables, restrictions need to be imposed on the parameters of structural vector autoregressive (SVAR) models. Economic theory is the primary source of such restrictions. However, only over-identifying restrictions can be tested with...