FRBUSinR

README.md

Study of FRB/US model packages from the Federal Reserve (and perhaps port to R language)

About:

FRB/US model packages:

"The main FRB/US model package is a self-contained set of equations, data, programs and documentation that enables various types of simulations and provides information about the model's structure."

"NOTE: The programs for simulating the FRB/US model are written for use with the software EViews, available at www.EViews.com"

Github: proudindiv/FRBUSinR:

Unfortunately, EViews is propritary software and hence not readily accessible. My thought is to explore the information provided by the Federal Reserve using the open source R-language and other freely available tools for truly reproducible results.

My project is at proudindiv/FRBUSinR on github with my current results described in the frbus.pdf file. I hope to produce something that attracts others to participate.

Contents of the FRBUSinR Repository:

1. frbus_package, mce_solve_package, state_space_package, and data_only_package contain the contents of the zip files downloaded from the Federal Reserve site.
2. frbus.nw, and frbus.pdf which is derived from it, is my first reverse engineering of the variables, equations, and coefficients of the standard version of the model. The frbus.nw noweb file is a literate probram that produces copies of the contents of four of the files (stdver_varinfo, stdver_eqs.txt, stdver_coeffs.txt, and variables.txt).
3. frbuseview.nw, and frbuseview.pdf which is derived from it, is the start of my second reverse engineering of the model creating copies of all of the Eview program files in the srcEview directory and the setup.sh and check.sh scripts that I use with them. This is a very early rough draft and will drastically change as I work on the model.
4. (future) frbusdata.Rnw and frbusdata.pdf which will be derived from it, will study the data used in the model.
5. (future) frbusmodel.Rnw and frbusmodel.pdf which will be derived from it, will be my modeling using the Fed's data.
6. (possible future) frbusR.Rnw and frbusR.pdf which will be derived from it, may possibly be my port of the FRB/US Model in the R programming language.

Tools Used:

I use TeXstudio and ReText, with noweb and R, on the ubuntu mate operating system:

To compile the noweb .nw files I use this user command in TeXstudio:

noweb %.nw | pdflatex -synctex=1 -interaction=nonstopmode %.tex

To compile the knitr .Rnw files I use this user command in TeXstudio:

Rscript -e "library(knitr);knit('%.Rnw')" | pdflatex -synctex=1 -interaction=nonstopmode %.tex

Web References to Release of the FRB/US Model:

• Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System: FRB/US Model
• Stephen Williamson: New Monetarist Economics
• John B. Taylor: Transparency for Policy Wonk
• Noahpinion: The foxy Fed
• Jon Hilsenrath WSJ: The Fed Wants to Introduce You to Its Friend Ferbus