Large Structural VARs with Multiple Sign and Ranking Restrictions

Abstract: Large VARs are increasingly used in structural analysis as a unified framework to study the impacts of multiple structural shocks simultaneously. However, the concurrent identification of multiple shocks using sign and ranking restrictions poses significant practical challenges to the point where existing algorithms cannot be used with such large VARs. To address this, we introduce a new numerically efficient algorithm that facilitates the estimation of impulse responses and related measures in large structural VARs identified with a large number of structural restrictions on impulse responses. The methodology is illustrated using a 35-variable VAR with over 100 sign and ranking restrictions to identify 8 structural shocks.