Restrictions on Risk Prices in Dynamic Term Structure Models

Restrictions on the risk-pricing in dynamic term structure models (DTSMs) tighten the link between cross-sectional and time-series variation of interest rates, and make absence of arbitrage useful for inference about expectations. This article presents a new econometric framework for estimation of affine Gaussian DTSMs under restrictions on risk prices, which addresses the issues of a large model space and of model uncertainty using a Bayesian approach. A simulation study demonstrates the good performance of the proposed method. Data for U.S. Treasury yields calls for tight restrictions on risk pricing: only level risk is priced, and only changes in the slope affect term premia. Incorporating the restrictions changes the model-implied short-rate expectations and term premia. Interest rate persistence is higher than in a maximally flexible model, hence expectations of future short rates are more variable—restrictions on risk prices help resolve the puzzle of implausibly stable short-rate expectations in this literature. Consistent with survey evidence and conventional macro wisdom, restricted models attribute a large share of the secular decline in long-term interest rates to expectations of future nominal short rates. Supplementary materials for this article are available online.     

Bond Risk Premia Forecasting: A Simple Approach for Extracting Macroeconomic Information from a Panel of Indicators

We propose a simple but effective estimation procedure to extract the level and the volatility dynamics of a latent macroeconomic factor from a panel of observable indicators. Our approach is based on a multivariate conditionally heteroskedastic exact factor model that can take into account the heteroskedasticity feature shown by most macroeconomic variables and relies on an iterated Kalman filter procedure. In simulations we show the unbiasedness of the proposed estimator and its superiority to different approaches introduced in the literature. Simulation results are confirmed in applications to real inflation data with the goal of forecasting long-term bond risk premia. Moreover, we find that the extracted level and conditional variance of the latent factor for inflation are strongly related to NBER business cycles.     

Macroeconomic Factors Strike Back: A Bayesian Change-Point Model of Time-Varying Risk Exposures and Premia in the U.S. Cross-Section

This article proposes a Bayesian estimation framework for a typical multi-factor model with time-varying risk exposures to macroeconomic risk factors and corresponding premia to price U.S. publicly traded assets. The model assumes that risk exposures and idiosyncratic volatility follow a break-point latent process, allowing for changes at any point on time but not restricting them to change at all points. The empirical application to 40 years of U.S. data and 23 portfolios shows that the approach yields sensible results compared to previous two-step methods based on naive recursive estimation schemes, as well as a set of alternative model restrictions. A variance decomposition test shows that although most of the predictable variation comes from the market risk premium, a number of additional macroeconomic risks, including real output and inflation shocks, are significantly priced in the cross-section. A Bayes factor analysis massively favors the proposed change-point model. Supplementary materials for this article are available online.     

国际油价向中国通货膨胀的传递及其影响因素研究

 本文深入分析了1992年以来国际油价向中国通货膨胀传递的特征,发现它是一个时变过程,且这个过程在1998年前后有一个明显的结构突变。通过结合1992年以来与油价有关的事件以及国家几次大的宏观经济政策的调整进行分析,本文探讨并实证检验了可能对国际油价传递产生影响的因素。文章最后给出了相关的结论和政策建议,以期给政策制定者们一些有益的参考。     

SVARMA模型的设定、方差分解分析和应用

本文首先研究了传统凯恩斯主义IS-LM-PC模型的SVARMA模型表示,为宏观经济计量分析建立SVARMA模型提供了模型设定依据;其次,建立了VARMA/SVARMA模型方差分解分析方法;另外,基于SVARMA模型对中国宏观经济政策的动态效应进行了实证分析,实证分析发现（1）SVARMA模型与SVAR模型的分析结果存在重要的区别;（2）在政策实施6-7期前后,财政政策和货币政策对抑制通货膨胀的效果发生逆转;（3）宏观经济的价格水平存在粘性;（4）货币供给冲击对通货膨胀率的变化具有滞后的正向影响,对实际产出的影响不明显等。     

Semiparametric Estimates of Monetary Policy Effects: String Theory Revisited

We develop flexible semiparametric time series methods for the estimation of the causal effect of monetary policy on macroeconomic aggregates. Our estimator captures the average causal response to discrete policy interventions in a macrodynamic setting, without the need for assumptions about the process generating macroeconomic outcomes. The proposed estimation strategy, based on propensity score weighting, easily accommodates asymmetric and nonlinear responses. Using this estimator, we show that monetary tightening has clear effects on the yield curve and on economic activity. Monetary accommodation, however, appears to generate less pronounced responses from both. Estimates for recent financial crisis years display a similarly dampened response to monetary accommodation.     

Real-Time Prediction With U.K. Monetary Aggregates in the Presence of Model Uncertainty

A popular account for the demise of the U.K.’s monetary targeting regime in the 1980s blames the fluctuating predictive relationships between broad money and inflation and real output growth. Yet ex post policy analysis based on heavily revised data suggests no fluctuations in the predictive content of money. In this paper, we investigate the predictive relationships for inflation and output growth using both real-time and heavily revised data. We consider a large set of recursively estimated vector autoregressive (VAR) and vector error correction models (VECM). These models differ in terms of lag length and the number of cointegrating relationships. We use Bayesian model averaging (BMA) to demonstrate that real-time monetary policymakers faced considerable model uncertainty. The in-sample predictive content of money fluctuated during the 1980s as a result of data revisions in the presence of model uncertainty. This feature is only apparent with real-time data as heavily revised data obscure these fluctuations. Out-of-sample predictive evaluations rarely suggest that money matters for either inflation or real output. We conclude that both data revisions and model uncertainty contributed to the demise of the U.K.’s monetary targeting regime.     

扩张型货币政策能刺激就业吗？ ——刚性工资模型下的劳动力市场动态分析

 积极的经济政策在促进经济增长、保证就业中的作用是当前宏观经济政策讨论的重点,本文即讨论货币政策冲击对就业等宏观经济变量的动态效应。首先,基于宏观季度数据,运用结构向量自回归方法,得到就业、产出和通胀在货币供给冲击下的动态反应,给出经验事实：在一单位货币供给冲击下,就业呈驼峰形态,缓慢下降回归稳态,显示出很强的持续性,但在中远期失业会增加;通货膨胀呈驼峰形态,显示很强的惯性特征,但在中远期会出现通货紧缩;产出温和增长,呈驼峰形态,显示出很强的持续性。同时,为进一步从经济理论上解析货币供给冲击对就业、产出和通胀传导的机制,数值模拟一个刚性工资模型,将模拟的脉冲反应结果与实证经验事实相比较,发现理论模型能较好地拟合上述三个经验事实,并从理论上进行货币供给冲击的经济传导机制分析。最后,结合经验事实与模型经济探讨了扩张型货币政策冲击下就业、通胀和产出的反应模式,给出政策建议,即扩张型货币供给冲击短期内能够有效刺激就业,促进经济增长;但在远期形成失业和通货紧缩,因此需要其他配套政策,如财政政策、收入政策等相配合。     

通货膨胀的宏观经济影响因素分析

本文首先利用贝叶斯向量自回归（BVAR）模型,分析了通货膨胀对宏观经济的冲击响应及其剧烈程度。然后,利用门限模型验证了通货膨胀在不同变量作为门限变量情况下的门限效应。结果表明：通货膨胀对六个因素冲击的反应程度各异,其中,对流动性过剩的反应程度最强,对股票价格、产出缺口和国际油价的反应适度,对实际有效汇率和房价的反应较弱;股票价格、汇率和国际油价具有明显的门限特征,它们分别将通货膨胀分为高低两种区制状态。以上结果有利于我们更好地认识通货膨胀的反应机制,采用合理的经济政策应对通货膨胀。     

INDEX TO VOLUME 7 (1989)

Surveys of forecasters, containing respondents’ predictions of future values of key macroeconomic variables, receive a lot of attention in the financial press, from investors and from policy makers. They are apparently widely perceived to provide useful information about agents’ expectations. Nonetheless, these survey forecasts suffer from the crucial disadvantage that they are often quite stale, as they are released only infrequently. In this article, we propose MIDAS regression and Kalman filter methods for using asset price data to construct daily forecasts of upcoming survey releases. Our methods also allow us to predict actual outcomes, providing competing forecasts, and allow us to estimate what professional forecasters would predict if they were asked to make a forecast each day, making it possible to measure the effects of events and news announcements on expectations.     

More Flexible Use of Survey Data on Expectations in Macroeconomic Models

A flexible procedure is proposed whereby both the random and systematic errors in measurement of survey data on inflation expectations can be appropriately handled when these surveys are used in the estimation of macroeconomic models. During the period 1952–1980, Livingston's two expectations series and the SRC series systematically underestimated inflation expectations by nearly 25%. The ASA–NBER survey, however, does not exhibit such underestimation. Thus, the use of the Livingston or SRC data as an unbiased measure of the true expectations of inflation would result in overestimation of the Fisher effect and the ex ante real interest rate.     

Forecasting the Distribution of Economic Variables in a Data-Rich Environment

This article investigates the relevance of considering a large number of macroeconomic indicators to forecast the complete distribution of a variable. The baseline time series model is a semiparametric specification based on the quantile autoregressive (QAR) model that assumes that the quantiles depend on the lagged values of the variable. We then augment the time series model with macroeconomic information from a large dataset by including principal components or a subset of variables selected by LASSO. We forecast the distribution of the h-month growth rate for four economic variables from 1975 to 2011 and evaluate the forecast accuracy relative to a stochastic volatility model using the quantile score. The results for the output and employment measures indicate that the multivariate models outperform the time series forecasts, in particular at long horizons and in tails of the distribution, while for the inflation variables the improved performance occurs mostly at the 6-month horizon. We also illustrate the practical relevance of predicting the distribution by considering forecasts at three dates during the last recession.     

货币需求、投机性交易与中国宏观经济波动

基于含实体与虚拟经济对货币供给影响机制的动态随机一般均衡(DSGE)模型,探析中国货币供给是内生的抑或是外生的,并重点研究了货币需求冲击和投机性冲击对整个宏观经济稳定的影响。研究结果表明:中国货币供给具有内生性;货币需求冲击和投机性冲击对货币供给波动有较大影响,进而对通货膨胀产生显著作用,因此加强公众预期的引导和管理,从而减弱货币需求冲击和投机性冲击的效应,对于中国防范和遏制通胀具有重要意义。     

经济周期中产出波动与通货膨胀不对称动态关系研究

建立不对称动态菲利普斯曲线理论研究经济周期中产出波动与通货膨胀不对称动态关系。该理论蕴含了经济扩张与收缩期中通胀持续性、产出波动对通胀的长短期影响差异特征及相关检验方法。运用该理论对中国相关季度数据进行了实证分析,结果表明:产出波动对通货膨胀短期中具有"顺周期"的正相关性,充当了"晴雨器"作用;长期中具有"逆周期"的负相关性,充当了"稳定器"作用。统计检验表明,经济周期中通货膨胀持续性及产出波动对通货膨胀的长短期影响具有显著不对称性,这种不对称性是中国经济转型期经济运行质量的历史检验,对现阶段追求经济增长质量具有深刻的政策启示。     

R2 Bounds for Predictive Models: What Univariate Properties Tell us About Multivariate Predictability

ABSTRACT

A long-standing puzzle in macroeconomic forecasting has been that a wide variety of multivariate models have struggled to out-predict univariate models consistently. We seek an explanation for this puzzle in terms of population properties. We derive bounds for the predictive R² of the true, but unknown, multivariate model from univariate ARMA parameters alone. These bounds can be quite tight, implying little forecasting gain even if we knew the true multivariate model. We illustrate using CPI inflation data. Supplementary materials for this article are available online.     

非线性协整检验与“费雪效应”机制分析

本文分别在线性Engle-Granger协整模型和非线性指数平滑迁移自回归误差修正模型 (ESTAR-ECM) 的框架下,对我国名义利率与通货膨胀率序列进行了长期均衡关系的检验。发现线性协整模型不能捕捉到我国名义利率与通货膨胀率的长期均衡关系,而对于ESTAR-ECM模型,无论利用商业银行1年期贷款利率还是7天期银行间同业拆借利率作为名义利率的代理变量,均证实名义利率与通货膨胀率具有长期稳定的均衡关系,表明“费雪效应”在我国是成立的。但由于“费雪效应”系数小于1,表明名义利率与通货膨胀率之间仅存在弱的“费雪效应”。其意义在于,我国利率政策对稳定通胀预期、抑制通货膨胀具有一定的正面效应,但由于利率对通货膨胀反应不足,导致完全依靠利率政策控制目前较高的通货膨胀有一定的困难。     

Asymmetric Forecast Densities for U.S. Macroeconomic Variables from a Gaussian Copula Model of Cross-Sectional and Serial Dependence

Most existing reduced-form macroeconomic multivariate time series models employ elliptical disturbances, so that the forecast densities produced are symmetric. In this article, we use a copula model with asymmetric margins to produce forecast densities with the scope for severe departures from symmetry. Empirical and skew t distributions are employed for the margins, and a high-dimensional Gaussian copula is used to jointly capture cross-sectional and (multivariate) serial dependence. The copula parameter matrix is given by the correlation matrix of a latent stationary and Markov vector autoregression (VAR). We show that the likelihood can be evaluated efficiently using the unique partial correlations, and estimate the copula using Bayesian methods. We examine the forecasting performance of the model for four U.S. macroeconomic variables between 1975:Q1 and 2011:Q2 using quarterly real-time data. We find that the point and density forecasts from the copula model are competitive with those from a Bayesian VAR. During the recent recession the forecast densities exhibit substantial asymmetry, avoiding some of the pitfalls of the symmetric forecast densities from the Bayesian VAR. We show that the asymmetries in the predictive distributions of GDP growth and inflation are similar to those found in the probabilistic forecasts from the Survey of Professional Forecasters. Last, we find that unlike the linear VAR model, our fitted Gaussian copula models exhibit nonlinear dependencies between some macroeconomic variables. This article has online supplementary material.     

中国价格型货币政策的系统性与非系统性时变效应研究

本文建立兼具随机波动率和时变参数的VAR模型,刻画经济系统中结构冲击和传导机制的时变性,并在同一框架内分析价格型货币政策的系统性和非系统性效应。研究结果显示：（1）对应于货币政策冲击,货币政策的非系统性效应在大波动时期存在“价格之谜”现象,在大稳定时期则出现政策冲击波动以及经济活动对其同向响应程度的双重下降现象,甚至在有些时段出现负向响应,其平抑经济波动的作用得到一定程度的体现。（2）系统性效应显示货币政策对于通货膨胀的响应强度整体呈消极特征,但存在一种往积极方向转变的动态学习模式,而且这种转变呈现不同状态的频繁转换。（3）反事实分析显示货币政策系统性和非系统性效应虽然有所改善,但这并不是宏观经济从大波动向大稳定转变的主要原因。     

The statistical impact of inflation on interest rates

Understanding the behavior of interest rates is of central importance in finance. This is due to the fact that interest and forward rates serve as underlyings for many fixed income products. Furthermore, interest rate-based quantities may be used as numeraires when it comes to computing present values of future payoffs. An important macroeconomic factor which is likely to trigger interest rates is inflation. In this paper we extend a well-known continuous time interest rate model by incorporating inflation. Finally, we apply a statistical test to real data to explore the goodness-of-fit of the inflation-based model.     

我国通货膨胀运动阶段的非线性平滑转换

本文分别构建了两、三以及四机制C-STAR模型来研究我国通货膨胀的非线性运动特征。实证结果表明：我国通胀率是平稳的非线性均值回归过程,依据三机制模型划分的通缩、通缩-通胀中间态以及通胀的三阶段能很好地刻画我国通货膨胀的运动特点;但是把我国通胀率划分为通缩、通胀适中、温和通胀和高通胀的四阶段能进一步提高模型的解释与拟合能力。我们详细阐述了通货膨胀在不同阶段的转换特点以及持久性与不确定性特征,发现通货膨胀的持久性与不确定性成反向非线性关系,与水平值的大小没有必然联系。在温和通胀阶段,其持久性最强,不确定性最小;在通胀适中阶段,其持久性最弱,不确定性最大。另外,温和通胀阶段也是最优通胀目标区间,为了保持经济的稳定增长,央行应把通胀率控制在该区间内。最后,本文给出了实证结果所蕴含的政策涵义。