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Real-time Inflation Forecasting Using Non-linear Dimension Reduction Techniques

Niko Hauzenberger, Florian Huber, Karin Klieber

arXiv 15 Dec 2020 · Econometrics · publishedInternational Journal of Forecasting (2022) · 39 citations (OpenAlex)

arXiv:2012.08155 · PDF · DOI · OpenAlex · Extracted main text

Abstract

In this paper, we assess whether using non-linear dimension reduction techniques pays off for forecasting inflation in real-time. Several recent methods from the machine learning literature are adopted to map a large dimensional dataset into a lower dimensional set of latent factors. We model the relationship between inflation and the latent factors using constant and time-varying parameter (TVP) regressions with shrinkage priors. Our models are then used to forecast monthly US inflation in real-time. The results suggest that sophisticated dimension reduction methods yield inflation forecasts that are highly competitive to linear approaches based on principal components. Among the techniques considered, the Autoencoder and squared principal components yield factors that have high predictive power for one-month- and one-quarter-ahead inflation. Zooming into model performance over time reveals that controlling for non-linear relations in the data is of particular importance during recessionary episodes of the business cycle or the current COVID-19 pandemic.

Citation extraction

96
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in-text mentions
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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
1Stock and Watson (2002) Macroeconomic forecasting using diffusion indexes1.00073100%
2Koop and Korobilis (2012) Forecating inflation using dynamic model averaging0.87452100%
3Bai and Ng (2008) Forecasting economic time series using targeted predictors0.81142100%
4Raftery et al (2010) Online prediction under model uncertainty via Dynamic Model Averaging: Application to a cold rolling mill0.81142100%
5Chan et al (2020) Reducing the state space dimension in a large TVP-VAR0.7547443%
6McCracken and Ng (2016) FRED-MD: A monthly database for macroeconomic research0.7373367%
7Exterkate et al (2016) Nonlinear forecasting with many predictors using kernel ridge regression0.73732100%
8Koop and Korobilis (2013) Large time-varying parameter VARs0.73732100%
9Clark (2011) Real-time density forecasts from BVARs with stochastic volatility0.6443267%
10Kelly et al (2019) Characteristics are covariances: A unified model of risk and return0.64422100%

Showing the top 10 of 96 scored citations.

Cited by, within the corpus

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Citing paperIntensityMentionsSections
1Let the Tree Decide: FABART A Non-Parametric Factor Model0.92843
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31.4cm bred From Reactive to Proactive Volatility Modeling with Hemisphere Neural Networks0.40511