Understanding uncertainty shocks in Uruguay through VAR modeling

This study introduces a first set of uncertainty indexes for Uruguay (a newspaper-based index and a composite index-based) to analyze how economic uncertainty impacts domestic variables in a small and open economy such as Uruguay, which is exposed to international, regional, and local uncertainty. T...

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Detalhes bibliográficos
Autores: Lanzilotta, Bibiana, Merlo, Gabriel, Mordecki, Gabriela, Umpiérrez, Viviana
Formato: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2023
País:Uruguay
Recursos:Universidad de la República
Repositorio:COLIBRI
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:colibri.udelar.edu.uy:20.500.12008/41722
Acesso em linha:https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12008/41722
https://doi.org/10.1007/s41549-023-00081-5
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palavra-chave:Economic uncertainty
EPU index
VAR-X
Volatility
Uruguay
COVID-19
CICLOS ECONOMICOS
Descrição
Resumo:This study introduces a first set of uncertainty indexes for Uruguay (a newspaper-based index and a composite index-based) to analyze how economic uncertainty impacts domestic variables in a small and open economy such as Uruguay, which is exposed to international, regional, and local uncertainty. The analysis covers approximately 15 years and uses the vector autoregressive methodological framework. The main findings suggest that economic uncertainty significantly impacts the real economy and does not impact the nominal variables. These findings which differentiate from other results found in the empirical literature, can be associated with the stability of the Uruguayan economy and the strong institutions, which may help mitigate external shocks. To assess the capability of the proposed uncertainty model to predict macroeconomic variables, we evaluate its predictive performance within the last major uncertainty shock due to the COVID-19 pandemic.