Announcement for Dynare 4.2.5 (on 2012-03-14) ============================================= We are pleased to announce the release of Dynare 4.2.5. This is a bugfix release. The Windows package for the new release is already available for download at the official Dynare website . The Mac and Linux packages should follow soon. All users are strongly encouraged to upgrade. The new release is compatible with MATLAB versions ranging from 7.0 (R14) to 7.14 (R2012a) and with GNU Octave versions ranging from 3.0 to 3.6. Note that GNU Octave users under Windows will have to upgrade to GNU Octave version 3.6.1 (MinGW). The Octave installer can be downloaded at: http://www.dynare.org/octave/Octave3.6.1_gcc4.6.2_20120303-setup.exe Here is a non-exhaustive list of the problems identified in version 4.2.4 and that have been fixed in version 4.2.5: * The MATLAB optimization toolbox was sometimes not correctly detected even when installed * Using the inverse gamma distribution with extreme hyperparameter values could lead to a crash * Various issues in the accelerated deterministic solver with block decomposition * Various issues in the parallelization engine * Compatibility issues with the Global Sensitivity Analysis toolbox * The Dynare++ binary was broken in the Windows package because of a missing dynamic library Announcement for Dynare 4.2.4 (on 2011-12-02) ============================================= We are pleased to announce the release of Dynare 4.2.4. This is a bugfix release. It comes only a few days after the previous release, because version 4.2.3 was affected by a critical bug (see below). The Windows package for the new release is already available for download at the official Dynare website . The Mac and Linux packages should follow soon. All users are strongly encouraged to upgrade, especially those who have installed the buggy 4.2.3 release. The new release is compatible with MATLAB versions ranging from 7.0 (R14) to 7.13 (R2011b) and with GNU Octave versions ranging from 3.0 to 3.4. Here is the list of the problems identified in version 4.2.3 and that have been fixed in version 4.2.4: * Second order approximation was broken for most models, giving incorrect results (this problem only affects version 4.2.3, not previous versions) * Bayesian priors with inverse gamma distribution and very small variances were giving incorrect results in some cases * The `model_diagnostics' command was broken Announcement for Dynare 4.2.3 (on 2011-11-30) ============================================= We are pleased to announce the release of Dynare 4.2.3. This is a bugfix release. The Windows package is already available for download at the official Dynare website . The Mac and Linux packages should follow soon. All users are strongly encouraged to upgrade. This release is compatible with MATLAB versions ranging from 7.0 (R14) to 7.13 (R2011b) and with GNU Octave versions ranging from 3.0 to 3.4. Here is a non-exhaustive list of the problems identified in version 4.2.2 and that have been fixed in version 4.2.3: * `steady_state_model' was broken for lags higher than 2 * `simult_.m' was not working correctly with `order=3' if `k_order_solver' had not been explicitly specified * `stoch_simul' with `order=3' and without `periods' option was reporting dummy theoretical moments * Under Octave, option `solve_algo=0' was causing crashes in `check' and `stoch_simul' * Identification module was broken * The test for singularity in the model reporting eigenvalues close to 0/0 was sometimes reporting false positives * The `conditional_variance_decomposition' option was not working if one period index was 0. Now, Dynare reports an error if the periods are not strictly positive. * Second order approximation was buggy if one variable was not present at the current period Announcement for Dynare 4.2.2 (on 2011-10-04) ============================================= We are pleased to announce the release of Dynare 4.2.2. This is a bugfix release. The Windows package is already available for download at the official Dynare website . The Mac and Linux packages should follow soon. All users are strongly encouraged to upgrade. This release is compatible with MATLAB versions ranging from 7.0 (R14) to 7.13 (R2011b) and with GNU Octave versions ranging from 3.0 to 3.4. Here is a list of the problems identified in version 4.2.1 and that have been fixed in version 4.2.2: * The secondary rank test following the order test of the Blanchard and Kahn condition was faulty and almost never triggered * The variance prior for BVAR “à la Sims” with only one lag was inconsistent. The solution implemented consists of adding one extra observation in the presample used to compute the prior; as a consequence, the numerical results for all estimations will be slightly different in future releases (thanks to Marek Jarociński for spotting this) * The `conditional_forecast' command was buggy: it was always using the posterior mode, whatever the value of the `parameter_set' option * `STEADY_STATE' was not working correctly with certain types of expressions (the priority of the addition and substraction operators was incorrectly handled) * With the `block' option of `model', the preprocessor was failing on expressions of the form "a^b" (with no endogenous in "a" but an endogenous in "b") * Some native MATLAB statements were not correctly passed on to MATLAB (e.g. x = { 'foo' 'bar' } ) * `external_function' was crashing in some circumstances * The lambda parameter for HP filter was restricted to integer values for no good reason * The `load_mh_file' option of `estimation' was crashing under Octave for Windows (MinGW version) * Computation of steady state was failing on model contains auxiliary variables created by leads or lags larger than 2 or by of the `EXPECTATION' operator * Compilation of MEX files for MATLAB was failing with GCC 4.6 Announcement for Dynare 4.2.1 (on 2011-05-24) ============================================= We are pleased to announce the release of Dynare 4.2.1. Many bugs have been fixed since the previous release. The reference manual has also been improved: new contents has been added at various places, the structure has been improved, an index of functions and variables has been added, the PDF/HTML rendering has been improved. The Windows package is already available for download at the official Dynare website [1]. The Mac and Linux packages should follow soon. All users are strongly encouraged to upgrade. This release is compatible with MATLAB versions ranging from 7.0 (R14) to 7.12 (R2011a) and with GNU Octave versions ranging from 3.0 to 3.4. Here is a list of the main bugfixes since version 4.2.0: * The `STEADY_STATE' operator has been fixed * Problems with MATLAB 7.3 (R2006b) and older have been fixed * The `partial_information' option of `stoch_simul' has been fixed * Option `conditional_variance_decomposition' of `stoch_simul' and `estimation' has been fixed * Automatic detrending now works in conjunction with the `EXPECTATION' operator * Percentage signs inside strings in MATLAB statements (like disp('% This is not a comment %')) now work * Beta prior with a very small standard deviation now work even if you do not have the MATLAB Statistical toolbox * External functions can now been used in assignment of model local variables * `identification' command has been fixed * Option `cova_compute' of `estimation' command has been fixed * Random crashes with 3rd order approximation without `use_dll' option have been eliminated [1] http://www.dynare.org Announcement for Dynare 4.2.0 (on 2011-02-15) ============================================= We are pleased to announce the release of Dynare 4.2.0. This major release adds new features and fixes various bugs. The Windows package is already available for download. The Mac and Linux packages should follow soon. All users are strongly encouraged to upgrade. This release is compatible with MATLAB versions ranging from 6.5 (R13) to 7.11 (R2010b) and with GNU Octave versions 3.0.x and 3.2.x (support for GNU Octave 3.4.x is not complete and will be added in the next minor release). Here is the list of major user-visible changes: * New solution algorithms: - Pruning for second order simulations has been added, as described in Kim, Kim, Schaumburg and Sims (2008) [1,2] - Models under partial information can be solved, as in Pearlman, Currie and Levine (1986) [3,4] - New nonlinear solvers for faster deterministic simulations and steady state computation [5] * Dynare can now use the power of multi-core computers or of a cluster of computer using parallelization [6] * New features in the user interface: - A steady state file can now be automatically generated, provided that the model can be solved analytically, and that the steady state as a function of the parameters is declared with the new "steady_state_model" command [7] - For non-stationary models, Dynare is now able of automatically removing trends in all the equations: the user writes the equations in non-stationary form and declares the deflator of each variable. Then Dynare perform a check to determine if the proposed deflators are compatible with balanced growth path, and, if yes, then it computes the detrended equations [8] - It is now possible to use arbitrary functions in the model block [9] * Other minor changes to the user interface: - New primitives allowed in model block: normpdf(), erf() - New syntax for DSGE-VAR [10] - Syntax of deterministic shocks has changed: after the values keyword, arbitrary expressions must be enclosed within parentheses (but numeric constants are still accepted as is) * Various improvements: - Third order simulations now work without the "USE_DLL" option: installing a C++ compiler is no longer necessary for 3rd order - The HP filter works for empirical moments (previously it was only available for theoretical moments) - "ramsey_policy" now displays the planner objective value function under Ramsey policy and stores it in "oo_.planner_objective_value" - Estimation: if the "selected_variables_only" option is present, then the smoother will only be run on variables listed just after the estimation command - Estimation: in the "shocks" block, it is now possible to calibrate measurement errors on endogenous variables (using the same keywords than for calibrating variance/covariance matrix of exogenous shocks) - It is possibile to choose the parameter set for shock decomposition [11] - The diffuse filter now works under Octave - New option "console" on the Dynare command-line: use it when running Dynare from the console, it will replace graphical waitbars by text waitbars for long computations - Steady option "solve_algo=0" (uses fsolve()) now works under Octave * For Emacs users: - New Dynare mode for Emacs editor (contributed by Yannick Kalantzis) - Reference manual now available in Info format (distributed with Debian/Ubuntu packages) * Miscellaneous: - Deterministic models: leads and lags of two or more on endogenous variables are now substituted by auxiliary variables; exogenous variables are left as is [12] [1] Kim, J., S. Kim, E. Schaumburg and C.A. Sims (2008), "Calculating and using second-order accurate solutions of discrete time dynamic equilibrium models", Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, 32(11), 3397-3414 [2] It is triggered by option "pruning" of "stoch_simul" (only 2nd order, not available at 3rd order) [3] Pearlman J., D. Currie and P. Levine (1986), "Rational expectations models with partial information", Economic Modelling, 3(2), 90-105 [4] http://www.dynare.org/DynareWiki/PartialInformation [5] http://www.dynare.org/DynareWiki/FastDeterministicSimulationAndSteadyStateComputation [6] http://www.dynare.org/DynareWiki/ParallelDynare [7] See the entry for "steady_state_model" in the reference manual for more details and an example [8] http://www.dynare.org/DynareWiki/RemovingTrends [9] http://www.dynare.org/DynareWiki/ExternalFunctions [10] http://www.dynare.org/DynareWiki/DsgeVar [11] http://www.dynare.org/DynareWiki/ShockDecomposition [12] http://www.dynare.org/DynareWiki/AuxiliaryVariables