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Some Variables are More Worthy Than Others: New Diffusion Index Evidence on the Monitoring of Key Economic Indicators

Author

Listed:
  • Norman R. Swanson

    (Rutgers University)

  • Nii Ayi Armah

    (Bank of Canada)

Abstract
Central banks regularly monitor select financial and macroeconomic variables in order to obtain early indication of the impact of monetary policies. This practice is discussed on the Federal Reserve Bank of New York website, for example, where one particular set of macroeconomic “indicators” is given. In this paper, we define a particular set of “indicators” that is chosen to be representative of the typical sort of variable used in practice by both policy-setters and economic forecasters. As a measure of the “adequacy” of the “indicators”, we compare their predictive content with that of a group of observable factor proxies selected from amongst 132 macroeconomic and financial time series, using the diffusion index methodology of Stock and Watson (2002a,b) and the factor proxy methodology of Bai and Ng (2006a,b) and Armah and Swanson (2010). The variables that we predict are output growth and inflation, two representative variables from our set of indicators that are often discussed when assessing the impact of monetary policy. Interestingly, we find that that indicators are all contained within the set the observable variables that proxy our factors. Our findings, thus, support the notion that a judiciously chosen set of macroeconomic indicators can effectively provide the same macroeconomic policy-relevant information as that contained in a largescale time series dataset. Of course, the large-scale datasets are still required in order to select the key indicator variables or confirm one’s prior choice of key variables. Our findings also suggest that certain yield “spreads” are also useful indicators. The particular spreads that we find to be useful are the difference between Treasury or corporate yields and the federal funds rate. After conditioning on these variables, traditional spreads, such as the yield curve slope and the reverse yield gap are found to contain no additional marginal predictive content. We also find that the macroeconomic indicators (not including spreads) perform best when forecasting inflation in non-volatile time periods, while inclusion of our spread variables improves predictive accuracy in times of high volatility.

Suggested Citation

  • Norman R. Swanson & Nii Ayi Armah, 2011. "Some Variables are More Worthy Than Others: New Diffusion Index Evidence on the Monitoring of Key Economic Indicators," Departmental Working Papers 201115, Rutgers University, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:rut:rutres:201115
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Kim, Hyun Hak & Swanson, Norman R., 2014. "Forecasting financial and macroeconomic variables using data reduction methods: New empirical evidence," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 178(P2), pages 352-367.
    2. Kihwan Kim & Norman Swanson, 2013. "Diffusion Index Model Specification and Estimation Using Mixed Frequency Datasets," Departmental Working Papers 201315, Rutgers University, Department of Economics.
    3. Hyun Hak Kim, 2013. "Forecasting Macroeconomic Variables Using Data Dimension Reduction Methods: The Case of Korea," Working Papers 2013-26, Economic Research Institute, Bank of Korea.
    4. Yucel, Eray, 2011. "A Review and Bibliography of Early Warning Models," MPRA Paper 32893, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    diffusion index; factor; forecast; macroeconometrics; monetary policy; parameter estimation error; proxy; federal reserve bank;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C22 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Time-Series Models; Dynamic Quantile Regressions; Dynamic Treatment Effect Models; Diffusion Processes
    • C33 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models
    • C51 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling - - - Model Construction and Estimation

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