Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2011 with funding from Boston Library Consortium Member Libraries http://www.archive.org/details/importanceofpermOOquah £ department v)U''- k' ^' 'ii-J'.j'Sl?!*' of economics THE IMPORTANCE OF PERMANENT AND TRANSITORY COMPONENTS: IDENTIFICATION AND SOME THEORETICAL BOUNDS Danny Quah No. 498 May 1991 Revised massachusetts institute of technology 50 memorial drive Cambridge, mass. 02139 THE IMPORTANCE OF PERMANENT AND TRANSITORY COMPONENTS: IDENTIFICATION AND SOME THEORETICAL BOUNDS Danny Quah No. 498 Revised May 1991 MIT Working paper The version Relative Importance of Permanent and Transitory Components: Identification and Some Theoretical Bounds by Danny Quah* 08 * MIT May Economics Department and 1991 NBER. I thank Olivier Blanchard, Larry James Stock, Mark Watson, and Jeffrey Wooldridge for discussions. Victor Solo and three anonymous referees made helpful comments on ecirher versions of this paper. Finally, I thank Lars Peter Hansen who through discussions and correspondence helped sharpen the discussion considerably. All errors and misinterpretations are mine alone. Christiano, John Cochrane, Steve Durlauf, The Relative Importance of Permanent and Transitory Components: and Some Theoretical Bounds by Identification Danny Quah MIT Economics Department and 08 May NBER. 1991 Abstract Much macToeconometric discussion has recently emphasized the economic significance of the size of the permanent component a iarge iiterature has developed that measured, tries to in GNP. Consequently, estimate this magnitude essentially, as the spectral density of increments in — GNP frequency zero. This paper shows that unless the permanent component random wedk at is has been misplaced: in general, that quantity does not identify the magnitude of the permanent component. Further, by developing bounds on reasonable measures of this magnitude, the paper shows that a random waJk specification is biased towards estabhshing the a this attention permanent component as important. 1. A Introduction large literature has recently developed that purports to estimate the GNP, magnitude of a time series's permanent component. influential papers by Nelson and Plosser (1982), Watson (1986), Campbell and Mankiw For this literature includes the (1987), and Cochrane (1988). Using non-parametric reasoning Cochrane (1988) has, further, developed a measure that allows arbitrary serieJ correlation in the tramsitory there is components. All this research, however, has Jissumed either that only one disturbance perturbing the time series under study, or that the — underlying permanent component has very special structure for instance, that it has sericdly uncorrelated increments. More recently, other researchers, e.g., Shapiro and Watson (1988) and Elan- chard and Quah (1989), have argued that the economic forces underlying GNP movements imply that multiple disturbances perturb permanent component has rich dynamics. GNP In this paper and that the underlying I show that under these circumstances the measures that had been earlier proposed, in fact, cannot identify the magnitude of the permanent component. In particular, derlying permanent arbitrarily component smooth, so that at dominates that I prove that the un- in every integrated time series can be taken to be all finite series's fluctuations horizons can, further, be chosen to be uncorrelated at smoothness is it is the trajisitory component that —these permanent and transitory components leads and lags. all This arbitrary achievable regardless of the values taken by Campbell and Mankiw's "long-run effect of a shock" or Cochrane 's or Watson's "size of the component" for that integrated time series. This proposition therefore casts rious doubt on the usefulness of those measures for cissessing the time series's permanent component. random walk Without se- magnitude of a explicitly identifying the underly- ing economic disturbances, a researcher cannot quantify the relative importance of permanent and transitory components. To known see the implications of this arbitrary smoothness result, recall assertions in the literature: Nelson Mankiw (1987) have serving that criticized traditional US GNP might at and Plosser (1982) and Campbell and be better characterized as integrated rather than trend most transitory — both Mankiw (1987), separately, put forward claims based on univariate characterization of ries properties: one, that that disturbances to GNP's permanent component GNP macroeconomic effects of disturbances to output. In contrast. Nel- son and Plosser (1982) and Campbell and two claims well- models of economic fluctuations by ob- stationary. According to these investigators' reaisoning, traditional models predict some is GNP's time se- highly volatile and, two, have significant and long-hved effects. The accuracy of the univariate time series models that these investigators used remains controversial (see, e.g., Watson (1986), Cochrane (1988), Perron (1989), and Christiano and Eichenbaum (1990)). But, according to the results in the current paper the accuracy of those measurements turns out to be irrelevant for whether permanent -3disturbances are important for to GNP have long-Uved integrated and can still have its GNP fluctuations and for whether most disturbances The eflfects. show analysis below shows that a time series can be significant persistence in its innovations, by fluctuations dominated but nevertheless Thus treinsitory disturbances. this paper mcikes exphcit an important general message: Because studying the univariate time series characterizations of a variable leaves unidentified the sources of that variable's fluctuations, without additional ad hoc restrictions those characterizations are pletely uninformative for the relative trcinsitory components. To sharpen understanding explicit lower bounds for of the arbitrary smoothness property, is restricted to derive below increments ARIMA be an Choosing the permanent component to be a random waUc serially uncorrelated I two natural measures of the importance of a permanent component when that permanent component quence. com- importance of the underlying permanent and — i.e., se- to have —turns out to maximize both these lower bounds. This therefore makes precise a sense in which a random walk specification for the permanent component biases the analysis towards finding the permanent component to be important. Section 2 provides rigorous statements of our theoretical decomposition results in a general setting; Section 3 restricted to be ABIMA identifiability of arbitrary does the same for permanent components a priori processes. While those two sections consider the laick permanent and transitory components, some positive sults are in fact avaUable. Section 4 considers of re- permanent and transitory components subject to certain orthogonality and informational restrictions. I show that under those restrictions these components are unique; further, whether such components exist can be tested for by a Granger-causality characterizaiton. The paper then concludes with Section The reader 5. will notice that the analysis of Sections 2 through 4 use moment- matching reasoning to construct permanent and transitory components. Sometimes a researcher might wish to go beyond this, i.e., to construct what — in the termi- nology of stochastic differential equations —are called strong sense solutions rather than only weak sense ones. The Appendix provides calculations that accomplish The Technical Appendix this. contains all the proofs. General Results 2. This section shows that every integrated sequence admits a decomposition into permanent and components with the increments of the permanent com- trjinsitory ponent having arbitrarily small variance — this decomposition the permanent and trcinsitory components are uncorrelated at First, estabhsh notation: = py is { A random integrated or difTerence stationary when AW{t) = W{t) — W{t — use the method in Doob 1) is sequence a f leads and lags. t its first } difference or increment covariance stationary, but W itself is not. We (1953) pp. 461-463 to always extend definition of covari- ance stationary sequences over defined only for integer all sequence W{t), non-negative integer def when possible even is > random walk 1. all the integers, even if those sequences are initially For the purposes of this paper, we if its ccdl an integrated increments are serially uncorrelated (not necessar- Elements of a sequence, stochastic or otherwise, are denoted by integer ily iid). arguments in parentheses; subscripts indicate either distinct ments of a matrix. Thus, for sequences or the ele- example, Yi and Yq are different stochastic sequences with the <-th element of each written as Yi{t) and Yo{t). Without loss of generality, all is some sity W arbitrariness in a 2ir normalization, we mean zero. Since there explicitly specify the spectral den- matrix to be the fourier trsuisform of the covjiriogram matrix sequence: is a jointly covau'iance stationary vector sequence, 5w(w) — TT covariance stationary sequences are taken to have =^ Ej~ -oo ^ [Vi^iJWW] e"'"'-' Finally, its spectral density matrix make precise the decompositions that is aU integrals below are taken from to X. Next, When we are investigating: -5Definition 2.1: Let Y (PT) decomposition Yo (iii) leads and y; = Y{t) yi(<) + lags, then the Given a for for Y covariance stationary; is and PT A permanent-transitory be an integrated sequence. is (ii) yo(<). a pair {Yi,Yo) such that: Yi Further, if (iv) is AYi is uncorrected with Yq at call Yi a a transitory component. permanent component Permanent indicates only that disturbances to Yi have long run effects on y when (i)-(iii) addition (iv) uncorrelated. also say that (yi.yo) decomposes of 2.1 hold, and that (yi,yo) orthogoneJly decomposes (ii) rules out trivial cases. For instance, might be natural to set Yi toY But . definition then sensibly asserts that for We wiU in this context Y, not that the Y when in is true. Condition it sericilly all said to be orthogonal. decomposition (yijVo) for Y, increments of Yi are integrated and is Var(Ayi(<)) and Var(Ayo(t)) are strictly positive; PT decomposition similarly, call Yo (i) if so, there (Yi,Y — Yi) is when y is a random walk, no transitory component; the = (y 0) is not a PT decomposition y. From Beveridge and Nelson (1981), we know that every integrated sequence admits a decomposition into perfectly correlated permanent and trcinsitory components where further the permanent component has serially uncorrelated increments. Watson (1986) and Cochrane (1988) have considered models where the permanent component remains a random walk, but has increments that might be imperfectly correlated with the transitory component. In all these, the variance of increments in the permanent component can be identified from the spectral density of increments in the original sequence (see, e.g., By contrast, Shapiro Watson (1986) or Cochrane (1988)). and Watson (1988) and Blanchard and Quah (1989) have considered models where permanent components have richer dynamics than those in a random walk. In these more general specifications, permanent components turn out to have variances that can no longer be identified from just the second of the original sequence. The moments extent of this lack of identification can be seen in the -6following result. Theorem I \\- exp(iw)|-2 ^ be an Let Fix S, a spectral density satisfying: 2.2: • - S^y (0)| dw < |5Ay(w) < 5Ay(0) < oo and arbitrary non-negative function on [— ir, tt], cx>. 0, and leads and symmetric about sucii that: (i) (ii) / < i/'(w) |1 - 1 for w ^ exp(iw)|-2(l Suppose that lags, < - and 0; V'(w))dw AXi and AXo and have spectral Then [X\,Xo) oo. are stochastic sequences orthogonal at densities an orthogonal is < S^Xi = and SaXo i'S = (1 ~ all 4')S, respectively. PT decomposition for an integrated sequence whose increments have the given spectral density S. Theorem 2.2 asserts that under regularity conditions the second moments of an arbitrary integrated sequence are consistent with a wide range of dynamics in the underlying permanent and transitory components.^ sequences has spectral density equal to the underlying sequences, rpS + (1 — rp)S. with increments it is obvious that sum Since the of orthogonal of the spectrsJ densities of the AXi + AXq Thus, the only subtlety in Theorem 2.2 AXq) sum has spectrjJ density is S = whether Xq (a sequence could be covariance stationary. But this follows from noting ^ The alert reader will notice that Theorem 2.2 only gives a pair {Xi Xo) whose second moments sum correctly to match a given spectral density 5. The Theorem does not show how to construct processes {Xi Xq) that will sum to a given process Y, where the last has increments with spectrjil density S. In the terminology of , , stochastic differential equations, sense. The strong sense solution Theorem 2.2 is gives only a solution in the given below in Theorem A.l in the weak Appendix. | -7that: Var(Xo) = / 11 - exp(ia;)|-25Ax„(w)da; = y |1 - exp{iu>)\-^S^Y{u>)il = SAy(O) y" ~ |1 exp(i«)|-2(l - i>H) du - V(w)) do; + /|l-exp(Jw)|-2(SAy(w)-5Ay(0))(l-V(w))dw < Finiteness results from the summand's being first summand's being bounded from above sup -ir<A<ir Thus, Xq can (i), AXi ^ provides a cleaving of the given spectral density (1 — S %l)S impose smoothness on V' be shown to remain true is and the second by: and From %li)S. and S (ii) = V'(O) and its random sequence = average coefficients, with ^(0) into two else, S'aXi analogue for is |5(ai) strictly — 5(0) Theorem can time domain restrictions replace these frequency from Solo (1989) conditions. In particular, S so that the spectral 1, everywhere at frequency zero: the conclusion of the if certain the spectral density of a (ii), at the origin; smaller than S. In the Theorem, condition domain (ii), be chosen to be covariance stationary. coincides with non-negative pieces density of by |1-V'(A)|- / |l-exp(iw)|-2(5Ay(w)-5Ay(0))(iu'< CO. J in fact Because of finite «). 1" Lemma 1, we can instead use that has 1/2-summable and "5 is "V* Wold moving the spectral density of a random sequence that has 1/2-summable Wold moving average coefficients."^ Although we are interested in obtaining general discussion considers only the orthogonaJ first, if ^ we can find an orthogonal Recall that a sequence h summability Theorem is is PT Ccise. The PT decompositions, the formal reaisons for doing so are two-fold: decomposition satisfying certain properties. m-summable if ^. \j\"^ \h{j)\ preserved under addition and convolution (see 3.8.2.) < e.g. oo, and that m- Brilhnger (1981) -8then we will always be able to find a non-orthogonal satisfying the that the PT same decomposition otherwise properties. Second, for certain apphcations (e.g. decomposition Theorem 2.2 PT orthogonal is PT hcis component is arbitrarily for every positive 6 there exists an ortbogonsil S = Sax, + ^aXo. smooth, ^'t^ Var(AA'i) < PT Theorem in 6. moment properties of the integrated sequence of interest. Subject to those conditions, we can always find an arbitrarily smooth permanent component. Because we are interested proposition —that not all rich 2.2. decomposition (Xi,Xo), This result requires only -weak regularity assumptions on the manent components with a i.e, increments with arbitrarily small variance. Corollary 2.3: Fix a spectral density S, satisfying the conditions where moments, decompositions. Significantly, that range always includes a decomposition where the permanent where the permanent component (1990)), is essential. provides, for an integrated sequence with given second a range of feasible orthogonal Then Quah in per- dynamic structure, Watson's (1986) non-existence integrated sequences will admit a component uncorrelated with the transitory component — random walk permanent is irrelevant here. Corollary 2.3 implies that without restricting further the dynamics of the per- manent component Xi the lower bound on Var(AA''i) is simply zero. Therefore, the results here highlight a similarity between integrated and trend stationary se- quences: both can have their stochcistic dynamics dominated by transitory components. This observation has been raised elsewhere in the literature but our reasoning here differs significantly from those other arguments: (1) weak The results require only regularity assumptions on the univariate dynamics of the integrated sequence of interest. Thus, contrast the analysis here with, Rudebusch (1988), or West a trend-stationary sequence sults here rely neither (1988), is who argue e.g., Clark (1988), Diebold and that for certain parameter values close to a difference-stationary one. (2) The re- on dynamics being only imprecisely estimated, nor on a researcher's misspecifying a Wold representation. Thus, our analysis differs from -9Cochrane's (1988) and Christiano and Eichenbaum's (1990) criticisms of Campbell and Mankiw (1987). Arguments about imprecision and possible misspecification can also be subsumed in the following: lying population probability having only finite model and (4) as Var(AXi) in Quah The truth decreases. The statements here apply are not conclusions due to What component Xq can have transitory despite samples. (3) is of this is shown in the Xq has (1990) where the transitory component Var(AXi) growing an investigator's not obvious from the above autoregressive roots its to the under- is that the bounded away from numerical C8ilculations fixed autoregressive roots arbitrarily small. That the lower bound on the importance of the permanent component may at first 1 seem puzzling. We is zero can get some intuition for this zero lower bound property by studying more restricted and more explicit decompositions where the permanent components are constrained to be ARIMA sequences—less trivial bounds then result. That analysis forms the content of the next section. 3. ARIMA Finite Components This section specializes the analysis to ARIMA permanent components; doing so allows explicit formulas for the lower bounds on Var( AYi W will be needed: i.e., the residual in the its own If is cova^iance stationary, minimum mean let ) . Some additional notation innov{W) denote its square error linear predictor of innovation, W bcised on lagged values. Theorem Suppose (yi,yo) decomposes Y, with AYi a moving average sequence of order q. Then (i) Var(in7]ov(Ayi)) > 4-« Say{0); and (ii) Var(Ayi) > 3.1: • (g + 1)"^ • Say{0). Further, there exist moving average of order close to the bounds in (i) The lower bounds in q (different) FT decompositions with AYi having innovation variances and variances arbitrarily and (ii). Theorem 3.1 are strictly decreasing in the moving average order of AYi, and apply regardless of the correlation between the components. -10Thus, letting AYi be a random walk must maximize the theoreticjJ lower bound on Yi's contribution to Y. The analysis for autoregressive models for autoregressive both its model for AYi To variance and innovation variance. AYi is even simpler. A first order a theoretical lower bound of zero on suffices to obtain see this, apply the arguments in the proof of Theorem 3.1 to S^yM = |1 - C(l)r' Var(mnov(Ayi)) = S^y{0) ==> Var(innov(Ayi)) = |1 - Var(Ayi) = 1(1 • C(l)|^ 5Ay(0), and where now C(l) simply let C(l) gressive models. is t 1- - C(l)) X (1 the projection coefficient in a The same + C{l))-'\ first S^riO), order autoregression. Then conclusion obviously applies to higher order autore- But choosing the permanent component in this way does make the transitory component more like an integrated sequence, in that the largest autoregressive root in its this does not happen ARMA representation approaches unity. for the moving average Finally, since a purely autoregressive model moving average autoregressive model, the appUes directly to general ARMA models cases in is Theorem On the other hand, 3.1. simply a restriction of a mixed result for a first order autoregression for AYi. -11under Orthogonality and Informational Restrictions 4. Identification In certain applications, Quah e.g., Shapiro and Watson (1988) and Blanchard and (1989), a researcher wishes to expUcitly construct permanent and transi- tory components, where these components are uniquely identified. somehow restricted so that they are For instance, the reseeircher might be interested in those or- thogoncJ permanent and transitory components contained in the history of output and unemployment or in that of income and consumption. Such an informational be made precise below. restriction will This section answers two questions: (1) Can one such permanent and transitory components, and (2) how exist, is rich is their class? We will is If whether there such PT available for the existence property cein if a particular orthogond is tests in a vector PT decomposition PT decomposition be straightforwardly obtained from the Wold representation of Quah This result drives the analysis in Blanchard and the variables of interest. (1989), and decompositions do —thus, the usual exclusion Further, under certaun conditions, such an orthogonal unique and any exist see that a Granger-causality characterization autoregression can be used to estabhsh exists. test one way of allowing a researcher to uniquely identify permanent and transitory components. But Blanchard and Quah (1989) never confronted the existence issue directly and therefore never needed to discuss the Granger-causality characterization. Finally, it we can be used to construct in the Technical arbitrarily Appendix. the PT PT let Y . . .}, that for PT decomposition That construction therefore explicitly exists, — this is and as functions of observable variables. decomposition. First, following Rozanov (1967), X done produces the linecir let H7{t) denote combinations of {{(t),f(i — l)j^(< complete under mean square norm. The convolution operator * b then be the integrated sequence of interest for which we seek an the space spanned by square-summable 2), such a decompositions of Theorem 2.2 smooth permanent components Throughout, orthogonal all will see that if sequences with X integers, the t-th element of 6 * A' is covariance stationary and defined over ^. b{j)X{t — j). is — such all the Also, the discussion wiU be -12more transparent if we use the frequency-zero smoothness conditions form, as discussed above in Section between existence and uniqueness of a and the failure of Theorem 4.1: {AY,WY, and AV assume: = C*€, each entry in decomposing Y C is full given if a stochastic sequence. rank at the origin; and transitory Y with Y in (ii) Call ^ = and linearly regular Wold representation, , W. If such a decomposition exists, then Theorem 4.1 can be understood random sequence and assume joint history of W, with both AYi(t) and Yo(t) contained in H7{t) if and only if implications of manent and fix decomposition for 1/2-summable. Then there exists {Yi Yq) orthogonally not Granger causally prior to The domain some system. ^ is jointly covariance stationary (i) with spectral density matrix ^ PT specific orthogonal be integrated and in time following result gives an equivalence to be Granger-causally prior in Y Let The 2. it is as follows: Let that the researcher is AY is unique. W be a interested in the per- Y that contain only the information in the W. The Theorem asserts that the researcher can first verify components in such permanent and transitory components exist by performing the usual test Granger causal priority of for AY in {AY, W)' . If AY is found to be not Granger causally prior, then the algorithm given in the proof (which the method in Blanchard and Quah (1989)) and transitory components The terms of Y caui and essentially the same as be used to Ccdculate the permanent W. reader should note that the construction given here has AYi{t) and Yo{t) contained in H7{t); Since the in is first it is this that gives the uniqueness result in Theorem 4.1. applications of vector autoregressions (Sims (1980)), such an infor- mational restriction has been routinely used in going from the Wold decomposition to moving average representations that and Quah (1989) literature —for ichlin (1990), is more readily interpretable one example where that use Wcis made instance, Futia (1981), Quah are (1990), and explicit. —Blanchard But a growing Hansen and Sargent (1991), Lippi and Re- Townsend (1983) —questions the appropriateness of this identifying restriction: explicit economic models can be constructed where -13the representations that result from this informational restriction bear no relation to the true underlying dynamics. While this difficulty is not central to the current appUed researcher should note the potential problem discussion, the in more general contexts. 5. Conclusion It is now well-known that integrated and trend stationary time series produce differ- ent implications for classical econometric inference. to the observable dynamics of economic variables? How does this difference extend What are the implications for economic theorizing? In this paper, sum series as the I of have approached these issues by considering an integrated time permanent and transitory components. I have characterized the That range turns range of such decompositions for arbitrary integrated time series. out to always include a smooth permanent component, a permanent component i.e., with increments having arbitrarily small variance. Further, the associated transitory component need not have high persistence. Thus, the observable dynamics of an arbitrary integrated sequence are similar to those of some trend stationary sequence. While there are same long run increments is infinitely effect of many permanent-transitory decompositions, all share the a disturbance in the permanent component in that their have the same spectral density value at frequency zero. That value all therefore uninformative for the importance of permanent components in a time series. In summary, the attention that has been devoted the permanent increments, is disturbances, component component unwarranted it is in GNP, to measuring the size of as the spectral density at frequency zero of its —without explicitly identifying the underlying economic simply not possible to gauge the magnitude of the permanent in a time series. Finally, I have provided exact lower bounds on the magnitude of permanent components that are restricted to be ARIMA processes. Those bounds imply that -14restricting the minimum permanent component to be a random walk maximizes its theoretical importance. Appendix: Explicit Construction of a Strong Sense Solution PT decomposition of Section PT decompositions— decompositions having the properties specified in Theorem 2.2. We use the notation for a and ^ estabhshed This appendix shows 4, how one can, beginning with the expUcitly compute other orthogonal below in the proof of Theorem 4.1. Theorem Y density of J A.l: Suppose that AY |1 - is a given integrated sequence, with the spectral satisfying: exp(iu;)|-2|5Ay(w) - 5Ay(0)| du < < 5Ay(0) < oo and oo, and that for some given W, {Yi,Yo) is the orthogonal PT decomposition ofY given by A.l. Suppose further that < S'Ayi(w) < 5Ay(w) for all w in (0,7r]. Let %p be a non-negative function on [— t, it], symmetric about 0, and such that: (i) (ii) / < V(w) |1 - Define p < 1 w ^ 0; and - V(w))dw < for exp(»w)|-2(l def = S^Yi/S^y and oo. choose sequences a and p so that for i w= and a = If AXi =^ PT a*AY + f3*AYi decomposition for The rem ip restrictions Y — ^p. and with AXq SaXi on S^y and =^ = V" AY-AXi, then (XuXq) is an orthogonal ipS^^y in Theorem A.l are unchanged from Theo- 2.2, but the result here gives an explicit construction for an orthogonjJ decomposition for Y. PT -15Proofs Proof of Theorem 2.2: Proof of Corollary 2.3: J ^^y {w)V'(w) <iw < 2n6. Proof of Theorem 3.1: AYi{t) with C(0) = component Y i^ 2.1 V Clearly, can always be selected so that Q.E.D. AYi Since is a moving average process of order = Y2 C{j)innov{AYi){t - j), and Y^^j=oC{j)z^ both AYi and 1 for Q.E.D. Trivial, following discussion in the text. , ^ for all q, t, \z\ < 1. But because Yj is a permanent have the same spectral density at frequency for AY zero: Var(innov(AYi)) I^C(i) = SayW- ;=0 Thus the lower bound on Var(innov(Ayi)) « > obtained by solving: « . . is sup{|x:c(i)f=|(x:cov)l^^j'} j=0 j=0 subject to C(0) = 1 ^C{j)z^ ^ and for \z\ < 1. ;=0 Recsdl that any such polynomial Ylj=o^U)'^^ '-^^ ^^ written as the product of q monomials: p.^^ C{j)zi = nj=i(l + D{j)z), with \D{j)\ < 1, j = 1, 2, g, and D{j) appearing in complex conjugate pairs if not real. Since . . . , lE'^^OVI' = \t[i^ + D{j)z)\' j=i its j maximization at z = 1,2,... ,5. = I is j=i equivalent to the maximization of |1 This occurs at D{j) = 1 for each j. is then 4~* • + D{j)\-^, for each Therefore, the solution to The lower bound on the innovation Say{0), and results when the moving average representation the optimization problem attains the value 4'. variance = 11\1 + Dij)z\\ -16foi AYi is (1 on Var(Ayi) + L)^iDDov(AYi), is where L the lag operator. Next, the lower is bound obtained by solving: 9 inf a^TCiJ)' 2 subject to C(0) = ^Cij)z^ ^ 1, for \z\ < 1, and Ec(i) j=0 Substituting out for a-^ to j=0 Say{0). minimize {Yl^j=o^iJ)'^)/\'l2^j=o^iJ)\ the boundary conditions above. First notice that \Yi^j=o^(^)\ Next apply the triangle and Cauchy-Schwarz inequalities: \tc(j)f < = j=0 weneed , a^ (trail)' j=0 < (Erar) ;=0 • {±1') = — ^^^iject to (Z^l=o 1^0)1) (E CO?) -(5+1)' ;=0 j=0 so that: (Eco?)/|Ec(i)f >(9+i)-^ ;=0 Notice that C{j) = for j I j = i=0 0,1, ... ,q, achieves this lower bound, and because = this satisfies the boundary conditions as well. Thus, Var(Ayi) > (5 + l)~^5Ay(0), and this theoretical lower bound is evidently approached arbitrari/y closely by finite moving average processes of the form ^j_o ^^ innov{AYi){t — j), where A < 1. Q.E.D. is For the next result, it is convenient to establish a little more notation. If 6 an absolutely summable sequence of numbers, 6 denotes its fourier transform b(u) = Yij Hj)£~"^^ and similarly , Proof of Theorem 4.1: In the for sequences of matrices. Wold representation, {AY,W)' = C(0) to be lower triangular with diagonal elements non-negative and identity covariance matrix. Such a representation exists has full rank, there is a unique orthonormal matrix V and is c C * to have the c, take unique. Since C(0) such that C{0)V is lower -17up to column sign changes). Define triajigular (unique D def = C{j)V and By construction, by D{j) J -if = iVum)' by T){t) = V'e{t), so that (AY, W)' = C *e = D *t]. H~{t) = H7{t); further, tj has the identity covariance matrix. Also by construction, V such a (£), Jj) i.e., no other pair has a lower triangular D{0) and fundamental for (AY, PV)' having the identity cova^J^lDce pair is unique, a disturbance vector 77 * rji and AYq to be D12 * »?2- Since Di2{0) = and AYi to be 1/2-sunmiable, Yq can be chosen to be covariance stationary. Thus (11,10) Du matrix. Define D12 is is potentially the orthogonal and Granger-causally prior to FT decomposition satisfying the desired conditions, the only such decomposition. if it exists, it is also W. This implies that C{j) is AY is all j, so Suppose then that lower trianguiar for that V is the identity and D12 is zero. But then Var(yo) = 0; consequently, a FT decomposition of the desired form does not exist. Conversely, if is not Granger causally prior to W, then Ci2{j) ^ for some j, and Cn is not proportional to C\2. AY But Du then, neither nor D12 can vanish, thus both AYi and AYq Lave strictly Q.E.D. positive variance. Finally, for the last proof, if 6 a complex-valued matrix function, denote is point-wise complex conjugate transposed by 6*. Proof of Theorem A.l: AXi Sax^ First, verify that = |ap5AV + = S^Y [|a|2 \P\^SayP + |^|V + + its has the correct spectral density: 2Re[ap'S£,Yp] 2pRe(d^') Completing the square, SAX,=S^Y[\a + Pp\^ + m\p-p^)\ = Say [rp^ + ^(1 = ^av V''/')] Next, check that AA'i and AXq are uncorrelated at calculation, the cross-spectral density SaXoAXi Finally, verify that From = SayaXi AXq SaXi = Sayo* is tiie first all leads and lags; by direct is: + SaypP' - SAYi> = 0. difference of a covariance stationary sequence. the uncorrelatedness just shown, the spectral density SaXq = Say — SaXi = -185Ay(l-V')- Tien, |l-exp(tw)|~2SAXo(w)dw / = ni-exp(tw)|-25Ay(w)(l-V(w))dw = S^Y{0)J\l-exp{iu)\-^l-i>(u;))dw + f\lFrom condition that the second sup using (i). (ii), the first summand is exp(fu-)|-2(5Ay(w) - 5Ay(0))(l - V(w)) dw. summajid is finite. 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