IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecolet/v255y2025ics0165176525003350.html

Nonparametric mixed frequency monitoring macro-at-risk

Author

Listed:
  • Marcellino, Massimiliano
  • Pfarrhofer, Michael

Abstract

We compare homoskedastic and heteroskedastic mixed frequency (MF) vector autoregression and Bayesian additive regression tree (BART) models to assess their performance in predicting tail risk at short horizons. MF-BART is a nonlinear state space model, and we discuss approximation-based approaches to devise a computationally efficient estimation algorithm. The models are applied in an out-of-sample exercise for quarterly and monthly macroeconomic variables in Italy. The proposed econometric refinements yield improvements in predictive accuracy.

Suggested Citation

  • Marcellino, Massimiliano & Pfarrhofer, Michael, 2025. "Nonparametric mixed frequency monitoring macro-at-risk," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 255(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:255:y:2025:i:c:s0165176525003350
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112498
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165176525003350
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112498?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dario Caldara & Matteo Iacoviello, 2022. "Measuring Geopolitical Risk," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 112(4), pages 1194-1225, April.
    2. Chan, Joshua C.C. & Poon, Aubrey & Zhu, Dan, 2023. "High-dimensional conditionally Gaussian state space models with missing data," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 236(1).
    3. Massimiliano Marcellino & Michael Pfarrhofer, 2024. "Bayesian nonparametric methods for macroeconomic forecasting," Chapters, in: Michael P. Clements & Ana Beatriz Galvão (ed.), Handbook of Research Methods and Applications in Macroeconomic Forecasting, chapter 5, pages 90-125, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    4. Carlos M. Carvalho & Nicholas G. Polson & James G. Scott, 2010. "The horseshoe estimator for sparse signals," Biometrika, Biometrika Trust, vol. 97(2), pages 465-480.
    5. Efrem Castelnuovo & Lorenzo Mori, 2025. "Uncertainty, Skewness, and the Business Cycle Through the MIDAS Lens," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 40(1), pages 89-107, January.
    6. Andrea Carriero & Todd E. Clark & Massimiliano Marcellino, 2015. "Realtime nowcasting with a Bayesian mixed frequency model with stochastic volatility," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 178(4), pages 837-862, October.
    7. Huber, Florian & Koop, Gary & Onorante, Luca & Pfarrhofer, Michael & Schreiner, Josef, 2023. "Nowcasting in a pandemic using non-parametric mixed frequency VARs," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 232(1), pages 52-69.
    8. Niko Hauzenberger & Massimiliano Marcellino & Michael Pfarrhofer & Anna Stelzer, 2024. "Nowcasting with Mixed Frequency Data Using Gaussian Processes," Papers 2402.10574, arXiv.org, revised Sep 2024.
    9. Tilmann Gneiting & Roopesh Ranjan, 2011. "Comparing Density Forecasts Using Threshold- and Quantile-Weighted Scoring Rules," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(3), pages 411-422, July.
    10. Michael Pfarrhofer & Anna Stelzer, 2025. "Scenario Analysis with Multivariate Bayesian Machine Learning Models," Papers 2502.08440, arXiv.org, revised Nov 2025.
    11. Todd E. Clark & Florian Huber & Gary Koop & Massimiliano Marcellino & Michael Pfarrhofer, 2024. "Investigating Growth-at-Risk Using a Multicountry Nonparametric Quantile Factor Model," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(4), pages 1302-1317, October.
    12. Scott R. Baker & Nicholas Bloom & Steven J. Davis, 2016. "Measuring Economic Policy Uncertainty," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 131(4), pages 1593-1636.
    13. Adams, Patrick A. & Adrian, Tobias & Boyarchenko, Nina & Giannone, Domenico, 2021. "Forecasting macroeconomic risks," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 1173-1191.
    14. Andrea Carriero & Todd E. Clark & Massimiliano Marcellino & Elmar Mertens, 2024. "Addressing COVID-19 Outliers in BVARs with Stochastic Volatility," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 106(5), pages 1403-1417, September.
    15. Daniel R. Kowal, 2022. "Fast, Optimal, and Targeted Predictions Using Parameterized Decision Analysis," Journal of the American Statistical Association, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 117(540), pages 1875-1886, October.
    16. Kremer, Manfred & Lo Duca, Marco & Holló, Dániel, 2012. "CISS - a composite indicator of systemic stress in the financial system," Working Paper Series 1426, European Central Bank.
    17. Gneiting, Tilmann & Ranjan, Roopesh, 2011. "Comparing Density Forecasts Using Threshold- and Quantile-Weighted Scoring Rules," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 29(3), pages 411-422.
    18. repec:ecb:ecbwps:20111426 is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Andrea Carriero & Todd E. Clark & Massimiliano Marcellino, 2024. "Capturing Macro‐Economic Tail Risks with Bayesian Vector Autoregressions," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 56(5), pages 1099-1127, August.
    20. Iacopini, Matteo & Poon, Aubrey & Rossini, Luca & Zhu, Dan, 2023. "Bayesian mixed-frequency quantile vector autoregression: Eliciting tail risks of monthly US GDP," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    21. Lorin Crawford & Kris C. Wood & Xiang Zhou & Sayan Mukherjee, 2018. "Bayesian Approximate Kernel Regression With Variable Selection," Journal of the American Statistical Association, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 113(524), pages 1710-1721, October.
    22. Todd E. Clark & Florian Huber & Gary Koop & Massimiliano Marcellino & Michael Pfarrhofer, 2023. "Tail Forecasting With Multivariate Bayesian Additive Regression Trees," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 64(3), pages 979-1022, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Maximilian Boeck & Massimiliano Marcellino & Michael Pfarrhofer & Tommaso Tornese, 2024. "Predicting Tail-Risks for the Italian Economy," Journal of Business Cycle Research, Springer;Centre for International Research on Economic Tendency Surveys (CIRET), vol. 20(3), pages 339-366, November.
    2. Niko Hauzenberger Massimiliano Marcellino Michael Pfarrhofer Anna Stelzer, 2026. "Direct Gaussian Process Predictive Regressions with Mixed Frequency Data," BAFFI CAREFIN Working Papers 26265, BAFFI CAREFIN, Centre for Applied Research on International Markets Banking Finance and Regulation, Universita' Bocconi, Milano, Italy.
    3. Todd E. Clark & Florian Huber & Gary Koop & Massimiliano Marcellino & Michael Pfarrhofer, 2023. "Tail Forecasting With Multivariate Bayesian Additive Regression Trees," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 64(3), pages 979-1022, August.
    4. Andrey Polbin & Andrei Shumilov, 2025. "Nowcasting and forecasting Russian GDP and its components using quantile models," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 79, pages 5-26.
    5. Jan Prüser & Florian Huber, 2024. "Nonlinearities in macroeconomic tail risk through the lens of big data quantile regressions," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 39(2), pages 269-291, March.
    6. Tamás Kiss & Stepan Mazur & Hoang Nguyen & Pär Österholm, 2023. "Modeling the relation between the US real economy and the corporate bond‐yield spread in Bayesian VARs with non‐Gaussian innovations," Journal of Forecasting, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 42(2), pages 347-368, March.
    7. Pfarrhofer, Michael, 2022. "Modeling tail risks of inflation using unobserved component quantile regressions," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    8. Paponpat Taveeapiradeecharoen & Nattapol Aunsri, 2025. "Forecasting in small open emerging economies Evidence from Thailand," Papers 2509.14805, arXiv.org.
    9. Kohns, David & Bhattacharjee, Arnab, 2023. "Nowcasting growth using Google Trends data: A Bayesian Structural Time Series model," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 1384-1412.
    10. Hauzenberger, Niko & Huber, Florian & Klieber, Karin & Marcellino, Massimiliano, 2025. "Bayesian neural networks for macroeconomic analysis," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 249(PC).
    11. Magnus Reif, 2020. "Macroeconomics, Nonlinearities, and the Business Cycle," ifo Beiträge zur Wirtschaftsforschung, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, number 87, October.
    12. Sui, Jianli & Lv, Wenqiang & Gao, Xiang & Koedijk, Kees G., 2024. "China’s GDP-at-Risk: Real-Time Monitoring, Risk Tracing, and Macroeconomic Policy Effects," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    13. Iacopini, Matteo & Poon, Aubrey & Rossini, Luca & Zhu, Dan, 2023. "Bayesian mixed-frequency quantile vector autoregression: Eliciting tail risks of monthly US GDP," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    14. Andrea Carriero & Todd E. Clark & Massimiliano Marcellino, 2025. "Specification Choices in Quantile Regression for Empirical Macroeconomics," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 40(1), pages 57-73, January.
    15. Szendrei, Tibor & Varga, Katalin, 2023. "Revisiting vulnerable growth in the Euro Area: Identifying the role of financial conditions in the distribution," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 223(C).
    16. Maximilian Boeck & Michael Pfarrhofer, 2025. "Belief Shocks and Implications of Expectations About Growth‐at‐Risk," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 40(3), pages 341-348, April.
    17. Ferrara, Laurent & Mogliani, Matteo & Sahuc, Jean-Guillaume, 2022. "High-frequency monitoring of growth at risk," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 582-595.
    18. Gefang, Deborah & Koop, Gary & Poon, Aubrey, 2023. "Forecasting using variational Bayesian inference in large vector autoregressions with hierarchical shrinkage," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 346-363.
    19. Varga, Katalin & Szendrei, Tibor, 2025. "Non-stationary financial risk factors and macroeconomic vulnerability for the UK," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    20. Polbin, Andrey & Shumilov, Andrei, 2025. "Наукастинг И Прогнозирование Ввп России И Его Компонентов С Помощью Квантильных Моделей [Nowcasting and forecasting Russian GDP and its components using quantile models]," MPRA Paper 125440, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • C11 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Bayesian Analysis: General
    • C22 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Time-Series Models; Dynamic Quantile Regressions; Dynamic Treatment Effect Models; Diffusion Processes
    • C53 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling - - - Forecasting and Prediction Models; Simulation Methods
    • E31 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Price Level; Inflation; Deflation
    • E37 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Forecasting and Simulation: Models and Applications

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:255:y:2025:i:c:s0165176525003350. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolet .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.