We explore two popular approaches to empirical analysis of monetary policy: the New Keynesian and the identified vector autoregression approaches. Stylized models of private behavior coupled with simple rules describing policy behavior characterize New Keynesian work. Vector autoregressions...

This paper develops a general perturbation methodology for constructing high-order approximations to the solutions of Markov-switching DSGE models. We introduce an important and practical idea of partitioning the Markov-switching parameter space so that a steady state is well defined. With this...

We examine the theory and behavior in practice of Bayesian and bootstrap methods for generating error bands on impulse responses in dynamic linear models. The Bayesian intervals have a firmer theoretical foundation in small samples, are easier to compute, and are about as good in small samples...

This paper brings together identification and forecasting in a positive econometric analysis of policy. We contend that a broad range of important policy questions is consistent with the existing policy process and is not subject to Lucas's critique. We analyze the economics of "business as...

This paper proposes a methodology for assessing the joint performance of multivariate forecasts of economic variables. The methodology is illustrated by comparing the rankings of forecasters by the Wall Street Journal with the authors’ alternative rankings. The results show that the...

The half-life of deviations from purchasing power parity (PPP) plays a central role in the ongoing debate about the ability of macroeconomic models to account for the time series behavior of the real exchange rate. The main contribution of this paper is a general framework in which alternative...

Previous empirical study on the effects of monetary policy shocks in small open economies has produced exchange rate responses that are inconsistent with existing open economy macroeconomic theory. We argue that a careful identification of monetary policy in an explicit open economy setting is...

This paper extends the methods developed by Hamilton (1989) and Chib (1996) to identified multiple-equation models. It details how to obtain Bayesian estimation and inference for a class of models with different degrees of time variation and discusses both analytical and computational difficulties.

Are optimism shocks an important source of business cycle fluctuations? Are decit-nanced tax cuts better than decit-nanced spending to increase output? These questions have been previously studied using SVARs identied with sign and zero restrictions and the answers have been positive and denite...