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Nonlinear Drivers of Macroeconomic Tail Risk: A Threshold Stochastic Volatility-in-Mean VAR with Regime-Dependent Leverage

Haroon Mumtaz, Sofia Velasco

arXiv 22 Sep 2026 · Econometrics

arXiv:2609.26994 · PDF · Extracted main text

Abstract

The tails of macroeconomic outcomes can respond differently from the centre of their distribution: shocks with modest effects on median growth or inflation can shift downside growth or upside inflation risk. We develop a threshold stochastic-volatility-in-mean VAR with regime-dependent leverage to study their structural drivers. The model allows endogenous interactions between outcomes and volatility, contemporaneous level-volatility dependence, and regime-specific propagation. In nearly 150 years of U.S. data, predictive model selection supports three inflation-defined regimes. We identify business-cycle, financial, macroeconomic-uncertainty, and financial-uncertainty shocks and decompose their contributions to growth- and inflation-at-risk. The structural composition of tail risk differs from that of the predictive median. Business-cycle shocks dominate the median response of GNP growth but account for a substantially smaller share of growth-at-risk. Macroeconomic uncertainty makes a material contribution to both growth- and inflation-at-risk, with its share of growth-at-risk increasing with the magnitude of a positive macroeconomic-uncertainty impulse, despite its limited role at the median. In high-inflation states, the contribution of financial uncertainty to inflation-at-risk rises with the magnitude of positive financial-uncertainty impulses.

Citation extraction

33
references
67
in-text mentions
33
distinct cited
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self-citations
9,691
main-text words

appendix boundary found by appendix_command · 56% of the source is main text. Read the extracted text to check this.

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
1Mumtaz, H (2018) A Generalised Stochastic Volatility in Mean VAR self1.00053100%
2Caldara, D., C. Scotti, and M. Zhong (2026) b): Macroeconomic and Financial Risks: A Tale of Mean and Volatility, Working paper, Federal Reserve Board and Banca d'Italia, v…0.9209478%
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4Black, F (1976) Studies of Stock Price Volatility Changes0.64422100%
5Bloom, N (2009) The Impact of Uncertainty Shocks0.64422100%
6Christie, A. A (1982) The Stochastic Behavior of Common Stock Variances: Value, Leverage and Interest Rate Effects0.64422100%
7López-Salido, D. and F. Loria (2024) Inflation at Risk0.64422100%
8Schwert, G. W (1989) Why Does Stock Market Volatility Change Over Time?0.64422100%
9Adrian, T., N. Boyarchenko, and D. Giannone (2019) Vulnerable Growth0.64422100%
10Alessandri, P. and H. Mumtaz (2019) Financial Regimes and Uncertainty Shocks0.64422100%

Showing the top 10 of 33 scored citations.