SearcharxivSearch

arXiv · 2007.13804

The Spectral Approach to Linear Rational Expectations Models

Abstract

This paper considers linear rational expectations models in the frequency domain. The paper characterizes existence and uniqueness of solutions to particular as well as generic systems. The set of all solutions to a given system is shown to be a finite dimensional affine space in the frequency domain. It is demonstrated that solutions can be discontinuous with respect to the parameters of the models in the context of non-uniqueness, invalidating mainstream frequentist and Bayesian methods. The ill-posedness of the problem motivates regularized solutions with theoretically guaranteed uniqueness, continuity, and even differentiability properties.

Explore related subjects

Keep this discovery

BibTeXRIS

Majid M. Al-Sadoon. 2020-07-27. The Spectral Approach to Linear Rational Expectations Models. https://doi.org/10.1017/s026646662400029x

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

Identification in Linear Quantile Panel Models

This paper studies identification in linear quantile panel models with unrestricted individual heterogeneity when the number of time periods is fixed and small. We impose strict exogeneity, whereby the conditional quantile restriction holds given the individual's complete regressor history and latent individual effect, but otherwise allow the disturbances to be arbitrarily dependent over time.

econ.EM

Experimental Design for Policy Choice

We show how to optimally design experiments when the resulting data will be used to choose a welfare-maximizing policy subject to constraints. A decision maker seeks to maximize Bayes expected welfare by choosing a policy whose effects depend on an unknown finite-dimensional parameter. The decision maker has access to a first wave of experimental data with a fixed design but may choose the design of a second wave that will be collected before choosing the policy. The resulting experimental design--policy choice problem is a very high-dimensional dynamic program that is generally intractable in finite samples. We propose a tractable approximation based on the limit experiment and show it is asymptotically optimal using a new asymptotic representation theorem for adaptive experiments with continuous treatments. We apply the method to a conditional cash transfer experiment and demonstrate the potential for large gains from tailoring the experiment to the policy choice.

econ.EM

Designing Spatial Treatments

Spatial treatments are interventions assigned to locations potentially distinct from those of the responding units. We study their optimal design under a general model in which a unit's response diminishes with distance to a treated site. Our estimand of interest is an ``uncontaminated'' effect equal to the average impact of a single intervention site over all hypothetical sites. We propose a novel design based on a Mat\'{e}rn point process which separates treatments by a distance of at least $r$. A larger choice of $r$ reduces bias by separating interventions but increases variance by reducing their numerosity. We choose $r$ to maximize the rate of convergence of a Horvitz-Thompson estimator and prove that this is minimax rate-optimal. We provide weak conditions under which the estimator is asymptotically normal and propose a variance estimator.

econ.EM