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Theory coherent shrinkage of Time-Varying Parameters in VARs

Andrea Renzetti

arXiv 20 Nov 2023 · Econometrics · publishedJournal of Business and Economic Statistics (2025)

arXiv:2311.11858 · PDF · DOI · OpenAlex · Extracted main text

Abstract

This paper introduces a novel theory-coherent shrinkage prior for Time-Varying Parameter VARs (TVP-VARs). The prior centers the time-varying parameters on a path implied a priori by an underlying economic theory, chosen to describe the dynamics of the macroeconomic variables in the system. Leveraging information from conventional economic theory using this prior significantly improves inference precision and forecast accuracy compared to the standard TVP-VAR. In an application, I use this prior to incorporate information from a New Keynesian model that includes both the Zero Lower Bound (ZLB) and forward guidance into a medium-scale TVP-VAR model. This approach leads to more precise estimates of the impulse response functions, revealing a distinct propagation of risk premium shocks inside and outside the ZLB in US data.

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47
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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
1Del Negro, Marco, Schorfheide, Frank (2004) Priors from General Equilibrium Models for VARS*0.97715493%
2Cagliarini, Adam, Kulish, Mariano (2013) Solving Linear Rational Expectations Models with Predictable Structural Changes0.92843100%
3Del Negro, Marco, Giannoni, Marc P., Schorfheide, Frank (2015) Inflation in the Great Recession and New Keynesian Models0.88810370%
4Chan, Joshua CC, Jeliazkov, Ivan (2009) Efficient simulation and integrated likelihood estimation in state space models0.8746367%
5Benati, Luca, Lubik, Thomas A (2023) Impulse Response Analysis at the Zero Lower Bound0.87452100%
6Cogley, Timothy, Sargent, Thomas (2002) Evolving Post-World War II US Inflation Dynamics0.73732100%
7Carriero, Andrea, Clark, Todd E., Marcellino, Massimiliano (2021) No-arbitrage priors, drifting volatilities, and the term structure of interest rates0.73732100%
8Primiceri, Giorgio E (2005) Time varying structural vector autoregressions and monetary policy0.73732100%
9Sims, Christopher (2002) Solving Linear Rational Expectations Models0.73732100%
10Debortoli, Davide, Galí, Jordi, Gambetti, Luca (2019) On the Empirical (Ir)relevance of the Zero Lower Bound Constraint0.64441100%

Showing the top 10 of 47 scored citations.