In this paper, the authors use polynomial adjustment cost (PAC) models to analyze and forecast the main components of the U.S. trade sector. For instance, they model and measure the elasticities of imports and exports to changes in the exchange rate and income. PAC models provide a theoretical justification for the presence of lags within a dynamic equation where optimizing agents' expectations are completely rational and forward looking. This approach thereby adds theoretical depth to a model that has a good forecasting performance. To the authors' knowledge, this paper is the first study to model the U.S. trade sector using a PAC approach. Overall, the models' main elasticities are reasonable. Moreover, the authors find that the out-ofsample forecasting performance of their PAC models is at least as good as that of other models. Their results show that this theoretical structure is not added at the expense of the empirical features of the models.
Download Info
To download:
If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the
proper application to
view it first. Information about this may be contained
in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read
the IDEAS help
page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS
site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
Publisher Info
Paper provided by Bank of Canada in its series Working Papers with number
04-3.
Find related papers by JEL classification: F47 - International Economics - - Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance - - - Forecasting and Simulation C32 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Time-Series Models; Dynamic Quantile Regressions E37 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Forecasting and Simulation
References listed on IDEAS Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.: