Are Macroeconomic Variables Useful for Forecasting the Distribution of U.S. Inflation?

Much of the US inflation forecasting literature deals with examining the ability of macroeconomic indicators to predict the mean of future inflation, and the overwhelming evidence suggests that the macroeconomic indicators provide little or no predictability. In this paper, we expand the scope of inflation predictability and explore whether macroeconomic indicators are useful in predicting the distribution of future inflation. To incorporate macroeconomic indicators into the prediction of the conditional distribution of future inflation, we introduce a semi-parametric approach using conditional quantiles. The approach offers more flexibility in capturing the possible role of macroeconomic indicators in predicting the different parts of the future inflation distribution. Using monthly data on US inflation, we find that unemployment rate, housing starts, and the term spread provide significant out-of-sample predictability for the distribution of core inflation. Importantly, this result is obtained for a forecast evaluation period that we intentionally chose to be after 1984, when current research shows that macroeconomic indicators do not add much to the predictability of the future mean inflation. This paper discusses various findings using forecast intervals and forecast densities, and highlights the unique insights that the distribution approach offers, which otherwise would be ignored if we relied only on mean forecasts.Conditional quantiles; Distribution; Inflation; Predictability; Phillips curve; Combining

A Semiparametric Analysis of Gasoline Demand in the US: Reexamining The Impact of Price

The evaluation of the impact of an increase in gasoline tax on demand relies crucially on the estimate of the price elasticity. This paper presents an extended application of the Partially Linear Additive Model (PLAM) to the analysis of gasoline demand using a panel of US households, focusing mainly on the estimation of the price elasticity. Unlike previous semi-parametric studies that use household-level data, we work with vehicle-level data within households that can potentially add richer details to the price variable. Both households and vehicles data are obtained from the Residential Transportation Energy Consumption Survey (RTECS) of 1991 and 1994, conducted by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). As expected, the derived vehicle-based gasoline price has significant dispersion across the country and across grades of gasoline. By using a PLAM specification for gasoline demand, we obtain a measure of gasoline price elasticity that circumvents the implausible price effects reported in earlier studies. In particular, our results show the price elasticity ranges between −0.2, at low prices, and −0.5, at high prices, suggesting that households might respond differently to price changes depending on the level of price. In addition, we estimate separately the model to households that buy only regular gasoline and those that buy also midgrade/premium gasoline. The results show that the price elasticities for these groups are increasing in price and that regular households are more price sensitive compared to non-regular.semiparametric methods; partially linear additive model; gasoline demand

A modified Kolmogorov-Smirnov test for normality

In this paper we propose an improvement of the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test for normality. In the current implementation of the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, a sample is compared with a normal distribution where the sample mean and the sample variance are used as parameters of the distribution. We propose to select the mean and variance of the normal distribution that provide the closest fit to the data. This is like shifting and stretching the reference normal distribution so that it fits the data in the best possible way. If this shifting and stretching does not lead to an acceptable fit, the data is probably not normal. We also introduce a fast easily implementable algorithm for the proposed test. A study of the power of the proposed test indicates that the test is able to discriminate between the normal distribution and distributions such as uniform, bi-modal, beta, exponential and log-normal that are different in shape, but has a relatively lower power against the student t-distribution that is similar in shape to the normal distribution. In model settings, the former distinction is typically more important to make than the latter distinction. We demonstrate the practical significance of the proposed test with several simulated examples.Closest fit; Kolmogorov-Smirnov; Normal distribution

Efficient Estimation of an Additive Quantile Regression Model

In this paper two kernel-based nonparametric estimators are proposed for estimating the components of an additive quantile regression model. The first estimator is a computationally convenient approach which can be viewed as a viable alternative to the method of De Gooijer and Zerom (2003). With the aim to reduce variance of the first estimator, a second estimator is defined via sequential fitting of univariate local polynomial quantile smoothing for each additive component with the other additive components replaced by the corresponding estimates from the first estimator. The second estimator achieves oracle efficiency in the sense that each estimated additive component has the same variance as in the case when all other additive components were known. Asymptotic properties are derived for both estimators under dependent processes that are strictly stationary and absolutely regular. We also provide a demonstrative empirical application of additive quantile models to ambulance travel times.Additive models; Asymptotic properties; Dependent data; Internalized kernel smoothing; Local polynomial; Oracle efficiency

COST PASS-THROUGH IN THE U.S. COFFEE INDUSTRY

A rich data set of coffee prices and costs was used to determine to what extent changes in commodity costs affect manufacturer and retail prices. On average, a 10-cent increase in the cost of a pound of green coffee beans in a given quarter results in a 2-cent increase in manufacturer and retail prices in that quarter. If a cost change persists for several quarters, it will be incorporated into manufacturer prices approximately cent-forcent with the commodity-cost change. Given the substantial fixed costs and markups involved in coffee manufacturing, this translates into about a 3-percent change in retail prices for a 10-percent change in commodity prices. We do not find robust evidence that coffee prices respond more to increases than to decreases in costs.cost pass-through, retail prices, manufacturer prices, commodity costs, coffee, Demand and Price Analysis,

Are Macroeconomic Variables Useful for Forecasting the Distribution of U.S. Inflation?

Much of the US inflation forecasting literature deals with examining the ability of macroeconomic indicators to predict the mean of future inflation, and the overwhelming evidence suggests that the macroeconomic indicators provide little or no predictability. In this paper, we expand the scope of inflation predictability and explore whether macroeconomic indicators are useful in predicting the distribution of future inflation. To incorporate macroeconomic indicators into the prediction of the conditional distribution of future inflation, we introduce a semi-parametric approach using conditional quantiles. The approach offers more flexibility in capturing the possible role of macroeconomic indicators in predicting the different parts of the future inflation distribution. Using monthly data on US inflation, we find that unemployment rate, housing starts, and the term spread provide significant out-of-sample predictability for the distribution of core inflation. Importantly, this result is obtained for a forecast evaluation period that we intentionally chose to be after 1984, when current research shows that macroeconomic indicators do not add much to the predictability of the future mean inflation. This paper discusses various findings using forecast intervals and forecast densities, and highlights the unique insights that the distribution approach offers, which otherwise would be ignored if we relied only on mean forecasts

A Semiparametric Analysis of Gasoline Demand in the US: Reexamining The Impact of Price

The evaluation of the impact of an increase in gasoline tax on demand relies crucially on the estimate of the price elasticity. This paper presents an extended application of the Partially Linear Additive Model (PLAM) to the analysis of gasoline demand using a panel of US households, focusing mainly on the estimation of the price elasticity. Unlike previous semi-parametric studies that use household-level data, we work with vehicle-level data within households that can potentially add richer details to the price variable. Both households and vehicles data are obtained from the Residential Transportation Energy Consumption Survey (RTECS) of 1991 and 1994, conducted by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). As expected, the derived vehicle-based gasoline price has significant dispersion across the country and across grades of gasoline. By using a PLAM specification for gasoline demand, we obtain a measure of gasoline price elasticity that circumvents the implausible price effects reported in earlier studies. In particular, our results show the price elasticity ranges between −0.2, at low prices, and −0.5, at high prices, suggesting that households might respond differently to price changes depending on the level of price. In addition, we estimate separately the model to households that buy only regular gasoline and those that buy also midgrade/premium gasoline. The results show that the price elasticities for these groups are increasing in price and that regular households are more price sensitive compared to non-regular

Are Macroeconomic Variables Useful for Forecasting the Distribution of U.S. Inflation?

Much of the US inflation forecasting literature deals with examining the ability of macroeconomic indicators to predict the mean of future inflation, and the overwhelming evidence suggests that the macroeconomic indicators provide little or no predictability. In this paper, we expand the scope of inflation predictability and explore whether macroeconomic indicators are useful in predicting the distribution of future inflation. To incorporate macroeconomic indicators into the prediction of the conditional distribution of future inflation, we introduce a semi-parametric approach using conditional quantiles. The approach offers more flexibility in capturing the possible role of macroeconomic indicators in predicting the different parts of the future inflation distribution. Using monthly data on US inflation, we find that unemployment rate, housing starts, and the term spread provide significant out-of-sample predictability for the distribution of core inflation. Importantly, this result is obtained for a forecast evaluation period that we intentionally chose to be after 1984, when current research shows that macroeconomic indicators do not add much to the predictability of the future mean inflation. This paper discusses various findings using forecast intervals and forecast densities, and highlights the unique insights that the distribution approach offers, which otherwise would be ignored if we relied only on mean forecasts

Accounting for Incomplete Pass-Through

Recent theoretical work has suggested a number of potentially important factors in causing incomplete pass-through of exchange rates to prices, including markup adjustment, local costs and barriers to price adjustment. We empirically analyze the determinants of incomplete passthrough in the coee industry. The observed pass-through in this industry replicates key features of pass-through documented in aggregate data: prices respond sluggishly and incompletely to changes in costs. We use microdata on sales and prices to uncover the role of markup adjustment, local costs, and barriers to price adjustment in determining incomplete pass-through using a structural oligopoly model that nests all three potential factors. The implied pricing model explains the main dynamic features of short and long-run pass-through. Local costs reduce long-run pass-through by a factor of 59% relative to a CES benchmark. Markup adjustment reduces pass-through by an additional factor of 33%, where the extent of markup adjustment depends on the estimated \super-elasticity" of demand. The estimated menu costs are small (0:23% of revenue) and have a negligible eect on long-run pass-through, but are quantitatively successful in explaining the delayed response of prices to costs. We nd that delayed passthrough in the coee industry occurs almost entirely at the wholesale rather than the retail level

A Semiparametric Analysis of Gasoline Demand in the US: Reexamining The Impact of Price

The evaluation of the impact of an increase in gasoline tax on demand relies crucially on the estimate of the price elasticity. This paper presents an extended application of the Partially Linear Additive Model (PLAM) to the analysis of gasoline demand using a panel of US households, focusing mainly on the estimation of the price elasticity. Unlike previous semi-parametric studies that use household-level data, we work with vehicle-level data within households that can potentially add richer details to the price variable. Both households and vehicles data are obtained from the Residential Transportation Energy Consumption Survey (RTECS) of 1991 and 1994, conducted by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). As expected, the derived vehicle-based gasoline price has significant dispersion across the country and across grades of gasoline. By using a PLAM specification for gasoline demand, we obtain a measure of gasoline price elasticity that circumvents the implausible price effects reported in earlier studies. In particular, our results show the price elasticity ranges between −0.2, at low prices, and −0.5, at high prices, suggesting that households might respond differently to price changes depending on the level of price. In addition, we estimate separately the model to households that buy only regular gasoline and those that buy also midgrade/premium gasoline. The results show that the price elasticities for these groups are increasing in price and that regular households are more price sensitive compared to non-regular