Forecasting the Price of Oil Staff Working Paper 2011-15 Ron Alquist, Lutz Kilian, Robert Vigfusson We address some of the key questions that arise in forecasting the price of crude oil. What do applied forecasters need to know about the choice of sample period and about the tradeoffs between alternative oil price series and model specifications? Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Econometric and statistical methods, International topics JEL Code(s): C, C5, C53, Q, Q4, Q43, Q47
The Canadian Debt-Strategy Model: An Overview of the Principal Elements Staff Discussion Paper 2011-3 David Bolder, Simon Deeley The Canadian Debt Strategy Model helps debt managers determine their optimal financing strategy. The model’s code and documentation are available to the public. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers Topic(s): Debt management, Econometric and statistical methods, Financial markets, Fiscal policy JEL Code(s): C, C0, G, G1, G11, G17, H, H6, H63
Mixed Frequency Forecasts for Chinese GDP Staff Working Paper 2011-11 Philipp Maier We evaluate different approaches for using monthly indicators to predict Chinese GDP for the current and the next quarter (‘nowcasts’ and ‘forecasts’, respectively). We use three types of mixed-frequency models, one based on an economic activity indicator (Liu et al., 2007), one based on averaging over indicator models (Stock and Watson, 2004), and a static factor model (Stock and Watson, 2002). Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Econometric and statistical methods, International topics JEL Code(s): C, C5, C50, C53, E, E3, E37, E4, E47
The Impact of the Global Business Cycle on Small Open Economies: A FAVAR Approach for Canada Staff Working Paper 2011-2 Garima Vasishtha, Philipp Maier Building on the growing evidence on the importance of large data sets for empirical macroeconomic modeling, we use a factor-augmented VAR (FAVAR) model with more than 260 series for 20 OECD countries to analyze how global developments affect the Canadian economy. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Business fluctuations and cycles, Econometric and statistical methods, International topics JEL Code(s): C, C3, C32, F, F4, F41
Building New Plants or Entering by Acquisition? Estimation of an Entry Model for the U.S. Cement Industry Staff Working Paper 2011-1 Héctor Pérez Saiz In many industries, firms usually have two choices when expanding into new markets: They can either build a new plant (greenfield entry) or they can acquire an existing incumbent. In the U.S. cement industry, the comparative advantage (e.g., TFP or size) of entrants versus incumbents and regulatory entry barriers are important factors that determine the means of expansion. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Econometric and statistical methods, Market structure and pricing, Productivity JEL Code(s): L, L1, L13, L4, L40, L6, L61
'Lean' versus 'Rich' Data Sets: Forecasting during the Great Moderation and the Great Recession Staff Working Paper 2010-37 Marco J. Lombardi, Philipp Maier We evaluate forecasts for the euro area in data-rich and ‘data-lean' environments by comparing three different approaches: a simple PMI model based on Purchasing Managers' Indices (PMIs), a dynamic factor model with euro area data, and a dynamic factor model with data from the euro plus data from national economies (pseudo-real time data). Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Econometric and statistical methods, International topics JEL Code(s): C, C5, C50, C53, E, E3, E37, E4, E47
Testing Linear Factor Pricing Models with Large Cross-Sections: A Distribution-Free Approach Staff Working Paper 2010-36 Sermin Gungor, Richard Luger We develop a finite-sample procedure to test the beta-pricing representation of linear factor pricing models that is applicable even if the number of test assets is greater than the length of the time series. Our distribution-free framework leaves open the possibility of unknown forms of non-normalities, heteroskedasticity, time-varying correlations, and even outliers in the asset returns. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Econometric and statistical methods, Financial markets JEL Code(s): C, C1, C12, C14, C3, C33, G, G1, G11, G12
Bank Competition and International Financial Integration: Evidence Using a New Index Staff Working Paper 2010-35 Gurnain Pasricha This paper finds a strong empirical link between domestic banking sector competitiveness and de facto international integration. De-facto international integration is measured through a new index of financial integration, which measures, for deviations from covered interest parity, the size of no-arbitrage bands and the speed of arbitrage outside the no-arbitrage band. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Econometric and statistical methods, Financial markets, International topics JEL Code(s): F, F3, F32, G, G1, G15, G2, G21
Semi-Structural Models for Inflation Forecasting Staff Working Paper 2010-34 Maral Kichian, Rumler Fabio, Paul Corrigan We propose alternative single-equation semi-structural models for forecasting inflation in Canada, whereby structural New Keynesian models are combined with time-series features in the data. Several marginal cost measures are used, including one that in addition to unit labour cost also integrates relative price shocks known to play an important role in open-economies. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Econometric and statistical methods, Inflation and prices JEL Code(s): C, C1, C13, C5, C53, E, E3, E31
Identifying Asymmetric Comovements of International Stock Market Returns Staff Working Paper 2010-21 Fuchun Li Based on a new approach for measuring the comovements between stock market returns, we provide a nonparametric test for asymmetric comovements in the sense that stock market downturns will lead to stronger comovements than market upturns. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Econometric and statistical methods, Financial stability, Financial system regulation and policies, International topics JEL Code(s): C, C4, C49, F, F2, F21, G, G1, G15, G19