138 lines
6.4 KiB
ReStructuredText
138 lines
6.4 KiB
ReStructuredText
.. default-domain:: dynare
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############
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Introduction
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############
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What is Dynare?
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===============
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Dynare is a software platform for handling a wide class of economic
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models, in particular dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE)
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and overlapping generations (OLG) models. The models solved by Dynare
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include those relying on the *rational expectations* hypothesis,
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wherein agents form their expectations about the future in a way
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consistent with the model. But Dynare is also able to handle models
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where expectations are formed differently: on one extreme, models
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where agents perfectly anticipate the future; on the other extreme,
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models where agents have limited rationality or imperfect knowledge of
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the state of the economy and, hence, form their expectations through a
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learning process. In terms of types of agents, models solved by Dynare
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can incorporate consumers, productive firms, governments, monetary
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authorities, investors and financial intermediaries. Some degree of
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heterogeneity can be achieved by including several distinct classes of
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agents in each of the aforementioned agent categories.
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Dynare offers a user-friendly and intuitive way of describing these
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models. It is able to perform simulations of the model given a
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calibration of the model parameters and is also able to estimate these
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parameters given a dataset. In practice, the user will write a text
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file containing the list of model variables, the dynamic equations
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linking these variables together, the computing tasks to be performed
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and the desired graphical or numerical outputs.
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A large panel of applied mathematics and computer science techniques
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are internally employed by Dynare: multivariate nonlinear solving and
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optimization, matrix factorizations, local functional approximation,
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Kalman filters and smoothers, MCMC techniques for Bayesian estimation,
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graph algorithms, optimal control, …
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Various public bodies (central banks, ministries of economy and
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finance, international organisations) and some private financial
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institutions use Dynare for performing policy analysis exercises and
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as a support tool for forecasting exercises. In the academic world,
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Dynare is used for research and teaching purposes in postgraduate
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macroeconomics courses.
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Dynare is a free software, which means that it can be downloaded free
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of charge, that its source code is freely available, and that it can
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be used for both non-profit and for-profit purposes. Most of the
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source files are covered by the GNU General Public Licence (GPL)
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version 3 or later (there are some exceptions to this, see the file
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license.txt in Dynare distribution). It is available for the Windows,
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macOS, and Linux platforms and is fully documented through a reference
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manual. Part of Dynare is programmed in C++, while the rest is written
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using the `MATLAB`_ programming language. The latter implies that
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commercially-available MATLAB software is required in order to run
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Dynare. However, as an alternative to MATLAB, Dynare is also able to
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run on top of `GNU Octave`_ (basically a free clone of MATLAB): this
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possibility is particularly interesting for students or institutions
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who cannot afford, or do not want to pay for, MATLAB and are willing
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to bear the concomitant performance loss.
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The development of Dynare is mainly done at `CEPREMAP`_ by a core team
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of researchers who devote part of their time to software
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development. Currently the development team of Dynare is composed of
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Stéphane Adjemian (Université du Maine, Gains and CEPREMAP), Houtan
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Bastani (CEPREMAP), Michel Juillard (Banque de France), Frédéric
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Karamé (Université du Maine, Gains and CEPREMAP), Junior Maih (Norges
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Bank), Ferhat Mihoubi (Université Paris-Est Créteil, Érudite and
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CEPREMAP), Johannes Pfeifer (University of Cologne), Marco Ratto
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(European Commission, Joint Research Centre - JRC) and Sébastien
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Villemot (CEPREMAP). Increasingly, the developer base is expanding, as
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tools developed by researchers outside of CEPREMAP are integrated into
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Dynare. Financial support is provided by CEPREMAP, Banque de France
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and DSGE-net (an international research network for DSGE modeling).
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Interaction between developers and users of Dynare is central to the
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project. A `web forum`_ is available for users who have questions
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about the usage of Dynare or who want to report bugs. Current known
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and fixed bugs are listed on the `Dynare wiki`_. Issues or whishes can
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be reported on our `Git repository`_. Training sessions are given
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through the Dynare Summer School, which is organized every year and is
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attended by about 40 people. Finally, priorities in terms of future
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developments and features to be added are decided in cooperation with
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the institutions providing financial support.
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Documentation sources
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=====================
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The present document is the reference manual for Dynare. It documents
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all commands and features in a systematic fashion.
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Other useful sources of information include the `Dynare wiki`_ and the
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`Dynare forums`_.
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Citing Dynare in your research
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==============================
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You should cite Dynare if you use it in your research. The
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recommended way todo this is to cite the present manual, as:
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Stéphane Adjemian, Houtan Bastani, Michel Juillard, Frédéric
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Karamé, Junior Maih, Ferhat Mihoubi, George Perendia, Johannes Pfeifer, Marco
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Ratto and Sébastien Villemot (2011), “Dynare: Reference Manual,
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Version 4,” *Dynare Working Papers*, 1, CEPREMAP
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For convenience, you can copy and paste the following into your BibTeX file:
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.. code-block:: bibtex
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@TechReport{Adjemianetal2011,
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author = {Adjemian, St\'ephane and Bastani, Houtan and Juillard, Michel and
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Karam\'e, Fr\'ederic and Maih, Junior and Mihoubi, Ferhat and
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Perendia, George and Pfeifer, Johannes and Ratto, Marco and
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Villemot, S\'ebastien},
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title = {Dynare: Reference Manual Version 4},
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year = {2011},
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institution = {CEPREMAP},
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type = {Dynare Working Papers},
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number = {1},
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}
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If you want to give a URL, use the address of the Dynare website:
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https://www.dynare.org.
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.. _MATLAB: http://www.mathworks.com/products/matlab/
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.. _GNU Octave: http://www.octave.org/
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.. _CEPREMAP: http://www.cepremap.fr/
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.. _web forum: https://forum.dynare.org/
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.. _official Dynare website: http://www.dynare.org/
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.. _Dynare wiki: https://git.dynare.org/Dynare/dynare/wikis
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.. _Dynare forums: https://forum.dynare.org/
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.. _Git repository: https://git.dynare.org/Dynare/dynare
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