Help Regarding IRFs

[syedhussain84]

Hi, I am new to dynare so my questions are very basic.

1. When dynare plots an IRF, what exactly do the values mean? For instance if the first value in an IRF is 0.015, does it mean a 1.5% deviation from the Steady State?

2. How can I get the actual values of the variables in an IRF rather than the deviations? For example if the steady state is 5 and the first value in IRF is .02 (20%) then how can I tell dynare to give me 6 in the first period rather than 0.02

thank you

[SébastienVillemot]

1. When dynare plots an IRF, what exactly do the values mean? For instance if the first value in an IRF is 0.015, does it mean a 1.5% deviation from the Steady State?

By default, Dynare plots the deviation in level from the steady state. So 0.015 is the difference between the variable level and its steady state. Use the "relative_irf" option to get percentage deviations.

2. How can I get the actual values of the variables in an IRF rather than the deviations? For example if the steady state is 5 and the first value in IRF is .02 (20%) then how can I tell dynare to give me 6 in the first period rather than 0.02

You have to do it by hand: recover the values from "oo_.irfs", add the steady state back and plot it.

[jpfeifer]

For future reference: the first part of Sebastien's answer is not correct. The relative_irf option only makes the size of shocks comparable by plotting unit instead of 1 standard deviation shocks. See http://www.dynare.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=3071
To get IRFs in percentage deviations, you can use the loglinear option at order 1, which is now supported in 4.4