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Modelling Okun’s Law – Does non-Gaussianity Matter?

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In this paper, we analyse Okun’s law – a relation between the change in the unemployment rate and GDP growth – using data from Australia, the euro area, the United Kingdom and the United States. More specifically, we assess the relevance of non-Gaussianity when mod-elling the relation. This is done in a Bayesian VAR framework with stochastic volatility where we allow the different models’ error distributions to have heavier-than-Gaussian tails and skewness. Our results indicate that accounting for heavy tails yields improvements over a Gaussian specification in some cases, whereas skewness appears less fruitful. In terms of dynamic effects, a shock to GDP growth has robustly negative effects on the change in the unemployment rate in all four economies.

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  • Kiss, Tamas & Nguyen, Hoang & Österholm, Pär, 2022. "Modelling Okun’s Law – Does non-Gaussianity Matter?," Working Papers 2022:1, Örebro University, School of Business.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:oruesi:2022_001
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Bayesian VAR; Heavy tails; GDP growth; Unemployment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C11 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Bayesian Analysis: General
    • C32 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Time-Series Models; Dynamic Quantile Regressions; Dynamic Treatment Effect Models; Diffusion Processes; State Space Models
    • C52 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling - - - Model Evaluation, Validation, and Selection
    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles

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