Macroeconomic forecasting and structural analysis through regularized reduced-rank regression

This paper proposes a strategy for detecting and imposing reduced-rank restrictions in medium vector autoregressive models. It is known that Canonical Correlation Analysis (CCA) does not perform well in this framework, because inversions of large covariance matrices are required. We propose a method that combines the richness of reduced-rank regression with the simplicity of naïve univariate forecasting methods. In particular, we suggest the usage of a proper shrinkage estimator of the autocovariance matrices that are involved in the computation of CCA, in order to obtain a method that is asymptotically equivalent to CCA, but numerically more stable in finite samples. Simulations and empirical applications document the merits of the proposed approach for both forecasting and structural analysis

Small-sample improvements in the statistical analysis of seasonally cointegrated systems

New iterative reduced-rank regression procedures for seasonal cointegration analysis were proposed. The suggested methods are motivated by the idea that modelling the cointegration restrictions jointly at different frequencies may increase efficiency in finite samples. Monte Carlo simulations indicate that the new tests and estimators perform well with respect to already existing statistical procedures

A medium-N approach to macroeconomic forecasting

This paper considers methods for forecasting macroeconomic time series in a framework where the number of predictors, N, is too large to apply traditional regression models but not sufficiently large to resort to statistical inference based on double asymptotics. Our interest is motivated by a body of empirical research suggesting that popular data-rich prediction methods perform best when N ranges from 20 to 40. In order to accomplish our goal, we resort to partial least squares and principal component regression to consistently estimate a stable dynamic regression model with many predictors as only the number of observations, T, diverges. We show both by simulations and empirical applications that the considered methods, especially partial least squares, compare well to models that are widely used in macroeconomic forecasting

Common feature analysis of economic time series: an overview and recent developments

In this paper we overview the literature on common features analysis of economic time series. Starting from the seminal contributions by Engle and Kozicki (1993) and Vahid and Engle (1993), we present and discuss the various notions that have been proposed to detect and model common cyclical features in macroeconometrics. In particular, we analyze in details the link between common cyclical features and the reduced-rank regression model. We also illustrate similarities and differences between the common features methodology and other popular types of multivariate time series modelling. Finally, we discuss some recent developments in this area, such as the implications of common features for univariate time series models and the analysis of common autocorrelation in medium-large dimensional systems

Modelling comovements of economic time series: a selective survey

Modelling comovements amongst multiple economic variables takes up a relevant part of the literature in time series econometrics. Comovement can be defined as “move together”, that is as movement that several series have in common. The pattern of the series could be of different nature, such as trend, cycles, seasonality, being the results of different driving forces. As a results, series that comove share some common features. Common trends, common cycles, common seasonality are terms that are often found in the literature, different in scope but all aimed at modeling common behavior of the series. However, modeling comovements is not only a statistical matter, since in many cases common features are predicted by economic theory, resulting from the optimizing behavior of economic agents

Small-sample improvements in the statistical analysis of seasonally cointegrated systems

This paper proposes new iterative reduced-rank regression procedures for seasonal cointegration analysis. The suggested methods are motivated by the idea that modelling the cointegration restrictions jointly at different frequencies may increase efficiency in finite samples. Monte Carlo simulations indicate that the new tests and estimators perform well with respect to already existing statistical [email protected]

A general to specific approach for constructing composite business cycle indicators

Combining economic time series with the aim to obtain an indicator for business cycle analyses is an important issue for policy makers. In this area, econometric techniques usually rely on systems with either a small number of series, N, or, at the other extreme, a very large N. In this paper we propose tools to select the relevant business cycle indicators in a â mediumâ N framework, a situation that is likely to be the most frequent in empirical works. An example is provided by our empirical application, in which we study jointly the short-run co-movements of 24 European countries. We show, under not too restrictive conditions, that parsimonious single-equation models can be used to split a set of N countries in three groups. The first group comprises countries that share a synchronous common cycle, a non-synchronous common cycle is present among the countries of the second group, and the third group collects countries that exhibit idiosyncratic cycles. Moreover, we offer a method for constructing a composite coincident indicator that explicitly takes into account the existence of these various forms of short-run co-movements among variables