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Measurement with Minimal Theory

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Author Info

  • Ellen McGrattan

    () (Research Federal Reserve Bank of Mpls)

Abstract

A central debate in applied macroeconomics is whether statistical tools that use minimal identifying assumptions are useful for isolating promising models within a broad class. In this paper, I extend the analysis of Chari, Kehoe, and McGrattan (2005) to compare four statistical methods---structural VARs, VARMAs, unrestricted state space methods, and restricted state space methods---all applied to data from the same business cycle model. The objective is to determine which, if any, of the methods can successfully uncover moments of the underlying economy. The methods differ in the amount of a priori theory that is imposed, with structural VARs imposing minimal assumptions and restricted state space methods imposing the maximal. The moments that I focus on are those typically reported in the business cycle literature. Preliminary results show that the identifying assumptions of structural VARs, VARMAs, and unrestricted state space methods are too minimal: they cannot robustly uncover many of the moments business cycle researchers are interested in measuring.

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Bibliographic Info

Paper provided by Society for Economic Dynamics in its series 2006 Meeting Papers with number 338.

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Date of creation: 03 Dec 2006
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Handle: RePEc:red:sed006:338

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Postal: Society for Economic Dynamics Christian Zimmermann Economic Research Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis PO Box 442 St. Louis MO 63166-0442 USA
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Web page: http://www.EconomicDynamics.org/society.htm
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Keywords: time series; business cycles;

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References

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  1. Chari, V.V. & Kehoe, Patrick J. & McGrattan, Ellen R., 2008. "Are structural VARs with long-run restrictions useful in developing business cycle theory?," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(8), pages 1337-1352, November.
  2. Harald Uhlig, 1998. "A Toolkit for Analysing Nonlinear Dynamic Stochastic Models Easily," QM&RBC Codes 123, Quantitative Macroeconomics & Real Business Cycles.
  3. V. V. Chari & Patrick J. Kehoe & Ellen R. McGrattan, 2007. "Business Cycle Accounting," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 75(3), pages 781-836, 05.
  4. Hannan, E J, 1976. "The Identification and Parameterization of ARMAX and State Space Forms," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 44(4), pages 713-23, July.
  5. Burmeister, Edwin & Wall, Kent D & Hamilton, James D, 1986. "Estimation of Unobserved Expected Monthly Inflation Using Kalman Filtering," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 4(2), pages 147-60, April.
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Cited by:
  1. Christian Kascha & Karel Mertens, 2006. "Business Cycle Analysis and VARMA models," Economics Working Papers ECO2006/37, European University Institute.

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