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Are spectral estimators useful for implementing long-run restrictions in SVARs?

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  • Elmar Mertens

Abstract

No, not really, since spectral estimators suffer from small sample and misspecification biases just as VARs do. Spectral estimators are no panacea for implementing long-run restrictions. ; In addition, when combining VAR coefficients with non-parametric estimates of the spectral density, care needs to be taken to consistently account for information embedded in the non-parametric estimates about serial correlation in VAR residuals. This paper uses a spectral factorization to ensure a correct representation of the data's variance. But this cannot overcome the fundamental problems of estimating the long-run dynamics of macroeconomic data in samples of typical length.

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  • Elmar Mertens, 2010. "Are spectral estimators useful for implementing long-run restrictions in SVARs?," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2010-09, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedgfe:2010-09
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    Cited by:

    1. Christopher J. Gust & Robert J. Vigfusson, 2009. "The power of long-run structural VARs," International Finance Discussion Papers 978, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    2. Kascha, Christian & Mertens, Karel, 2009. "Business cycle analysis and VARMA models," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 267-282, February.
    3. Mertens, Elmar, 2012. "Are spectral estimators useful for long-run restrictions in SVARs?," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 36(12), pages 1831-1844.

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    Keywords

    time series analysis; Vector analysis;

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