FRBNY DSGE Model (Version 990.2)

The DSGE.jl package implements the FRBNY DSGE model and provides general code to estimate many user-specified DSGE models. The package is introduced in the Liberty Street Economics blog post The FRBNY DSGE Model Meets Julia.

This Julia-language implementation mirrors the MATLAB code included in the Liberty Street Economics blog post The FRBNY DSGE Model Forecast.

FRBNY is currently working on extending the code to include forecasts and other features. Extensions of the DSGE model code may be released in the future at the discretion of FRBNY.

Model Design

DSGE.jl is an object-oriented approach to solving the FRBNY DSGE model that takes advantage of Julia's type system, multiple dispatch, package-handling mechanism, and other features. A single model object centralizes all information about the model's parameters, states, equilibrium conditions, and settings in a single data structure. The model object also keeps track of file locations for all I/O operations.

The following objects define a model:

• Parameters: Have values, bounds, fixed-or-not status, priors. An instance of the AbstractParameter type houses all information about a given parameter in a single data structure.
• States: Mappings of names to indices (e.g. π_t ➜ 1).
• Equilibrium Conditions: A function that takes parameters and model indices, then returns Γ0, Γ1, C, Ψ, and Π (which fully describe the model in canonical form).
• Measurement Equation: A function mapping states to observables.

These are enough to define the model structure. Everything else is essentially a function of these basics, and we can solve the model and forecast observables via the following chain:

• Parameters + Model Indices + Equilibrium conditions ➜ Transition matrices in state-space form
• Transition matrices + Data ➜ Estimated parameter values
• Estimated parameters + Transition matrices + Data ➜ Forecast (not yet implemented)

Running the Code

Running with Default Settings

So far, only the estimation step of the DSGE model has been implemented. To run the estimation step in Julia, simply create an instance of the model object and pass it to the estimate function.

# construct a model object
m = Model990()

# reoptimize parameter vector, compute Hessian at mode, and full posterior
# parameter sampling
estimate(m)

# produce LaTeX tables of parameter moments
compute_moments(m)

By default, the estimate routine reoptimizes the initial parameter vector, computes the Hessian at the mode, and conducts full posterior parameter sampling. (The initial parameter vector used is specified in the model's constructor.)

The user may want to avoid reoptimizing the parameter vector and calculating the Hessian matrix at this new vector. Please see Reoptimizing below.

For more detail on changing the model's default settings, parameters, equilibrium conditions, etc., see Implementation Details for more specifics.

Input/Output Directory Structure

The DSGE.jl estimation uses data files as input and produces large data files as outputs. One estimation saves approximately 6GB of parameter draws and related outputs. It is useful to understand how these files are loaded/saved and how to control this behavior.

Directory Tree

The following subdirectory tree indicates the default locations of these input and outputs. Square brackets indicate directories in the tree that will become relevant as future features are implemented.

• <dataroot>/: Root data directory.

  • data/: Macroeconomic input data series.
    • data_<yymmdd>.h5: Input data vintage from yymmdd.
  • cond/: Conditional data, i.e. "nowcast", for the current forecast quarter.
  • user/: User-created or sample model input files. For instance, the user may specify a previously computed mode when reoptimize(m) is false, or a starting point for optimization when reoptimize(m) is true.
    • paramsmode.h5: Sample modal parameter vector.
    • hessian.h5: Sample Hessian matrix at mode.

• <saveroot>/: Root save directory.

  • output_data/
    • m990/: Input/output files for the Model990 type. A model of type SPEC will create its own save directory SPEC/ at this level in the directory tree.
      • ss0/: Subdirectory for subspec 0.
        • estimate/
          • figures/: Plots and other figures
          • tables/: LaTeX tables
          • raw/: Raw output data from estimation step
            • paramsmode.h5: Parameter vector mode after running optimization
            • hessian.h5: Hessian at the mode
            • mhsave.h5: Draws from posterior distribution
          • work/: Derived data files created using raw/ files as input
            • cov.h5: Covariance matrix for parameter draws from Metropolis-Hastings. Can be used as proposal covariance matrix.
        • [xxx/]: Other model outputs, such as forecasts, impulse response functions, and shock decompositions.
          • [figures/]: Plots and other figures
          • [tables/]: LaTeX tables
          • [raw/]: Raw output data from xxx step
          • [work/]: Derived data files created using raw/ files as input
      • [ss1/] Additional model subspecs will have subdirectories identical to ss0 at this level in the directory tree.

Directory Paths

By default, input/output directories are located in the DSGE.jl package, along with the source code. Default values of the input/output directory roots:

• saveroot(m): "$(Pkg.dir())/DSGE/save"
• dataroot(m): "$(Pkg.dir())/DSGE/save/input_data"

Note these locations can be overridden as desired:

m <= Setting(:saveroot, "path/to/my/save/root")
m <= Setting(:dataroot, "path/to/my/data/root")

Input data used

For more details on the sample input data provided, please see Data.

For more details on using market interest rate expectations to treat the zero lower bound, see Anticipated Policy Shocks. In particular, note that our model, as used to compute the forecasts referenced in Liberty Street Economics posts, is trained on data that includes six quarters of interest rate expectations. The user is responsible for procuring interest rate expectations and appending it to the provided sample data set, as discussed in the linked documentation here.

Implementation Details

This section describes important functions and implementation features in greater detail. If the user is interested only in running the default model and reproducing the forecast results, this section can be ignored.

This section focuses on what the code does and why, while the code itself (including comments) provides detailed information regarding how these basic procedures are implemented.

Source Code Directory Structure

The source code directory structure follows Julia module conventions.

• doc/: Code and model documentation
• src/
  • DSGE.jl: The main module file.
  • abstractdsgemodel.jl: Defines the AbstractModel type.
  • parameters.jl: Implements the AbstractParameter type and its subtypes.
  • settings.jl: Implements the Setting type.
  • distributions_ext.jl: Defines additional functions to return objects of type Distribution.
  • estimate/: Mode-finding and posterior sampling.
  • [xxx/]: Other model functionality, such as forecasts, impulse response functions, and shock decompositions.
  • models/ - m990/: Contains code to define and initialize version 990 of the FRBNY DSGE model. - eqcond.jl: Constructs Model990 equilibrium condition matrices - m990.jl: Code for constructing a Model990 object. - measurement.jl: Constructs Model990 measurement equation matrices. - subspecs.jl: Code for model sub-specifications is defined here. See Editing or Extending a Model for details on constructing model sub-specifications. - [m991/]: Code for new subtypes of AbstractModel should be kept in directories at this level in the directory tree
  • solve/: Solving the model; includes gensys.jl code.
• test/: Module test suite.

Reoptimizing

Generally, the user will want to reoptimize the parameter vector (and consequently, calculate the Hessian at this new mode) every time they conduct posterior sampling:

• the input data are updated with new observations or revised
• the model sub-specification is changed
• the model is derived from an existing model with differing equilibrium conditions or measurement equation.

This behavior can be controlled more finely.

Reoptimize from Starting Vector

Reoptimize the model starting from the parameter values supplied in use in a specified file. Ensure that you supply an HDF5 file with a variable named params that is the correct dimension and data type.

m = Model990()
params = load_parameters_from_file(m, "path/to/parameter/file.h5")
update!(m, params)
estimate(m)

Skip Reoptimization Entirely

You can provide a modal parameter vector and optionally a Hessian matrix calculated at that mode to skip the reoptimization entirely. These values are usually computed by the user previously.

You can skip reoptimization the parameter vector entirely.

m = Model990()
specify_mode!(m, "path/to/parameter/mode/file.h5")
estimate(m)

The specify_mode! function will update the parameter vector to the mode and skip reoptimization. Ensure that you supply an HDF5 file with a variable named params that is the correct dimension and data type.

You can additional skip calculation of the Hessian matrix entirely.

m = Model990()
specify_mode!(m, "path/to/parameter/mode/file.h5")
specify_hessian(m, "path/to/Hessian/matrix/file.h5")
estimate(m)

The specify_hessian function will cause estimate to read in the Hessian matrix rather than calculating it directly. Ensure that you supply an HDF5 file with a variable named hessian that is the correct dimension and data type. Specifying the Hessian matrix but not the parameter mode results in undefined behavior.

The AbstractModel Type and the Model Object

The AbstractModel type provides a common interface for all model objects, which greatly facilitates the implementation of new model specifications. Any concrete subtype of AbstractModel can be passed to any function defined for AbstractModel, provided that the concrete type has the fields that the function expects to be available.

Model990 is one example of a concrete subtype of AbstractModel that implements a single specification of the FRBNY DSGE model. See Editing or Extending a Model.

Parameters and Steady-States

• parameters::Vector{AbstractParameter}: Vector of all time-invariant model parameters.
• steady_state::Vector: Model steady-state values, computed as a function of elements of parameters.
• keys::Dict{Symbol,Int}: Maps human-readable names for all model parameters and steady-states to their indices in parameters and steady_state.

Inputs to the Measurement and Equilibrium Condition Equations

• endogenous_states::Dict{Symbol,Int}: Maps each state to a column in the measurement and equilibrium condition matrices.
• exogenous_shocks::Dict{Symbol,Int}: Maps each shock to a column in the measurement and equilibrium condition matrices.
• expected_shocks::Dict{Symbol,Int}: Maps each expected shock to a column in the measurement and equilibrium condition matrices.
• equilibrium_conditions::Dict{Symbol,Int}: Maps each equilibrium condition to a row in the model's equilibrium condition matrices.
• endogenous_states_augmented::Dict{Symbol,Int}: Maps lagged states to their columns in the measurement and equilibrium condition equations. These are added after gensys solves the model.
• observables::Dict{Symbol,Int}: Maps each observable to a row in the model's measurement equation matrices.

Model Specification and Settings

• spec::ASCIIString: Model specification number (e.g. "m990"). Identifies a particular set of parameters, equilibrium conditions, and measurement equation (equivalently, a concrete model type - for example, models of type Model990 would have spec = "m990".)
• subspec::ASCIIString: Model sub-specification (e.g. "ss0"). Indicates any changes to parameter initialization from spec. See Editing or Extending a Model for more details.
• settings::Dict{Symbol,Setting}: Settings/flags that affect computation without changing the economic or mathematical setup of the model.
• test_settings::Dict{Symbol,Setting}: Settings/flags for testing mode

Other Fields

• rng::MersenneTwister: Random number generator. By default, it is seeded to ensure reproducibility in algorithms that involve randomness (such as Metropolis-Hastings).
• testing::Bool: Indicates whether the model is in testing mode. If true, settings from m.test_settings are used in place of those in m.settings.
• _filestrings::SortedDict{Symbol,AbstractString,ForwardOrdering}: An alphabetized list of setting identifier strings. These are concatenated and appended to the filenames of all output files to avoid overwriting the output of previous estimations/forecasts that differ only in their settings, but not in their underlying mathematical structure. See Settings for more details.

Defining Indices

The model's equilibrium conditions and observables are represented as fairly large matrices, and keeping track of which rows and columns correspond to which states, shocks, equations, etc. can be confusing. To improve clarity, we define several dictionaries that map variable names to indices in these matrices:

• endogenous_states: Indices of endogenous model states
• exogenous_shocks: Indices of exogenous shocks
• expected_shocks: Indices of expectation shocks
• equilibrium_conditions: Indices of equilibrium condition equations
• endogenous_states_augmented: Indices of model states, after model solution and system augmentation
• observables: Indices of named observables

This approach has a number of advantages. Most importantly, it is robust to inadvertent typos or indexing errors. Since the actual index number doesn't matter to us, the user only needs to define the names of their equilibrium conditions, states, and other variables. Adding states is easy - we have only to add them to the appropriate list in the model constructor, and they will be assigned an index.

As an example, consider the model's equilibrium conditions. The canonical representation of the equilibrium conditions is

Γ0 s_t = Γ1 s_{t-1} + C + Ψ ε_t + Π η_t

where Γ0, Γ1, C, Ψ, and Π are matrices of coefficients for s_t (states at time t), s_{t-1} (lagged states), ε_t (exogenous shocks) and η_t (expectational shocks). Each row of these matrices corresponds to an equilibrium condition, which we define using a descriptive name (for example, we name the consumption Euler equation :euler). States (columns of Γ0 and Γ1), exogenous shocks (columns of Ψ), and expectational shocks (columns Π) also have names.

Parameters: The AbstractParameter Type

The AbstractParameter type implements our notion of a model parameter: a time-invariant, unobserved value that has economic significance in the model's equilibrium conditions. We estimate the model to find the values of these parameters.

Though all parameters are time-invariant, each has different features. Some parameters are scaled for use in the model's equilibrium conditions and measurement equations. During optimization, parameters can be transformed from model space to the real line via one of three different transformations. These transformations are also defined as types, and require additional information for each parameter. Finally, steady-state parameters are not estimated directly, but are calculated as a function of other parameters.

These various requirements are nicely addressed using a parameterized type hierarchy.

• AbstractParameter{T<:Number}: The common abstract supertype for all parameters.
  • Parameter{T<:Number, U<:Transform}: The abstract supertype for parameters that are directly estimated.
    • UnscaledParameter{T<:Number, U:<Transform}: Concrete type for parameters that do not need to be scaled for equilibrium conditions.
    • ScaledParameter{T<:Number, U:<Transform}: Concrete type for parameters that are scaled for equilibrium conditions.
  • SteadyStateParameter{T<:Number}: Concrete type for steady-state parameters.

All Parameters have the following fields:

• key::Symbol: Parameter name. For maximum clarity, key should conform to the guidelines established in CONTRIBUTING.md.
• value::T: Parameter value. Initialized in model space (guaranteed to be between valuebounds), but can be transformed between model space and the real line via calls to transform_to_real_line and transform_to_model_space.
• valuebounds::Interval{T}: Bounds for the parameter's value in model space.
• transform_parameterization::Interval{T}: Parameters used to transform value between model space and the real line.
• transform::U: Transformation used to transform value between model space and real line.
• prior::NullablePrior: Prior distribution for parameter value.
• fixed::Bool: Indicates whether the parameter's value is fixed rather than estimated.
• description::AbstractString: A short description of the parameter's economic significance.
• tex_label::AbstractString: String for printing the parameter name to LaTeX.

ScaledParameters also have the following fields:

• scaledvalue::T: Parameter value scaled for use in eqcond.jl
• scaling::Function: Function used to scale parameter value for use in equilibrium conditions.

Note: Though not strictly necessary, defining a scaling with the parameter object allows for much a much cleaner definition of the equilibrium conditions.

Because the values of SteadyStateParameters are directly computed as a function of ScaledParameters and UnscaledParameters, they only require 4 fields:

• key::Symbol
• value::T
• description::AbstractString
• tex_label::AbstractString

Model Settings

The Setting type implements computational settings that affect how the code runs without affecting the mathematical definition of the model. These include flags (e.g. whether or not to recompute the Hessian), parameterization for the Metropolis-Hastings algorithm (e.g. number of times to draw from the posterior distribution), and the vintage of data being used (Setting is a parametric type - a Setting{T<:Any}, so Booleans, Numbers, and Strings can all be turned into Settings). They are stored centrally in the settings dictionary within the model object.

Why implement a Setting type when we could put their values directly into the source code or dictionary? The most obvious answer is that the parametric type allows us to implement a single interface for all Settings (Booleans, Strings, etc.), so that when we access a particular setting during the estimation and forecast steps, we don't have to think about the setting's type.

Settings play an important role in addition to providing useful abstraction. Estimating and forecasting the FRBNY DSGE model takes many hours of computation time and creates a lot of output files. It is useful to be able to compare model output from two different models whose settings differ slightly (for example, consider two identical models that use different vintages of data as input). A central feature of the Setting type is a mechanism that generates unique, meaningful filenames when code is executed with different settings. Specifically, when a setting takes on a non-default value, a user-defined setting code (along with the setting's value) are appended to all output files generated during execution.

The Setting{T<:Any} type has the following fields:

• key::Symbol: Name of setting
• value::T: Value of setting
• print::Bool: Indicates whether to append this setting's code and value to output file names. If true, output file names will include a suffix of the form _key1=val1_key2=val2 etc. where codes are listed in alphabetical order.
• code::AbstractString: short string (4 characters or less) to print to output file names when print=true.
• description::AbstractString: Short description of what the setting is used for.

Default Settings

I/O

• dataroot::Setting{ASCIIString}: The root directory for model input data.
• saveroot::Setting{ASCIIString}: The root directory for model output.
• data_vintage::Setting{ASCIIString}: Data vintage identifier, formatted yymmdd. By default, data_vintage is set to the most recent date of the files with name <dataroot>/data/data_<yymmdd>.h5. It is the only setting printed to output filenames by default.

Anticipated Shocks

• n_anticipated_shocks::Setting{Int}: Number of anticipated policy shocks.
• n_anticipated_shocks_padding::Setting{Int}: Padding for anticipated shocks.
• zlb_start_index::Setting{Int}: Index into input data matrix of first period to incorporate zero bound expectations. The first observation in the sample data is 1959Q3 and we assume the zero lower bound period starts in 2008Q4, so we set this to 198 by default.
• n_presample_periods::Setting{Int}: Number of periods in the presample.

Estimation

• reoptimize::Setting{Bool}: Whether to reoptimize the posterior mode. If true (the default), estimate() begins reoptimizing from the model object's parameter vector.
• calculate_hessian::Setting{Bool}: Whether to compute the Hessian. If true (the default), estimate() calculates the Hessian at the posterior mode.

Metropolis-Hastings

• n_mh_simulations::Setting{Int}: Number of draws from the posterior distribution per block.
• n_mh_blocks::Setting{Int}: Number of blocks to run Metropolis-Hastings.
• n_mh_burn::Setting{Int}: Number of blocks to discard as burn-in for Metropolis-Hastings.
• mh_thin::Setting{Int}: Metropolis-Hastings thinning step.

Accessing Settings

The function get_setting(m::AbstractModel, s::Symbol) returns the value of the setting s in m.settings. Some settings also have explicit getter methods that take only the model object m as an argument:

I/O settings: saveroot(m), dataroot(m), data_vintage(m),

Parallelization: use_parallel_workers(m)

Estimation: reoptimize(m), calculate_hessian(m), n_hessian_test_params(m),

Metropolis-Hastings: n_mh_blocks(m), n_mh_simulations(m), n_mh_burn(m), mh_thin(m)

Overwriting Default Settings

To overwrite default settings added during model construction, a user must define a new Setting object and overwrite the corresponding entry in the model's settings dictionary using the <= syntax. Individual fields of a pre-initialized setting object cannot be modified. This immutability enforces the naming convention described in the preceding paragraphs (the default parameters are constructed without codes and are not printed to filename outputs to avoid excessively long filenames). Therefore, we strongly suggest that users who modify settings set print=true and define a meaningful code when overwriting any default settings.

For example, overwriting use_parallel_workers should look like this:

m = Model990()
m <= Setting(:use_parallel_workers, true)

Estimation

Finds modal parameter values, calculate Hessian matrix at mode, and samples from posterior distribution. See estimate in estimate.jl.

Main Steps:

• Initialization: Read in and transform raw data from save/input_data/.

• Reoptimize parameter vector: The main program will call the csminwel optimization routine (located in csminwel.jl) to find modal parameter estimates.

• Compute Hessian matrix: Computing the Hessian matrix to scale the proposal distribution in the Metropolis-Hastings algorithm.

• Sample from Posterior: Posterior sampling is performed using the Metropolis-Hastings algorithm. A proposal distribution is constructed centered at the posterior mode and with proposal covariance scaled by the inverse of the Hessian matrix. Settings for the number of sampling blocks and the size of those blocks can be altered as described in Editing or Extending a Model.

Remark: In addition to saving each mh_thin-th draw of the parameter vector, the estimation program also saves the resulting posterior value and transition equation matrices implied by each draw of the parameter vector. This is to save time in the forecasting step since that code can avoid recomputing those matrices.

Editing or Extending a Model

Users may want to extend or edit Model990 in a number of different ways. The most common changes are listed below, in decreasing order of complexity:

1. Add new parameters
2. Modify equilibrium conditions or measurement equations
3. Change the values of various parameter fields (i.e. initial value, prior, transform, etc.)
4. Change the values of various computational settings (i.e. reoptimize, n_mh_blocks)

Points 1 and 2 often go together (adding a new parameter guarantees a change in equilibrium conditions), and are such fundamental changes that they increment the model specification number and require the definition of a new subtype of AbstractModel (for instance, Model991). See Model specification for more details.

Any changes to the initialization of preexisting parameters are defined as a new model sub-specification, or subspec. While less significant than a change to the model's equilibrium conditions, changing the values of some parameter fields (especially priors) can have economic significance over and above settings we use for computational purposes. Parameter definitions should not be modified in the model object's constructor. First, incrementing the model's sub-specification number when parameters are changed improves model-level (as opposed to code-level) version control. Second, it avoids potential output filename collisions, preventing the user from overwriting output from previous estimations with the original parameters. The protocol for defining new sub-specifications is described in Model sub-specifications.

Overriding default settings is described in the Settings section above.

Model specification (m.spec)

A particular model, which corresponds to a subtype of AbstractModel, is defined as a set of parameters, equilibrium conditions (defined by the eqcond function) and measurement equations (defined by the measurement function). Therefore, the addition of new parameters, states, or observables, or any changes to the equilibrium conditions or measurement equations necessitate the creation of a new subtype of AbstractModel.

To create a new model object, we recommend doing the following:

1. Duplicate the m990 directory within the models directory. Name the new directory mXXX.jl, where XXX is your chosen model specification number or string. Rename m990.jl in this directory to mXXX.jl.

2. In the mXXX/ directory, change all references to Model990 to ModelXXX.

3. Edit the m990.jl, eqcond.jl, and measurement.jl files as you see fit. If adding new states, equilibrium conditions, shocks, or observables, be sure to add them to the appropriate list in init_model_indices.

4. Open the module file, src/DSGE.jl. Add ModelXXX to the list of functions to export, and include each of the files in src/model/mXXX.

Model sub-specifications (m.subspec)

Model990 sub-specifications are initialized by overwriting initial parameter definitions before the model object is fully constructed. This happens via a call to init_subspec in the Model990 constructor. (Clearly, an identical protocol should be followed for new model types as well.)

To create a new sub-specification (e.g., subspec 1) of Model990, edit the file src/models/subspecs.jl as follows (note that this example is not actually sub-specification 1 of Model990. In the source code, our sub-specification 5 is provided as additional example.):

1. Define a new function, ss1, that takes an object of type Model990 (not AbstractModel!) as an argument. In this function, construct new parameter objects and overwrite existing model parameters using the <= syntax. For example,

function ss1(m::Model990)
    m <= parameter(:ι_w, 0.000, (0.0, .9999), (0.0,0.9999), DSGE.Untransformed(), Normal(0.0,1.0), fixed=false,
                   description="ι_w: Some description.",
                   tex_label="\\iota_w")
    m <= parameter(:ι_p, 0.0, fixed=true,
                   description= "ι_p: Some description"
                   tex_label="\\iota_p")
end

2. Add an elseif condition to init_subspec:

    ...
    elseif subspec(m) == "ss1"
        return ss1(m)
    ...

To construct an instance of Model990, ss1, call the constructor for Model990 with ss1 as an argument. For example,

m = Model990("ss1")

Acknowledgements

Developers of this package at FRBNY include

• Pearl Li
• Erica Moszkowski
• Micah Smith

Contributors to this package at QuantEcon include

• Zac Cranko
• Spencer Lyon
• Pablo Winant

The gensys and csminwel routines in gensys.jl and csminwel.jl are based on routines originally copyright Chris Sims. The files are released here with permission of Chris Sims under the BSD-3 license.

The kalman_filter routine is loosely based on a version of the Kalman filter algorithm originally copyright Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta and written by Iskander Karibzhanov. The files are released here with permission of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta under the BSD-3 license.