Research
Primary Research Interests: Time Series Econometrics, Applied Macroeconomics
Secondary Research Interests: Econometric Theory, Monetary Economics, Climate Economics
Working Papers
Consistent Specification Test for the Quantile Autoregression With No Omitted Latent Factors
This paper proposes a test for the joint hypothesis of correct dynamic specification and no omitted latent factors for the Quantile Autoregression. If the composite null is rejected we proceed to disentangle the cause of rejection, i.e., dynamic misspecification or an omitted variable. We establish the asymptotic distribution of the test statistics under fairly weak conditions and show that factor estimation error is negligible. A Monte Carlo study shows that the suggested tests have good finite sample properties. Finally, we undertake an empirical illustration of modelling growth and inflation in the United Kingdom, where we find evidence that factor augmented models are correctly specified in contrast with their non-augmented counterparts when it comes to GDP growth, while also exploring the asymmetric behaviour of the growth and inflation distribution.
Forecasting With Factor-Augmented Quantile Autoregressions: A Model Averaging Approach
This paper considers forecasts of the growth and inflation distributions of the United Kingdom with factor-augmented quantile autoregressions under a model averaging framework. We investigate model combinations across models using weights that minimise the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC), the Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC), the Quantile Regression Information Criterion (QRIC) as well as the leave-one-out cross validation criterion. The unobserved factors are estimated by principal components of a large panel with N predictors over T periods under a recursive estimation scheme. We apply the aforementioned methods to the UK GDP growth and CPI inflation rate. We find that, on average, for GDP growth, in terms of coverage and final prediction error, the equal weights or the weights obtained by the AIC and BIC perform equally well but are outperformed by the QRIC and the Jackknife approach on the majority of the quantiles of interest. In contrast, the naive QAR(1) model of inflation outperforms all model averaging methodologies.
The Time-Varying Inflation Risks
joint with Dimitris Korobilis, Bettina Landau & Alberto Musso
This paper develops a Bayesian quantile regression model with time-varying parameters (TVPs) for forecasting inflation risks. The proposed parametric methodology bridges the empirically established benefits of TVP regressions for forecasting inflation with the ability of quantile regression to model flexibly the whole distribution of inflation. In order to make our approach accessible and empirically relevant for forecasting, we derive an efficient Gibbs sampler by transforming the state-space form of the TVP quantile regression into an equivalent high-dimensional regression form. An application of this methodology points to a good forecasting performance of quantile regressions with TVPs augmented with specific credit and money-based indicators for the prediction of the conditional distribution of inflation in the euro area, both in the short and longer run, and specifically for tail risks.
Work In Progress
Tail Risks and the Evolution of Temperatures: a Conditional Quantile Time-Varying approach
joint with Vasco J. Gabriel & Luis F. Martins
Modelling Low-Frequency Covariability of Paleoclimatic Data
joint with Vasco J. Gabriel & Luis F. Martins