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A Flexible Mixed-Frequency Vector Autoregression with a Steady-State Prior

Sebastian Ankargren, Måns Unosson, Yukai Yang

arXiv 20 Nov 2019 · Econometrics · publishedJournal of Time Series Econometrics (2020) · 13 citations (OpenAlex)

arXiv:1911.09151 · PDF · DOI · OpenAlex · Extracted main text

Abstract

We propose a Bayesian vector autoregressive (VAR) model for mixed-frequency data. Our model is based on the mean-adjusted parametrization of the VAR and allows for an explicit prior on the 'steady states' (unconditional means) of the included variables. Based on recent developments in the literature, we discuss extensions of the model that improve the flexibility of the modeling approach. These extensions include a hierarchical shrinkage prior for the steady-state parameters, and the use of stochastic volatility to model heteroskedasticity. We put the proposed model to use in a forecast evaluation using US data consisting of 10 monthly and 3 quarterly variables. The results show that the predictive ability typically benefits from using mixed-frequency data, and that improvements can be obtained for both monthly and quarterly variables. We also find that the steady-state prior generally enhances the accuracy of the forecasts, and that accounting for heteroskedasticity by means of stochastic volatility usually provides additional improvements, although not for all variables.

Citation extraction

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Most heavily cited references

The works this paper leans on most, across its whole bibliography — not restricted to papers in our corpus. Ranked by composite intensity, which combines how often a work is mentioned, how many sections mention it, and how much of that falls in the main text rather than the appendix.

ReferenceIntensityMentionsSectionsMain text
1Schorfheide, F. and D. Song (2015) Real-time forecasting with a mixed-frequency VAR1.000134100%
2Louzis, D. P (2019) Steady-state modeling and macroeconomic forecasting quality1.000105100%
3Villani, M (2009) Steady state priors for vector autoregressions1.000104100%
4Carriero, A., T. E. Clark, and M. Marcellino (2016) Common drifting volatility in large Bayesian VARs1.00075100%
5Clark, T. E (2011) Real-time density forecasts from Bayesian vector autoregressions with stochastic volatility1.00064100%
6Huber, F. and M. Feldkircher (2019) Adaptive shrinkage in Bayesian vector autoregressive models0.81142100%
7Adolfson, M., J. Lindé, and M. Villani (2007) Forecasting performance of an open economy DSGE model0.73732100%
8Bańbura, M., D. Giannone, and L. Reichlin (2010) Large Bayesian vector auto regressions0.64422100%
9Clark, T. E. and F. Ravazzolo (2015) Macroeconomic forecasting performance under alternative specifications of time-varying volatility0.64422100%
10Eraker, B., C. W. Chiu, A. T. Foerster, T. B. Kim, and H. D. Seoane (2015) Bayesian mixed frequency VARs0.64422100%

Showing the top 10 of 55 scored citations.

Cited by, within the corpus

arXiv econ.EM papers that cite this one, ranked by how heavily they lean on it.

Citing paperIntensityMentionsSections
11912.022310.92843
2Sparse Bayesian Vector Autoregressions in Huge Dimensions0.40511
3Interpreting and predicting the economy flows: A time-varying parameter global vector autoregressive integrated the machine learning model0.40511