Central banks

FEDS Paper: Missing Data Substitution for Enhanced Robust Filtering and Forecasting in Linear State-Space Models

Dobrislav Dobrev and Paweł J. SzerszeńReplacing faulty measurements with missing values can suppress outlier-induced distortions in state-space inference. We therefore put forward two complementary methods for enhanced outlier-robust filtering and forecasting: supervised missing data substitution (MD) upon exceeding a Huber threshold, and unsupervised missing data substitution via exogenous randomization (RMDX).

FEDS Paper: Measuring the Euro Area Output Gap

Matteo Barigozzi, Claudio Lissona, and Matteo LucianiWe measure the Euro Area (EA) output gap and potential output using a non-stationary dynamic factor model estimated on a large dataset of macroeconomic and financial variables. From 2012 to 2023, we estimate that the EA economy was tighter than the European Commission and the International Monetary Fund estimate, suggesting that the slow EA growth is the result of a potential output issue, not a business cycle issue.

FEDS Paper: Life-Cycle Portfolio Choices and Heterogeneous Stock Market Expectations

Mateo Velásquez-GiraldoSurvey measurements of households' expectations about U.S. equity returns show substantial heterogeneity and large departures from the historical distribution of actual returns. The average household perceives a lower probability of positive returns and a greater probability of extreme returns than history has exhibited. I build a life-cycle model of saving and portfolio choices that incorporates beliefs estimated to match these survey measurements of expectations.

FEDS Paper: A Market Interpretation of Treatment Effects

Robert Minton and Casey B. MulliganMarkets, likened to an invisible hand, often appear to contradict econometric assumptions that rule out spillovers of one person’s treatment on another’s outcomes. This paper provides a simple statistical framework highlighting that controls are indirectly affected by the treatment through the market. Further, the effect of the treatment on the treated reveals only part of the consequence for the treated of treating the entire market.

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