Summary
Vector autoregression (VAR) is a statistical model used to capture the relationship between multiple quantities as they change over time. VAR is a type of stochastic process model. VAR models generalize the single-variable (univariate) autoregressive model by allowing for multivariate time series. VAR models are often used in economics and the natural sciences. Like the autoregressive model, each variable has an equation modelling its evolution over time. This equation includes the variable's lagged (past) values, the lagged values of the other variables in the model, and an error term. VAR models do not require as much knowledge about the forces influencing a variable as do structural models with simultaneous equations. The only prior knowledge required is a list of variables which can be hypothesized to affect each other over time. A VAR model describes the evolution of a set of k variables, called endogenous variables, over time. Each period of time is numbered, t = 1, ..., T. The variables are collected in a vector, yt, which is of length k. (Equivalently, this vector might be described as a (k × 1)-matrix.) The vector is modelled as a linear function of its previous value. The vector's components are referred to as yi,t, meaning the observation at time t of the i th variable. For example, if the first variable in the model measures the price of wheat over time, then y1,1998 would indicate the price of wheat in the year 1998. VAR models are characterized by their order, which refers to the number of earlier time periods the model will use. Continuing the above example, a 5th-order VAR would model each year's wheat price as a linear combination of the last five years of wheat prices. A lag is the value of a variable in a previous time period. So in general a pth-order VAR refers to a VAR model which includes lags for the last p time periods. A pth-order VAR is denoted "VAR(p)" and sometimes called "a VAR with p lags". A pth-order VAR model is written as The variables of the form yt−i indicate that variable's value i time periods earlier and are called the "ith lag" of yt.
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