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Local Projection Inference is Simpler and More Robust Than You Think

José Luis Montiel Olea, Mikkel Plagborg-Møller

arXiv 27 Jul 2020 · Econometrics · publishedEconometrica (2021) · 51 citations (OpenAlex)

arXiv:2007.13888 · PDF · DOI · OpenAlex · Extracted main text

Abstract

Applied macroeconomists often compute confidence intervals for impulse responses using local projections, i.e., direct linear regressions of future outcomes on current covariates. This paper proves that local projection inference robustly handles two issues that commonly arise in applications: highly persistent data and the estimation of impulse responses at long horizons. We consider local projections that control for lags of the variables in the regression. We show that lag-augmented local projections with normal critical values are asymptotically valid uniformly over (i) both stationary and non-stationary data, and also over (ii) a wide range of response horizons. Moreover, lag augmentation obviates the need to correct standard errors for serial correlation in the regression residuals. Hence, local projection inference is arguably both simpler than previously thought and more robust than standard autoregressive inference, whose validity is known to depend sensitively on the persistence of the data and on the length of the horizon.

Citation extraction

48
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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
1Mikusheva, A (2012) One-Dimensional Inference in Autoregressive Models With the Potential Presence of a Unit Root1.000134100%
2Jordà, Ò (2005) Estimation and Inference of Impulse Responses by Local Projections1.00063100%
3Stock, J. H. and M. W. Watson (2018) Identification and Estimation of Dynamic Causal Effects in Macroeconomics Using External Instruments1.00053100%
4Kilian, L. and H. Lütkepohl (2017) Structural Vector Autoregressive Analysis0.9507586%
5Ramey, V. A (2016) Macroeconomic Shocks and Their Propagation, in0.92843100%
6Inoue, A. and L. Kilian (2020) The uniform validity of impulse response inference in autoregressions0.91831577%
7Hansen, B. E (1999) The Grid Bootstrap and the Autoregressive Model0.84333100%
8Herbst, E. P. and B. K. Johannsen (2020) Bias in Local Projections, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2020-0100.84333100%
9Inoue, A. and L. Kilian (2002) Bootstrapping Autoregressive Processes with Possible Unit Roots0.84333100%
10Wright, J. H (2000) Confidence Intervals for Univariate Impulse Responses With a Near Unit Root0.84333100%

Showing the top 10 of 48 scored citations.

Cited by, within the corpus

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Citing paperIntensityMentionsSections
1Identifying Elasticities in Autocorrelated Time Series Using Causal Graphs0.92843
22602.104150.84343
3Targeted Local Projections0.84333
4Double Robustness of Local Projections and Some Unpleasant VARithmetic0.73732
52410.043300.73732
60.09cm 24.9522 dpd Opening the Black Box of Local Projections . 0.4cm0.51121
7Calibrated Horizon-Weighted Local Projection Designs for Markov Switchbacks0.51122
8Dynamic Effects of Persistent Shocks0.40511
9Direct Multi-Step Forecast based Comparison of Nested Models via an Encompassing Test0.40511
10When are time series predictions causal? The potential system and dynamic causal effects0.40511