Jesper Lindé

Firm-Specific Capital, Nominal Rigidities and the Business Cycle

Macroeconomic and microeconomic data paint conflicting pictures of price behavior. Macroeconomic data suggest that inflation is inertial. Microeconomic data indicate that firms change prices frequently. We formulate and estimate a model which resolves this apparent micro - macro conflict. Our model is consistent with post-war U.S. evidence on inflation inertia even though firms re-optimize prices on average once every 1.5 quarters. The key feature of our model is that capital is firm-specific and pre-determined within a period.

Evaluating an Estimated New Keynesian Small Open Economy Model

This paper estimates and tests a new Keynesian small open economy model in the tradition of Christiano, Eichenbaum, and Evans (2005) and Smets and Wouters (2003) using Bayesian estimation techniques on Swedish data. To account for the switch to an inflation targeting regime in 1993 we allow for a discrete break in the central banks instrument rule. A key equation in the model - the uncovered interest rate parity (UIP) condition - is well known to be rejected empirically. Therefore we explore the consequences of modifying the UIP condition to allow for a negative correlation between the risk premium and the expected change in the nominal exchange rate. The results show that the modification increases the persistence and volatility in the real exchange rate and that this model has an empirical advantage compared with the standard UIP specification.

Modern Forecasting Models in Action: Improving Macroeconomic Analyses at Central Banks

There are many indications that formal methods are not used to their full potential by central banks today. In this paper, using data from Sweden, we demonstrate how BVAR and DSGE models can be used to shed light on questions that policymakers deal with in practice. We compare the forecast performance of BVAR and DSGE models with the Riksbanks official, more subjective forecasts, both in terms of actual forecasts and root mean-squared errors. We also discuss how to combine model- and judgment-based forecasts, and show that the combined forecast performs well out of sample. In addition, we show the advantages of structural analysis and use the models for interpreting the recent development of the inflation rate through historical decompositions. Last, we discuss the monetary transmission mechanism in the models by comparing impulse-response functions.

Forecasting Performance of an Open Economy DSGE Model

This paper analyzes the forecasting performance of an open economy dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) model, estimated with Bayesian methods, for the Euro area during 1994Q1–2002Q4. We compare the DSGE model and a few variants of this model to various reduced-form forecasting models such as vector autoregressions (VARs) and vector error correction models (VECM), estimated both by maximum likelihood and two different Bayesian approaches, and traditional benchmark models, e.g., the random walk. The accuracy of point forecasts, interval forecasts and the predictive distribution as a whole are assessed in an out-of-sample rolling event evaluation using several univariate and multivariate measures. The results show that the open economy DSGE model compares well with more empirical models and thus that the tension between rigor and fit in older generations of DSGE models is no longer present. We also critically examine the role of Bayesian model probabilities and other frequently used low-dimensional summaries, e.g., the log determinant statistic, as measures of overall forecasting performance.

Monetary Policy in an Estimated Open-Economy Model with Imperfect Pass-Through

We develop a structural model of a small open economy with gradual exchange rate pass-through and endogenous inertia in inflation and output. We then estimate the model by matching the implied impulse responses with those obtained from a VAR model estimated on Swedish data. Although our model is highly stylized it captures very well the responses of output, domestic and imported inflation, the interest rate, and the real exchange rate. However, in order to account for the observed persistence in the real exchange rate and the large deviations from UIP, we need a large and volatile premium on foreign exchange.

Fiscal Consolidation in an Open Economy

This paper uses a New Keynesian DSGE model of a small open economy to compare how the effects of fiscal consolidation differ depending on whether monetary policy is constrained by currency union membership or by the zero lower bound on policy rates. We show that there are important differences in the impact of fiscal shocks across these monetary regimes that depend both on the duration of the zero lower bound and on features that determine the responsiveness of inflation.

EMPIRICAL PROPERTIES OF CLOSED- AND OPEN-ECONOMY DSGE MODELS OF THE EURO AREA

In this paper, we compare the empirical proper-ties of closed- and open-economy DSGE models estimated on Euro area data. The comparison is made along several dimensions; we examine the models in terms of their marginal likelihoods, forecasting performance, variance decompositions, and their transmission mechanisms of monetary policy.

Capital Charges under Basel II: Corporate Credit Risk Modelling and the Macro Economy

The Internal Ratings Based (IRB) approach for capital determination is one of the cornerstones in the proposed revision of the Basel Committee rules for bank regulation. We evaluate the IRB approach using historical business loan portfolio data from a major Swedish bank for the period 1994 to 2000. First, we estimate a duration model that takes into account both company, loan related and macroeconomic variables. Next, we obtain a Value-at-Risktype (VaR) credit risk measure, by model-based simulations. Moreover, we study how both the bank’s credit risk and bu.er capital changes over time (had the bank been subject to the proposed rules). This approach allows us to (i) make individual forecasts of default risk conditional on company, loan and macro variables, (ii) study portfolio credit risk over time, (iii) assess to what extent the new Accord will achieve its main objective of increasing credit risk sensitivity in minimal capital charges, and (iv) compare current capital requirements to those under the proposed system. Our results show that macro conditions have great explanatory power in predicting default risk and calculating credit risk. The IRB approach, although sensitive to the choice of some horizon parameters, is an achievement in the intended direction.

Asymmetric Shocks in a Currency Union with Monetary and Fiscal Handcuffs

This paper investigates the impact of the asymmetric shocks within a currency union in a framework that takes account of the zero bound constraint on policy rates, and also allows for constraints on fiscal policy. In this environment, we document that the usual optimal currency argument showing that the effects of shocks are mitigated to the extent that they are common across member states can be reversed. Countries can be worse off when their neighbors experience similar shocks, including policy-driven reductions in government spending.

The Effects of Permanent Technology Shocks on Labor Productivity and Hours in the RBC model

Recent work on the effects of permanent technology shocks argue that the basic RBC model cannot account for a negative correlation between hours worked and labour productivity. In this Paper, I show that this conjecture is not necessarily correct. In the basic RBC model, I find that hours worked fall and labour productivity rises after a positive permanent technology shock once one allows for the possibility that the process for the permanent technology shock is persistent in growth rates. A more serious limitation of the RBC model is its inability to generate a persistent rise in hours worked after a positive permanent technology shock along with a rise in labour productivity that are in line with what the data suggests.