Long-run risk in stationary vector autoregressive models

Abstract

This paper introduces a local-to-unity/small sigma model for stationary processes with long-range persistence and non-negligible long-run prediction and estimation risks. The model represents a process containing unobserved short and long-run components measured on different time scales. The short-run component is defined in calendar time, while the long-run component evolves in rescaled time with ultra-long units. We develop estimation and long-run prediction methods for time series with multivariate Vector Autoregressive (VAR) short-run components and reveal the impossibility of estimating consistently some of the long-run parameters, which causes significant estimation and prediction risks in the long run. A simulation study and an application to macroeconomic data illustrate the approach.