Functional Approximation of Impulse Responses

A method to estimate the dynamic effects of structural shocks is proposed: "Functional Approximation of Impulse Responses" (FAIR) consists in directly estimating the moving average representation of the data by approximating impulse responses with a set of basis functions. FAIR can offer a number of benefits over alternative impulse response estimators, including VARs and Local Projections: (i) parsimony and efficiency, (ii) ability to summarize the dynamic effects of shocks with a few moments, (iii) ease of prior elicitation and structural identification, and (iv) flexibility in allowing for non-linearities. As an illustration, we study the dynamic effects of monetary shocks, notably their asymmetric effects. (C) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.