Work in Progress

Are (Some) Uncertainty Shocks Anticipated?

When people anticipate a change in the policy, they tend to adjust their behavior before the actual decision is made. The impact of anticipation on the results of VAR literature has been demonstrated particularly by Ramey (2009), who reexamines the differences between traditional Cholesky identification and the Ramey-Shapiro narrative approach with contradictory conclusions on the effect of government spending on consumption and wages. She discusses the importance of timing the identified shock (government spending) and argues that failing to count for the anticipation effect of the shock can cause these contradicting conclusions. So far, these aspects have not been discussed in the context of uncertainty shocks. However, some of the most prominent peaks in uncertainty, such as the Brexit referendum, could have been anticipated before the event actually happened. Daily data will allow studying the evolution of uncertainty related to specific events before and after the specific event so that an identification of the unexpected part of uncertainty will be possible.

Jun 1, 2023

The Anatomy of the New Keynesian Phillips Curve

Critical challenges in estimating the New Keynesian Phillips Curve (NKPC) equation lay in measuring the expectations of future inflation in the first part of the equation and choosing the driving variables in the second. Inflation expectations are not directly observable, and there is no agreement in the literature on the choice of driving variables. Hence the estimated NKPC is affected by various choices on inflation characteristics and the driving variable. Additionally, publication bias can be a salient factor affecting the variation of estimates. We use modern meta-analysis tools to study the impact of the estimated NKPC characteristics and publication bias in the literature. Finally, we conclude that heterogeneity in the chosen characteristics significantly affects the estimation of the NKPC equation and the resulting implications of the expected inflation and driving variable on the real economy. In conclusion, the research characteristics of the expected inflation and driving variable affect the real economy. Hence, our findings are important in understanding the role of heterogeneous characteristics in the implications of the estimated NKPC.

Nov 8, 2022