Ökonometrische Methoden für wirtschaftliche Prognosen und Simulationen
Der Forschungsschwerpunkt der Forschungsgruppe liegt in der Entwicklung ökonometrischer Methoden für Kurzfristprognosen (Reduzierte-Form-Modelle), für Regionalisierung und für Langfristprojektionen sowie für strukturelle Prognose- und Simulationsmodelle (DSGE-Modelle). Ferner erstellt sie ökonometrische Hintergrundanalysen für die Prognosetätigkeit der Forschungsgruppe Makroökonomische Analysen und Prognosen. Im Rahmen von Drittmittelprojekten wurden verschiedene makroökonomische Modelle, bspw. für die Volkswagen Financial Services AG oder im Rahmen von GIZ-Projekten für die Wirtschaftsministerien in Kirgistan und Tadschikistan sowie das Institut für makroökonomische Prognosen und Forschung (IFMR) in Usbekistan entwickelt.
IWH-Datenprojekt: IWH Real-time Database
Forschungscluster
Wirtschaftliche Dynamik und StabilitätIhr Kontakt

- Abteilung Makroökonomik
PROJEKTE
07.2022 ‐ 12.2026
Evaluierung des InvKG und des Bundesprogrammes STARK
Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Klimaschutz (BMWK)
Im Auftrag des Bundesministeriums für Wirtschaft und Klimaschutz evaluieren das IWH und das RWI die Verwendung der rund 40 Milliarden Euro, mit denen der Bund die Kohleausstiegsregionen unterstützt.
12.2024 ‐ 02.2026
Macroeconomic Modelling for Energy Investments in Vietnam
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH
08.2024 ‐ 03.2025
Strengthening Public Financial Management in Vietnam
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH
01.2023 ‐ 12.2023
Frühzeitige Ermittlung stabiler Ergebnisse zum Bruttoinlandsprodukt bzw. realen Wirtschaftswachstum und der Bruttowertschöpfung auf Länderebene
Landesbetrieb Information und Technik Nordrhein-Westfalen
Das Projekt prüft, ob die Genauigkeit der ersten Schätzung der Bruttowertschöpfung und des Bruttoinlandsprodukts für die Bundesländer erhöht und damit das Ausmaß der nachfolgenden Revisionen reduziert werden kann.
01.2018 ‐ 12.2023
EuropeAid (EU-Rahmenvertrag)
Europäische Kommission
05.2020 ‐ 09.2023
ENTRANCES: Energy Transitions from Coal and Carbon: Effects on Societies
Europäische Kommission
Ziel von ENTRANCES ist es, die Folgen des Kohleausstiegs in Europa zu untersuchen. Wie verändert der Kohleausstieg die Gesellschaft – und wie kann Politik darauf reagieren?
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 883947.
10.2019 ‐ 01.2023
An Klimawandel angepasste Wirtschaftsentwicklung
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH
Der Klimawandel wirkt sich stark auf das Wirtschaftswachstum und die Entwicklung eines Landes aus. Das erhöht den Bedarf an verlässlichen und realisierbaren Ansätzen, mit denen die Auswirkungen von Klimarisiken und potenzielle Anpassungsszenarien bewertet werden können. Die politischen Entscheidungsträger*innen in den Planungs- und Wirtschaftsministerien benötigen fundierte Prognosen, um entsprechende wirtschaftspolitische Instrumente zu konzipieren, zu finanzieren und aktiv gegenzusteuern. In den Pilotländern Kasachstan, Vietnam und Georgien werden Klimarisiken bei der makroökonomischen Modellierung berücksichtigt. Die Ergebnisse werden so in den Politikprozess integriert, dass angepasste Wirtschaftsplanungen entstehen können. Das IWH-Team ist verantwortlich für die makroökonomische Modellierung in Vietnam.
07.2016 ‐ 12.2018
Klimaschutz und Kohleausstieg: Politische Strategien und Maßnahmen bis 2030 und darüber hinaus
Umweltbundesamt (UBA)
01.2017 ‐ 12.2017
Unterstützung einer nachhaltigen Wirtschaftsentwicklung in ausgewählten Regionen Usbekistans
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH
01.2017 ‐ 12.2017
Short-term Macroeconomic Forecasting Model in Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH
01.2016 ‐ 12.2017
Entwicklung eines analytischen Tools basierend auf einer Input-Output-Tabelle
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH
Das Ziel des Projektes war die Entwicklung eines Exceltools zur Wirkungsanalyse von Politikmaßnahmen in Tadschikistan basierend auf dem statischen Input-Output-Ansatz.
11.2015 ‐ 12.2016
Beschäftigung und Entwicklung in der Republik Usbekistan
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH
Förderung einer nachhaltigen wirtschaftlichen Entwicklung in ausgewählten Regionen Usbekistans
05.2016 ‐ 05.2016
Rahmenbedingungen und Finanzierungsmöglichkeiten für die Entwicklung des Privatsektors in Tadschikistan
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH
02.2016 ‐ 04.2016
Makroökonomische Reformen und umwelt- und sozialverträgliches Wachstum in Vietnam
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH
10.2015 ‐ 03.2016
Improved Evidence-based Policy Making - GIZ Tadschikistan
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH
Referierte Publikationen

Expectations, Infections, and Economic Activity
in: Journal of Political Economy, Nr. 8, 2024
Abstract
<p>This paper develops a quantitative theory of how people weigh the risks of infections against the benefits of engaging in social interactions that contribute to the spread of infectious diseases. Our framework takes into account the effects of public policies and private behavior on the spread of the disease. We evaluate the model using a novel micro panel dataset on consumption expenditures of young and older people across the first three waves of COVID-19 in Portugal. Our model highlights the critical role of expectations in shaping how human behavior influences the dynamics of epidemics.</p>

Understanding Post-Covid Inflation Dynamics
in: Journal of Monetary Economics, November 2023
Abstract
<p>We propose a macroeconomic model with a nonlinear Phillips curve that has a flat slope when inflationary pressures are subdued and steepens when inflationary pressures are elevated. The nonlinear Phillips curve in our model arises due to a quasi-kinked demand schedule for goods produced by firms. Our model can jointly account for the modest decline in inflation during the Great Recession and the surge in inflation during the post-COVID period. Because our model implies a stronger transmission of shocks when inflation is high, it generates conditional heteroskedasticity in inflation and inflation risk. Hence, our model can generate more sizeable inflation surges due to cost-push and demand shocks than a standard linearized model. Finally, our model implies that the central bank faces a more severe trade-off between inflation and output stabilization when inflation is elevated.</p>

Conditional Macroeconomic Survey Forecasts: Revisions and Errors
in: Journal of International Money and Finance, November 2023
Abstract
Using data from the European Central Bank's Survey of Professional Forecasters and ECB/Eurosystem staff projections, we analyze the role of ex-ante conditioning variables for macroeconomic forecasts. In particular, we test to which extent the updating and ex-post performance of predictions for inflation, real GDP growth and unemployment are related to beliefs about future oil prices, exchange rates, interest rates and wage growth. While oil price and exchange rate predictions are updated more frequently than macroeconomic forecasts, the opposite is true for interest rate and wage growth expectations. Beliefs about future inflation are closely associated with oil price expectations, whereas expected interest rates are related to predictions of output growth and unemployment. Exchange rate predictions also matter for macroeconomic forecasts, albeit less so than the other variables. With regard to forecast errors, wage growth and GDP growth closely comove, but only during the period when interest rates are at the effective zero lower bound.

Comment on “Optimal monetary policy in an estimated SIR model by G. Benmir, I. Jaccard, and G. Vermandel”
in: European Economic Review, September 2023
Abstract
<p>Benmir, Jaccard, and Vermandel (2023, BJV) seek to answer the following set of topical and important research questions: (i) How should monetary policy be conducted during a pandemic?, (ii) How do health considerations affect the conduct of monetary policy?, and (iii) How does the presence of contagion risk affect the main building blocks of the New Keynesian model?</p>

Evidence-based Support for Adaptation Policies in Emerging Economies
in: Low Carbon Economy, Nr. 1, 2023
Abstract
Climate change is increasingly evident, and the design of effective climate adaptation policies is important for regional and sectoral economic growth. We propose different modelling approaches to quantify the socio-economic impacts of climate change on three vulnerable countries (Kazakhstan, Georgia, and Vietnam) and design specific adaptations. We use a Dynamic General Equilibrium (DGE) model for Vietnam and an economy-energy-emission (E3) model for the other two countries. Our simulations until 2050 show that selected adaptation measures, in particular in the agricultural sector, have positive implications for GDP. However, some adaptation measures can even increase greenhouse gas emissions. Focusing on GDP alone can lead to welfare-reducing policy decisions.
Arbeitspapiere

Is there an Information Channel of Monetary Policy?
in: IWH Discussion Papers, Nr. 17, 2020
Abstract
Exploiting the heteroscedasticity of the changes in short-term and long-term interest rates and exchange rates around the FOMC announcement, we identify three structural monetary policy shocks. We eliminate the predictable part of the shocks and study their effects on financial variables and macro variables. The first shock resembles a conventional monetary policy shock, and the second resembles an unconventional monetary shock. The third shock leads to an increase in interest rates, stock prices, industrial production, consumer prices, and commodity prices. At the same time, the excess bond premium and uncertainty decrease, and the U.S. dollar depreciates. Therefore, this third shock combines all the characteristics of a central bank information shock.

Integrated Assessment of Epidemic and Economic Dynamics
in: IWH Discussion Papers, Nr. 4, 2020
Abstract
In this paper, a simple integrated model for the joint assessment of epidemic and economic dynamics is developed. The model can be used to discuss mitigation policies like shutdown and testing. Since epidemics cause output losses due to a reduced labor force, temporarily reducing economic activity in order to prevent future losses can be welfare enhancing. Mitigation policies help to keep the number of people requiring intensive medical care below the capacity of the health system. The optimal policy is a mixture of temporary partial shutdown and intensive testing and isolation of infectious persons for an extended period of time.

How Forecast Accuracy Depends on Conditioning Assumptions
in: IWH Discussion Papers, Nr. 18, 2019
Abstract
This paper examines the extent to which errors in economic forecasts are driven by initial assumptions that prove to be incorrect ex post. Therefore, we construct a new data set comprising an unbalanced panel of annual forecasts from different institutions forecasting German GDP and the underlying assumptions. We explicitly control for different forecast horizons to proxy the information available at the release date. Over 75% of squared errors of the GDP forecast comove with the squared errors in their underlying assumptions. The root mean squared forecast error for GDP in our regression sample of 1.52% could be reduced to 1.13% by setting all assumption errors to zero. This implies that the accuracy of the assumptions is of great importance and that forecasters should reveal the framework of their assumptions in order to obtain useful policy recommendations based on economic forecasts.

Progressive Tax-like Effects of Inflation: Fact or Myth? The U.S. Post-war Experience
in: IWH Discussion Papers, Nr. 33, 2017
Abstract
Inflation and earnings growth can push some tax payers into higher brackets in the absence of inflation-indexed schedules. Moreover, inflation may affect the composition of individuals’ income sources. As a result, depending on the relative tax burden of labour and capital, inflation may decrease or increase the difference between before-tax and after-tax income. However, whether some and if so which percentiles of the income distribution net benefit from inflation via taxation is a widely unexplored question. We make use of a novel dataset on U.S. pre-tax and post-tax income distribution series provided by Pike ty et al. (2018) for the years 1962 to 2014 to answer this question. To this end, we estimate local projections to quantify dynamic effects. We find that inflation shocks increase progressivity of taxation not only contemporaneously but also with some repercussion of several years after the shock. While particularly the bottom two quintiles gain in share, it is not the top but the fourth quintile that lastingly loses.

Outperforming IMF Forecasts by the Use of Leading Indicators
in: IWH Discussion Papers, Nr. 4, 2014
Abstract
This study analyzes the performance of the IMF World Economic Outlook forecasts for world output and the aggregates of both the advanced economies and the emerging and developing economies. With a focus on the forecast for the current and the next year, we examine whether IMF forecasts can be improved by using leading indicators with monthly updates. Using a real-time dataset for GDP and for the indicators we find that some simple single-indicator forecasts on the basis of data that are available at higher frequency can significantly outperform the IMF forecasts if the publication of the Outlook is only a few months old.