Estimation of structural impulse responses: Short-run versus long-run identifying restrictions

There is evidence that estimates of long-run impulse responses of structural vector autoregressive (VAR) models based on long-run identifying restrictions may not be very accurate. This finding suggests that using short-run identifying restrictions may be preferable. We compare structural VAR impulse response estimates based on long-run and short-run identifying restrictions and find that long-run identifying restrictions can result in much more precise estimates for the structural impulse responses than restrictions on the impact effects of the shocks.