This comment points out mismeasurement of three of the variables in the DSGE model in Smets and Wouters (2007) and in models that use the Smets-Wouters model as a benchmark. The mismeasurement appears serious enough to call into question the reliability of empirical results using these variables

We estimated a Non-Stationary Dynamic Factor model and used it to generate artificial episodes of disinflation (permanent change in the mean inflation rate). These datasets were used to test the performance of alternative underlying inflation measures. We found that the benchmark underlying...

Timely identification of coincident systemic conditions and forward-looking capacity to anticipate adverse developments are critical for macroprudential policy. Despite clear recognition of these factors in literature, an evaluation methodology and empirical tests for the information value of...

The path of output prior to the financial and economic crisis turned out to be not sustainable and lower than previously estimated in some European crisis countries. Specifically, the output gaps have been underestimated (and inversely potential output overestimated) before the recent crisis. It...

We estimate real consumption's growth rate and volatility in light of three new facts documenting geographic differences in consumption: (1) consumers in separate markets buy different products, (2) a product's market share varies geographically conditional on relative price, and (3) product...

Assessing macroeconomic demand conditions is critical for monetary policy to gaugeimminent inflationary pressures. Generally, measures of output gap, calculated byapplying statistical filters on GDP data, are used for this purpose. GDP data, however,are released only at quarterly frequency with...

This paper proposes a tractable New Keynesian (NK) economy with endogenous adjustment in product quality that nests the canonical framework. Endogenous quality choice reduces the slope of the traditional NK Phillips curve and amplifies the economy's response to productivity shocks. This leads to...

This paper constructs internationally consistent measures of macroeconomic uncertainty. Our econometric framework extracts uncertainty from revisions in data obtained from standardized national accounts. Applying our model to quarterly post-WWII real-time data, we estimate macroeconomic...