Measure Of Output Gap Research Articles

The Reliability of Inflation Forecasts Based on Output Gap Estimates in Real Time

A stable predictive relationship between inflation and the output gap, often referred to as a Phillips curve, provides the basis for countercyclical monetary policy in many models. In this paper, we evaluate the usefulness of alternative univariate and multivariate estimates of the output gap for predicting inflation. Many of the ex post output gap measures we examine appear to be quite useful for predicting inflation. However, forecasts using real-time estimates of the same measures do not perform nearly as well. The relative usefulness of real-time output gap estimates diminishes further when compared to simple bivariate forecasting models which use past inflation and output growth. Forecast performance also appears to be unstable over time, with models often performing differently over periods of high and low inflation. These results call into question the practical usefulness of the output gap concept for forecasting inflation.

The Reliability of Inflation Forecasts Based on Output Gap Estimates in Real Time

A stable predictive relationship between inflation and the output gap, often referred to as a Phillips curve, provides the basis for countercyclical monetary policy in many models. In this paper, we evaluate the usefulness of alternative univariate and multivariate estimates of the output gap for predicting inflation. Many of the ex post output gap measures we examine appear to be quite useful for predicting inflation. However, forecasts using real-time estimates of the same measures do not perform nearly as well. The relative usefulness of real-time output gap estimates diminishes further when compared to simple bivariate forecasting models which use past inflation and output growth. Forecast performance also appears to be unstable over time, with models often performing differently over periods of high and low inflation. These results call into question the practical usefulness of the output gap concept for forecasting inflation.

Modelling Short-term Interest Rates in the Euro Area Using Business Survey Data

Interest rates play a key role in free market economies. According to the Taylor rule, shortterm interest rates depend on deviations of the current inflation rate from a normative value and of the output gap. Given the difficulty of observing the output gap, we postulate that alternative indicators of pressure on capacity should be monitored, especially those obtained from business surveys. Primarily, our work compares those empirically observed capacity utilization figures (CU) with the difference between actual and potential GDP, and tries to assess monetary policy on the basis of these indicators. The analysis of monetary policy is done in the first case by using a simple single equation framework and in a next step by using a more advanced vector autoregressive model. Given the fact that the survey measure of output gap captures only manufacturing and thus omits the important service sector which has a high share in value added we constructed a more comprehensive measure of capacity utilization (CU*). The new indicator is based on CU in manufacturing industry and on the confidence indicator for services...

Ghostbusting: Which Output Gap Measure Really Matters?

This paper investigates various output gap measures in a simple inflation forecasting framework. Reflecting the cyclical position of an economy, an (unobservable) output gap has important implications for economic analysis. I construct and compare common output gap measures for five European countries. Since output above potential reflects domestic inflationary pressures, including a gap could improve the accuracy of autoregressive inflation forecasting. This assertion is tested in a simple simulated out-of-sample forecasting exercise for the period 1990-2002. The main conclusions are that an output gap rarely provides useful information and that there is no single best output gap measure across countries.

Ghostbusting: Which Output Gap Measure Really Matters?

This paper investigates various output gap measures in a simple inflation forecasting framework. Reflecting the cyclical position of an economy, an (unobservable) output gap has important implications for economic analysis. I construct and compare common output gap measures for five European countries. Since output above potential reflects domestic inflationary pressures, including a gap could improve the accuracy of autoregressive inflation forecasting. This assertion is tested in a simple simulated out-of-sample forecasting exercise for the period 1990-2002. The main conclusions are that an output gap rarely provides useful information and that there is no single best output gap measure across countries.

Real-Time Estimation of the Output Gap in Japan and its Usefulness for Inflation Forecasting and Policymaking

Abstract This paper examines the methods used by the Bank of Japan (BOJ) for estimation of the output gap. Great emphasis is put on the real-time estimation problems. After reviewing the evolution of output-gap estimation at the Bank, I discuss advantages and disadvantages of the various output-gap measures. First, I examine the usefulness of the output gap for inflation forecasting and show that the real-time output gap sometimes includes too much noise. Second, I investigate the implications of the real-time estimation problems for policy evaluation. Third, I exploit the TANKAN to enhance the usefulness of the real-time output gap.

Stronger Evidence of Long-Run Neutrality: A Comment on Bernanke and Mihov

This dissertation collects five independent essays. The first essay is An Alternative Explanation of the Price Puzzle. The most widely accepted explanation of the price puzzle points to an inadequate performance of the VAR in forecasting inflation. This essay suggests that the finding of a price puzzle is due to a seemingly innocent misspecification in taking the theoretical model to the data: a measure of output gap is not included in the VAR (output alone being used instead), while this variable is a crucial element in every equation of the theoretical models. When the VAR is correctly specified, the price puzzle disappears. Building on results contained in the first paper, the second-- Stronger Evidence of Long-Run Neutrality: A comment on Bernanke and Mihov---improves the empirical performance of standard models on the prediction that a monetary policy shock should have temporary effects on output. It turns out that the same misspecification causing the price puzzle is also responsible for overestimation of the time needed for the effects on output of a monetary policy shock to die out. The point can be proven in a theoretical economy, and is confirmed on US data. Monetary Policy Without Monetary Aggregates: Some (Surprising) Evidence , joint with Giovanni Favara) is the third essay. It points to what seems to be a falsified prediction of models in the New-Keynesian framework. In this framework monetary aggregates are reserved a pretty boring role, so boring that they can be safely excluded from the final lay out of the model. These models predict that a money demand shock should have no effect on output, inflation and interest rate. However, the prediction seems to be quite wrong Inflation Forecast Targeting, joint with Paul Soderlind, takes a step outside the representative-agent framework. In RE models, all agents typically have the same information set, and therefore make the same predictions. However, in the real even professional forecasters show substantial disagreement. This disagreement can have an impact on asset prices and transaction volumes, among other things. However, there is no unique way of aggregating forecasts (or forecast probability density functions) into a measure of disagreement. The paper deals with this problem, surveying some proposed methods. The most appropriate measure of disagreement turns out to depend on the intended use, that is, on the model. Moreover, forecasters underestimate uncertainty. Constitutions and Central-Bank Independence: An Objection to McCallum's Second Fallacy, joint with Giancarlo Spagnolo , is an excursion into the field of Political Economy. The essay provides some foundations for the assumption that renegotiating a delegation contract can be costly by illustrating how political institutions can generate inertia in re-contracting, reduce the gains from it or prevent it altogether. Once the nature of renegotiation costs has been clarified, it is easier to see why certain institutions can mitigate or solve dynamic inconsistencies better than others.

An Alternative Explanation of the Price Puzzle

This paper proposes a simple explanation for the frequent appearance of a price puzzle in VARs designed for monetary policy analysis. It suggests that the best method of solving the puzzle implies a close connection between theory and empirics rather than the introduction of a commodity price. It proves that the omission of a measure of output gap (or potential output) spuriously produces a price puzzle (and several other incorrect conclusions) in a wide class of commonly used models. This can happen even if the model admits a triangular identification and if the forecasts produced by the misspecified VAR are optimal. When the model is tested on US data, all predictions are supported.

Stylised Facts From Output GAP Measures

This paper compares three models of the output gap in New Zealand ‐ the Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s incumbent MV filter, estimates from a Structural VAR, and a multivariate unobserved components model ‐ and investigates whether there are features that are consistent across the measures of the gap. Various detrending methods are used for benchmarking the output gap measures, including a linear trend, a fourth difference filter, a band-pass filter, the Hodrick-Prescott filter, an “optimal λ ” procedure, and a nonparametric estimator of permanent trend. The estimates of the gap are examined to see how they compare as to the lengths and amplitudes of cycles, whether they exhibit regular periodicity and regular shapes, whether they are symmetric in phases and severity of swings, and whether they point to the same turning points. The analysis leads to the conclusion that while different filters result in estimates of the output gap with quite different properties, the three models are generally in agreement about the historical profile of the output gap, if not its precise level. Moreover, there are signs that the models are increasingly in agreement about the level of the gap, indicating that the growth cycle is becoming more regular in the 1990s.

Supply potential and output gaps in West German manufacturing

Data on West Germany manufacturing output and producer prices are analysed to extract information on underlying demand and supply shocks. Identification is achieved using long-run restrictions, based on a theoretical model. The main results are that both demand and supply shocks are important in explaining German business cycles from 1965 to 1993. Finally, the structural VAR gap measures are compared with alternative univariate gap measures and it is shown that the predictability range of inflation could be enhanced when alternative output gap measures are combined.

A Distant-Early-Warning Model of Inflation Based on M1 Disequilibria

Les auteurs de la presente etude sont parvenus a la conclusion qu'un modele de correction des erreurs qui prevoit l'evolution du taux d'inflation entre le trimestre de la prevision et les huit trimestres subsequents fournit d'importants renseignements avances sur l'evolution de l'inflation.