As with many important theories, the long run value of Phillips curve theories may lie in the new flames that are emerging from its dying embers.

It is argued that economists ought to recognize that modeling in different styles will be appropriate for different purposes or different stages in the development of an area of economics. As an example, the paper displays simulations of a stochastic general equilibrium model which shed light on...

This model extends one originally constructed by Robert Litterman in 1980 and used continuously since then to prepare quarterly forecasts. The current version is 3 variables larger than Litterman’s original model, and it now allows time variation in coefficients, predictable time variation in...

In a stochastic equilibrium model some stochastic processes are usually exogenously given, while others are either chosen optimally by agents or emerge from market equilibrium conditions. When we simulate such a model, often we aim at studying the relations among variables in the model as we...

In a world where time series show clear seasonal fluctuations, rational agents will take account of those fluctuations in planning their own behavior. Using seasonally adjusted data to model behavior of such agents throws away information and introduces possibly severe bias. Nonetheless it may...

Most macroeconomic models treat the central bank and the treasury as a unified entity. The balance sheet of the central bank is therefore implicitly treated as an accounting fiction. While this is often realistic, the central bank balance sheet has implications for central bank independence....

Interview with the 2011 Laureates in Economic Sciences Thomas J. Sargent and Christopher A. Sims, 6 December 2011. The interviewer is Adam Smith, Editorial Director of Nobel Media.

This paper presents a macroeconomic model that is both a completely specified dynamic general equilibrium model and a probabilistic model for time series data. We view the model as a potential competitor to existing ISLM-based models that continue to be used for actual policy analysis. Our...

This paper develops a forecasting procedure based on a Bayesian method for estimating vector autoregressions. The procedure is applied to ten macroeconomic variables and is shown to improve out-of-sample forecasts relative to univariate equations. Although cross-variables responses are damped by...