Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T07:20:29.898Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

INSTRUMENTAL VARIABLE ESTIMATION OF STRUCTURAL VAR MODELS ROBUST TO POSSIBLE NONSTATIONARITY

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 January 2021

Xu Cheng*
Affiliation:
University of Pennsylvania
Xu Han
Affiliation:
City University of Hong Kong
Atsushi Inoue
Affiliation:
Vanderbilt University
*
Address correspondence to Xu Cheng, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA; e-mail: [email protected].

Abstract

This paper considers the estimation of dynamic causal effects using a proxy structural vector-autoregressive model with possibly nonstationary regressors. We provide general conditions under which the asymptotic normal approximation remains valid. In this case, the asymptotic variance depends on the persistence property of each series. We further provide a consistent asymptotic covariance matrix estimator that requires neither knowledge of the presistence properties of the variables nor pretests for nonstationarity. The proposed consistent covariance matrix estimator is robust and is easy to implement in practice. When all regressors are indeed stationary, the method becomes the same as the standard procedure.

Type
ARTICLES
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

We thank Donald Andrews, Peter Phillips, and two anonymous referees for their helpful comments. Xu Han would like to acknowledge the financial support by the GRF grant 11505515 from the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong S.A.R.

References

REFERENCES

Andrews, D.W.K. & Guggenberger, P. (2010) Asymptotic size and a problem with subsampling and with the m out of n bootstrap. Econometric Theory 26, 426468.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Benkwitz, A., Lütkepohl, H., & Neumann, M.H. (2000) Problems related to confidence intervals for impulse responses of autoregressive processes. Econometric Reviews 19, 69103.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dolado, J.J. & Lütkepohl, H. (1996) Making Wald tests work for cointegrated VAR systems. Econometric Reviews 15, 369386.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elliott, G. (1998) On the robustness of cointegration methods when regressors almost have unit roots. Econometrica 66, 149158.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Engle, R.F. & Granger, W.J. (1987) Co-integration and error correction: Representation, estimation, and testing. Econometrica 55, 251276.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gertler, M. & Karadi, P. (2015) Monetary policy surprises, credit costs, and economic activity. American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics 7, 4476.Google Scholar
Gospodinov, N. (2004) Asymptotic confidence intervals for impulse responses of near-integrated processes. Econometrics Journal 7, 505527.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Inoue, A. & Kilian, L. (2002) Bootstrapping autoregressive processes with possible unit roots. Econometrica 70, 377391.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Inoue, A. & Kilian, L. (2016) Joint confidence sets for structural impulse responses. Journal of Econometrics 192, 421432.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Inoue, A. & Kilian, L. (2019) The Uniform Validity of Impulse Response Inference in Autoregressions. Working paper, Vanderbilt University and Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kilian, L. (1999) Finite-sample properties of percentile and percentile-t bootstrap confidence intervals for impulse responses. Review of Economics and Statistics 81, 652660.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leeb, H. & Pötscher, B.M. (2005) Selection and inference: Facts and fiction. Econometric Theory 21, 2159.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mertens, K. & Ravn, M.O. (2013) The dynamic effects of personal and corporate income tax changes in the United States. American Economic Review 103, 12121247.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mikusheva, A. (2007) Uniform inference in autoregressive models. Econometrica 75, 14111452.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mikusheva, A. (2012) One-dimensional inference in autoregressive models with the potential presence of a unit root. Econometrica 80, 173212.Google Scholar
Montiel Olea, J.L. & Plagborg-Møller, M. (2019) Simultaneous confidence bands: Theory, implementation, and an application to SVARs. Journal of Applied Econometrics 34, 117.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Montiel Olea, J.L., Stock, J.H., & Watson, M.W. (2018) Inference in Structural Vector Autoregressions Identified with an External Instrument. Working paper, Columbia University, Harvard University, and Princeton University.Google Scholar
Park, J.Y. & Phillips, P.C.B. (1989a) Statistical inference in regressions with integrated processes: Part 1. Econometric Theory 4, 468497.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Park, J.Y. & Phillips, P.C.B. (1989b) Statistical inference in regressions with integrated processes: Part 2. Econometric Theory 5, 95131.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pesavento, E. & Rossi, B. (2007) Impulse response confidence intervals for persistent data: What have we learned? Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control 31, 23982412.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Phillips, P.C.B. (1987) Time series regression with a unit root. Econometrica 55, 277301.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Phillips, P.C.B. (1988) Regression theory for near-integrated time series. Econometrica 56, 10211043.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Phillips, P.C.B. & Solo, V. (1992) Asymptotics for Linear Processes. Annals of Statistics 20, 9711001.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Phillips, P.C.B. (1998) Impulse response and forecast error variance asymptotics in nonstationary VARs. Journal of Econometrics 83, 2156.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Phillips, P.C.B. (2014) On confidence intervals for autoregressive roots and predictive regression. Econometrica 82, 11771195.Google Scholar
Sims, C.A., Stock, J.H., & Watson, M.W. (1990) Inference in linear time series models with some unit roots. Econometrica 58, 113144.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stock, J.H. (1991) Confidence Intervals for the Largest Autoregressive Root in Macroeconomic Time Series. Journal of Monetary Economics 28, 435459.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stock, J.H. & Watson, M.W. (2012) Disentangling the channels of the 2007–09 recession. Brookings Papers on Economic Activity. 81135.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stock, J.H. & Watson, M.W. (2018) Identification and estimation of dynamic causal effects in macroeconomics. Economic Journal 128, 917948.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Toda, H.Y. & Phillips, P.C.B. (1993) The spurious effect of unit roots on vector autoregressions. Journal of Econometrics 59, 229255.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Toda, H.Y. & Yamamoto, T. (1995) Statistical inference in vector autoregressions with possibly integrated processes. Journal of Econometrics 66, 225250.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wright, J. (2000) Confidence intervals for univariate impulse responses with a near unit root. Journal of Business & Economic Statistics 18, 368373.Google Scholar