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A Bayesian Gaussian Process Dynamic Factor Model

Tony Chernis, Niko Hauzenberger, Haroon Mumtaz, Michael Pfarrhofer

arXiv 5 Sep 2025 · Econometrics

arXiv:2509.04928 · PDF · DOI · OpenAlex · Extracted main text

Abstract

We propose a dynamic factor model (DFM) where the latent factors are linked to observed variables with unknown and potentially nonlinear functions. The key novelty and source of flexibility of our approach is a nonparametric observation equation, specified via Gaussian Process (GP) priors for each series. Factor dynamics are modeled with a standard vector autoregression (VAR), which facilitates computation and interpretation. We discuss a computationally efficient estimation algorithm and consider two empirical applications. First, we forecast key series from the FRED-QD dataset and show that the model yields improvements in predictive accuracy relative to linear benchmarks. Second, we extract driving factors of global inflation dynamics with the GP-DFM, which allows for capturing international asymmetries.

Citation extraction

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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
1McCracken MW, and Ng S (2021) FRED-QD: A Quarterly Database for Macroeconomic Research0.92843100%
2Svensson A, Solin A, Särkkä S, and Schön T (2016) Computationally efficient Bayesian learning of Gaussian process state space models, in Artificial Intelligence and Statistics, 2…0.8434375%
3Lindsten F, Jordan MI, and Schön TB (2014) Particle Gibbs with Ancestor Sampling0.8229356%
4Guerrón-Quintana P, Khazanov A, and Zhong M (2023) Financial and Macroeconomic Data Through the Lens of a Nonlinear Dynamic Factor Model0.81142100%
5Frigola R, Lindsten F, Schön TB, and Rasmussen CE (2013) Bayesian Inference and Learning in Gaussian Process State-Space Models with Particle MCMC, in0.73732100%
6Hauzenberger N, Huber F, Marcellino M, and Petz N (2025) Gaussian process vector autoregressions and macroeconomic uncertainty0.73732100%
7Solin A, and Särkkä S (2020) Hilbert space methods for reduced-rank Gaussian process regression0.73732100%
8Williams CK, and Rasmussen CE (2006) Gaussian processes for machine learning0.73732100%
9Andrieu C, Doucet A, and Holenstein R (2010) Particle Markov chain Monte Carlo methods0.6444250%
10Diebold FX, and Mariano RS (1995) Comparing predictive accuracy0.64441100%

Showing the top 10 of 91 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
1Nonlinear Dynamic Factor Analysis With a Transformer Network0.40511
2A Dynamic Factor Model for Level and Volatility0.40511