ReadMe.txt

DynareOBC: A toolkit for handling occasionally binding constraints with Dynare, by Tom Holden. 
============================================================================================== 
 
Note: DynareOBC currently only has limited support for Dynare 4.6.x. MLV simulation is not 
supported under Dynare 4.6.x and there may be other problems. I recommend sticking with Dynare 
4.5.x for now. 
 
Background 
---------- 
 
Please read the theory paper from here: 
https://github.com/tholden/dynareOBC/raw/master/TheoryPaperBody.pdf 
(Or here for citations: https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/esprep/130142.html ) 
 
And the computational paper from here: 
https://github.com/tholden/dynareOBC/raw/master/ComputationalPaper.pdf 
(Or here for citations: https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/esprep/130143.html ) 
 
A paper documenting the estimation procedure is available from here: 
https://github.com/tholden/EST-NLSS/raw/master/EstimationPaper.pdf 
(Or here for citations: http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.50127 ) 
 
The code itself may be cited via the following DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.50132 
 
Alternatively, read the technical slides from here: 
https://github.com/tholden/dynareOBC/raw/master/TechnicalSlides.pdf 
 
Or the non-technical slides from here: 
https://github.com/tholden/dynareOBC/raw/master/NonTechnicalSlides.pdf 
 
Or the course slides from here: https://github.com/tholden/dynareOBC/raw/master/CourseSlides.pdf 
 
Installation 
------------ 
 
1. Download the latest release from: https://github.com/tholden/dynareOBC/releases 
2. Extract the release to a directory on a local drive. 
3. Make sure your MATLAB path does not contain any Dynare folders other than the matlab sub-folder 
   of your Dynare install. You should never click "add with subfolders" when adding Dynare to your 
   MATLAB path, else Dynare will perform poorly, and DynareOBC will not work at all. 
4. Add just the folder containing dynareOBC.m to your MATLAB path. Do not click with add-with 
   subfolders! 
5. Relax, as DynareOBC updates itself and its dependencies each time it is run. 
 
Requirements 
------------ 
 
Requirements (to be installed and added to your Matlab path): 
* MATLAB version R2013a or later, or a fully compatible clone. Note that while DynareOBC should 
  work on all platforms, it has been most heavily tested on 64-bit Windows, so if possible we 
  suggest you use this platform. 
* Dynare, version 4.4 or later, from: http://www.dynare.org/download/dynare-stable 
* If on Windows, either administrative rights on the computer on which you are installing 
  DynareOBC, so that DynareOBC can automatically install its other dependencies, or the manual 
  installation of the items listed in the _Additional requirements for people using Windows, 
  without administrative rights_ section below. 
 
Recommended additional installations: 
* MATLAB R2016a or later. 
* The MATLAB Parallel Toolbox, or a fully compatible clone, which speeds up assorted routines. 
* The MATLAB Optimization Toolbox, or an alternative non-linear least squares routine, which is 
  required for the experimental global option. (To use an alternative routine, you must set 
  dynareOBC.FSolveFunctor.) This toolbox is also required for some options of estimation, as 
  detailed below. 
* The MATLAB Statistics and Machine Learning Toolox, or a fully compatible clone, which is required 
  for estimation. 
* The MATLAB Symbolic Toolbox, which is required for the UseVPA option. 
* A working compiler for MEX which is supported by MATLAB Coder, ideally supporting OpenMP. On 
  Windows, a free compiler meeting these requirements is available from: 
  https://www.visualstudio.com/en-us/news/vs2013-community-vs.aspx . Alternatively, on Windows, 
  with MATLAB r2015b, another free compiler meeting these requirements (which uses much less disk 
  space) is available by clicking on "Add-Ons" in the MATLAB toolbar, then searching for MinGW. Be 
  sure to untick the "check for updated files" in the installer that opens. 
* MATLAB Coder, or a fully compatible clone (only used with MATLAB R2015a or later). 
* A competitive mixed integer linear programming solver, such as one of the below (listed in rough 
  order of performance), each of which is available for free to academics: 
    * GUROBI Optimizer, from http://www.gurobi.com/academia/for-universities 
    * IBM CPLEX, by following the instructions here: https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/community/blogs/jfp/entry/cplex_studio_in_ibm_academic_initiative?lang=en 
    * FICO Xpress, from https://community.fico.com/download.jspa 
    * MOSEK, from https://mosek.com/resources/academic-license and 
      https://mosek.com/resources/downloads 
 
Additional requirements for people using Windows, without administrative rights 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
 
If you are using Windows, and you do not have administrative rights on your own computer, you need 
to ask your system administrator to download and install the following standard redistributable 
packages, which provide system libraries used by code compiled with either Microsoft Visual C++, 
the Intel C Compiler, or the Intel Fortran Compiler. 
 
If you are using a 64-bit version of MATLAB, please ask for the following to be installed: 
 
* https://aka.ms/vs/15/release/VC_redist.x64.exe 
* ww_ifort_redist_intel64_2018.3.210.msi from inside: 
  https://software.intel.com/sites/default/files/managed/47/ed/ww_ifort_redist_msi_2018.3.210.zip 
 
If you are using a 32-bit version of MATLAB, please ask for the following to be installed: 
 
* https://aka.ms/vs/15/release/VC_redist.x86.exe 
* https://download.microsoft.com/download/0/5/6/056dcda9-d667-4e27-8001-8a0c6971d6b1/vcredist_x86.exe 
* ww_ifort_redist_ia32_2018.3.210.msi from inside: 
  https://software.intel.com/sites/default/files/managed/47/ed/ww_ifort_redist_msi_2018.3.210.zip 
 
Troubleshooting 
--------------- 
 
If you have any strange errors, first try these steps: 
 
1. Delete all .mat files from the DynareOBC directory. 
2. Delete all .mex??? files from the Core sub-directory of your DynareOBC install (but not from its 
   sub-directories). 
3. Delete your DynareOBC directory, and then go through the installation steps above again. 
 
If after doing this, you suspect a bug, report it here: https://github.com/tholden/dynareOBC/issues 
 
Basic Usage 
----------- 
 
Usage: dynareOBC FILENAME[.mod,.dyn] [OPTIONS] 
 
DynareOBC executes instruction included in the conventional dynare mod file, FILENAME.mod. 
 
Unlike dynare, DynareOBC can handle simulation of models containing non-differentiable functions. 
Note: 
* DynareOBC approximates the non-differentiable function in levels. Thus if r and pi are the 
  endogenous variables of interest: r = max( 0, 0.005 + 1.5 * pi ); will be more accurate than: 
  exp(r) = max( 1, exp( 0.005 + 1.5 * pi ) );. 
* DynareOBC may produce strange results on models with an indeterminate steady-state, so caution 
  should be taken when using the STEADY_STATE command. The initval or steady_state_model blocks 
  should not be used to attempt to pin down a steady-state, since these will be ignored by 
  DynareOBC in later steps of its solution procedure. 
* DynareOBC defines the preprocessor constant dynareOBC during execution. 
 
OPTIONS (NOT CASE SENSITIVE!) include: 
 
* For controlling the inner solution procedure 
    * TimeToEscapeBounds=INTEGER (default: 32) 
      The number of periods after which the model is expected to be away from any occasionally 
      binding constraints. If there is no solution which finally escapes within this time, 
      DynareOBC will produce an error. Note that when a global solution is requested, this value is 
      ignored, and the maximum of the requested number of IRF periods, and the value of 
      TimeToReturnToSteadyState, is used instead. 
    * TimeToReturnToSteadyState=INTEGER (default: 64) 
      The number of periods in which to verify that the constraints are not being violated. If this 
      is lower than TimeToEscapeBounds + 1, or the requested number of IRF periods, or 
      PeriodsOfUncertainty + 1, then that value will be used instead. 
    * MaxParametricSolutionDimension=INTEGER (default: 4) 
      If the simulation is at the bound for at most this number of periods divided by the number of 
      bounds, then a pre-computed solution will be used, increasing the speed of long simulations, 
      or those involving integration. 
    * MILPSolver=STRING 
      (default: gurobi,cplex,xpress,mosek,scip,cbc,intlinprog,lpsolve,glpk,*) 
      DynareOBC uses YALMIP internally for solving a mixed integer linear programming problem. This 
      option sets YALMIP's preferred solvers. To find out what solvers are available to you, run 
      dynareOBC TestSolvers, and examine the list displayed by YALMIP. 
    * ReverseSearch 
      By default, DynareOBC finds a solution in which the last period at the bound is as soon as 
      possible. This option makes DynareOBC find a solution in which the last period at the bound 
      is as remote as possible, subject to being less than the longest horizon (i.e. 
      TimeToEscapeBounds). 
    * FullHorizon 
      By default, DynareOBC finds a solution in which the last period at the bound is as soon as 
      possible. This option makes DynareOBC just solve the bounds problem at the longest horizon 
      (i.e. TimeToEscapeBounds). 
    * Omega=FLOAT (default: 1000) 
      The tightness of the constraint on the news shocks. If this is large, solutions with news 
      shocks close to zero will be returned when there are multiple solutions. It is often helpful 
      to combine this option with FullHorizon so that DynareOBC does not just choose the solution 
      which escapes the bound first. 
    * SkipFirstSolutions=INTEGER (default: 0) 
      If this is greater than 0, then DynareOBC ignores the first INTEGER solutions it finds, 
      unless no other solutions are found, in which case it takes the last found one. Thus, without 
      ReverseSearch, this tends to find solutions at the bound for longer. With ReverseSearch, this 
      tends to find solutions at the bound for less time. 
    * MultiThreadBoundsProblem 
      Some MILP solvers are multi-threaded. By default though, DynareOBC turns off the MILP 
      solver's multi-threading when possible, unless DynareOBC is not doing any parallel 
      simulation. Enabling this option will restore the multi-threading of certain solvers. Since 
      DynareOBC parallelizes at a higher level (e.g. in cubature, MLV simulation, slow IRF 
      computation, or estimation), this usually slows down runs. 
    * RetryOnOptimizerError 
      Some MILP solvers occasionally throw errors for no good reason, e.g. because of temporary 
      unavailability of a license server. This option makes DynareOBC keep retrying following an 
      error in the optimizer. 
    * IgnoreBoundFailures 
      Makes DynareOBC atttempt to continue even after it has failed to solve the bounds problem due 
      to e.g. infeasability. This will severely compromise accuracy. 
    * OtherMODFile=STRING 
      If, during simulation, DynareOBC fails to solve a bounds problem, then with this option 
      enabled, it assumes that agents in the model switch their long-run beliefs to be governed by 
      the other MOD file STRING. For example, in a ZLB context, the original MOD file may be solved 
      around the positive inflation steady-state, while the other MOD file is solved around the 
      indeterminate deflationary steady-state (with the indeterminacy resolved via adding a sunspot 
      equation). The other MOD file must have the same endogenous and exogenous variables as the 
      original, in the same order. The possibility of such switches is not taken into account by 
      agents in forming expectations, even when Cubature is enabled. 
    * OtherMODFileSwitchToProbability=FLOAT 
      DynareOBC can additionally switch steady-states from the original MOD file, to the provided 
      OtherMODFile, with some constant exogenous probability FLOAT. The possibility of such 
      switches is not taken into account by agents in forming expectations, even when Cubature is 
      enabled. 
    * OtherMODFileSwitchFromProbability=FLOAT 
      DynareOBC can additionally switch steady-states from the provided OtherMODFile, to the 
      original MOD file, with some constant exogenous probability FLOAT. The possibility of such 
      switches is not taken into account by agents in forming expectations, even when Cubature is 
      enabled. 
 
* For controlling cubature 
    * Cubature 
      Turns on cubature. By default DynareOBC assumes that agents are "surprised" by the existence 
      of the bound. (At order=1, this is equivalent to a perfect foresight solution to the model.) 
      Setting this option removes this simplifying assumption, and uses to integrate over future 
      uncertainty, using the options below. 
    * CubatureRegions=INTEGER (default: 1) 
      The cubature method splits the integration space into INTEGER regions, and then integrates 
      separately over each region. Setting this to a value greater than 1 automatically turns on 
      Cubature. 
    * CubatureClusteringEffort=INTEGER (default: 0) 
      Determines how much effort DynareOBC puts into finding "good" clusters. If this is equal to 
      0, it uses a simple hierarchical method. If it is equal to 1 it uses k-means clustering 
      without the "online" final step. If it is equal to 2 it uses k-means clustering with the 
      "online" final step. 
    * CubatureCATCHDegree=INTEGER (default: 0) 
      If this option is set to its default of 0, then DynareOBC approximates the integral over a 
      region with the value of the function at the mean of the points in the region. If this option 
      is set to a value INTEGER greater than 0, then Caratheodory-Tchakaloff (CATCH) subsampling is 
      used, with basis functions consisting of all monomials in q and min{0,q} with degree less or 
      equal to INTEGER. Setting this to a value greater than 0 automatically turns on Cubature. 
    * PeriodsOfUncertainty=INTEGER (default: 16) 
      Controls the number of periods of uncertainty over which DynareOBC integrates when Cubature 
      is turned on. Since a cosine windowing function is used, the effective number of periods of 
      uncertainty is roughly half this number. 
    * QuasiMonteCarloLevel=INTEGER (default: 15) 
      To generate an initial point set, DynareOBC uses quasi-Monte Carlo (Sobol) integration with 
      at most 2^(1+INTEGER) - 1 samples (if HigherOrderSobolDegree is zero) or 2^(1+INTEGER) 
      samples (otherwise) to integrate over future uncertainty. 
    * HigherOrderSobolDegree=INTEGER (default: 0) 
      Setting this option greater than 0 makes DynareOBC use a Higher Order Sobol sequence, rather 
      than a standard one. Values larger than the minimum of 50 and 52 divided by the integration 
      dimension are capped to that level. Setting this to a value greater than 0 automatically 
      turns on Cubature. 
    * CubaturePruningCutOff=FLOAT (default: 0.01) 
      Eigenvalues of the covariance matrix of the distribution from which we integrate that are 
      below FLOAT times the maximum eigenvalue are "pruned" to zero, in order to increase 
      integration speed. 
    * CubatureRelWeightCutOff=FLOAT (default: 0.0001) 
      Cubature node weights that are below FLOAT times the maximum cubature node weight in a region 
      are "pruned" to zero, in order to increase integration speed. 
    * MaxCubatureDimension=INTEGER (default: 128) 
      The maximum dimension over which to integrate. If the algorithm needs to integrate over a 
      larger space, it will "prune" all but the INTEGER largest eigenvalues of the covariance 
      matrix to zero. 
    * MultiThreadCubatureRuleCreation 
      Some LP solvers are multi-threaded. By default though, DynareOBC turns off the LP solver's 
      multi-threading when possible, unless DynareOBC is not doing any parallel simulation. 
      Enabling this option will restore the multi-threading of certain solvers. Since DynareOBC 
      parallelizes at a higher level (e.g. over cubature regions, or in MLV simulation, slow IRF 
      computation, or estimation), this usually slows down runs. 
    * MaxCubatureSerialLoop (default: 2) 
      Determines the maximum number of calls to the solution of the inner bounds problem, or 
      cubature rule creation problem, before a loop is parallelized. 
    * RetrieveConditionalCovariancesParallelizationCutOff (default: 256) 
      Determines the size of matrix beyond which we parallelize certain loops involved in 
      calculating the covariance of the random variables over which we perform cubature. 
    * FastCubature 
      Deprecated. Now equivalent to Cubature. 
    * ImportanceSampling 
      Ignored. Left in for backwards compatibility. 
    * NoCubature 
      Ignored. Left in for backwards compatibility. 
 
* For controlling accuracy 
    * FirstOrderAroundRSS 
      Takes a linear approximation around the risky steady state of the non-linear model. If 
      specifying this option, you should set order=2 or order=3 in your mod file. 
    * FirstOrderAroundMean 
      Takes a linear approximation around the ergodic mean of the non-linear model. If specifying 
      this option, you should set order=2 or order=3 in your mod file. 
    * SecondOrderConditionalCovariance 
      Even when order>1, by default, DynareOBC uses a first order approximation of the conditional 
      covariance to determine the space of paths to integrate over. This option specifies that a 
      second order approximation should be used instead. This requires order>1 without 
      FirstOrderAroundRSS or FirstOrderAroundMean. 
    * MLVSimulationMode=0|1|2|3 (default: 0) 
      If MLVSimulationMode=0, DynareOBC does not attempt to simulate the path of model local 
      variables. 
      If MLVSimulationMode>0, DynareOBC generates simulated paths and average impulse responses for 
      each model local variable (MLV) which is used in the model, non-constant, non-forward 
      looking, and not purely backwards looking. 
      If MLVSimulationMode>1, DynareOBC additionally generates simulated paths and average impulse 
      responses for each non-constant MLV, used in the model, containing forward looking terms. 
      If MLVSimulationMode=2, then DynareOBC takes the expectation of each forward looking MLV 
      using sparse cubature. 
      If MLVSimulationMode=3, then DynareOBC takes the expectation of each forward looking MLV 
      using quasi-Monte Carlo integration. 
        * MLVSimulationAccuracy=INTEGER (default: 9) 
          When MLVSimulationMode=2, this specifies the degree of polynomial which should be 
          integrated exactly. In this case, values above 51 are treated as equal to 51. When 
          MLVSimulationMode=3, 2^(1+INTEGER) - 1 is the number of points used for quasi-Monte Carlo 
          integration. 
        * MLVSimulationSubSample=INTEGER (default: 1) 
          Causes DynareOBC to only calculate the value of MLVs every INTEGER samples. Setting this 
          greater than 1 is useful when calculating MLVs is expensive, and you want to reduce the 
          standard error of simulated moments. 
    * Sparse 
      Causes DynareOBC to replace all of the elements of the decision rules by sparse matrices, 
      which may speed up DynareOBC, at the cost of some slight reduction in accuracy for certain 
      models with small coefficients. 
 
* For controlling and performing model diagnostics 
    * FeasibilityTestGridSize=INTEGER (default: 0) 
      Specifies the number of points in each of the two axes of the grid on which a test of a 
      sufficient condition for feasibility with T=infinity is performed. Setting a larger number 
      increases the chance of finding feasibility, but may be slow. 
      If FeasibilityTestGridSize=0 then the test is disabled. 
    * SkipQuickPCheck 
      Disables the "quick" check to see if the M matrix has any contiguous principal sub-matrices 
      with non-positive determinants. 
    * PTest=INTEGER (default: 0) 
      Runs a fast as possible test to see if the top INTEGERxINTEGER submatrix of M is a P-matrix. 
      Set this to 0 to disable these tests. 
    * AltPTest=INTEGER (default: 0) 
      Uses a slower, more verbose procedure to test if the top INTEGERxINTEGER submatrix of M is a 
      P-matrix. Set this to 0 to disable these tests. 
    * FullTest=INTEGER (default: 0) 
      Runs very slow tests to see if the top INTEGERxINTEGER submatrix of M is a P(0) and/or 
      (strictly) semi-monotone matrix. 
    * UseVPA 
      Enables more accurate evaluation of determinants using the symbolic toolbox. 
    * LPSolver=STRING 
      (default: gurobi,cplex,xpress,mosek,scip,linprog,glpk,lpsolve,cdd,qsopt,*) 
      Specifies the preferred solver to use for the linear programming problem that is solved when 
      checking whether matrices are S/S_0. To find out what solvers are available to you, run 
      dynareOBC TestSolvers, and examine the list displayed by YALMIP. 
 
* For controlling IRFs 
    * SlowIRFs 
      Calculates a more accurate approximation to (mean) expected IRFs using Monte-Carlo 
      simulation. Without this option, DynareOBC calculates (mean) expected IRFs via cubature 
      (unless this is also disabled). We advise that SlowIRFs or MedianIRFs are always used for 
      IRFs in final paper versions. 
    * MedianIRFs 
      Calculates median IRFs using Monte-Carlo simulation, rather than mean IRFs. Without this 
      option, DynareOBC calculates (mean) expected IRFs via cubature (unless this is also 
      disabled). We advise that SlowIRFs or MedianIRFs are always used for IRFs in final paper 
      versions. Note that due to the non-linearity of the median, the level of median IRFs is 
      somewhat artificial, so the resulting IRFs may appear to violate the bound. Thus, we 
      recommend the use of IRFsAroundZero with the MedianIRFs option. 
    * IRFsAroundZero 
      By default, IRFs are centred around the risky steady state without the SlowIRFs or MedianIRFs 
      options, around the approximate mean with the SlowIRFs option, or around the approximate 
      median with the MedianIRFs option. This option instead centres IRFs around 0. 
    * ShockScale=FLOAT (default: 1) 
      Scale of shocks for IRFs. This allows the calculation of IRFs to shocks larger or smaller 
      than one standard deviation. 
 
* EXPERIMENTAL Settings for controlling estimation or smoothing 
    * Estimation 
      Enables estimation of the model's parameters. Note that Estimation requires the MATLAB 
      Statistics and Machine Learning Toolox. 
        * DataFile=STRING (default: MOD-FILE-NAME.xlsx) 
          Specifies the spreadsheet containing the data to estimate. This spreadsheet should 
          contain two worksheets. The first sheet should have a title row containing the names of 
          the MLVs being observed, followed by one row per observation. There should not be a 
          column with dates. The second sheet should contain a title row with the names of the 
          parameters being estimated, followed by one row for their minima (with empty cells being 
          interpreted as minus infinity), then by one row for their maxima (with empty cells being 
          interpreted as plus infinity). 
        * Prior=STRING (default: FlatPrior) 
          Specifies the function containing the prior to be used in maximum a posteriori 
          estimation. The default prior results in maximum likelihood estimates being returned. The 
          function should accept a single argument giving the vector of parameters to be estimated, 
          in the order they appear in the datafile, followed by the measumerent error variances, 
          then possibly nu-bar (if DynamicNu is not specified), in the final elements of the 
          vector. The function should return the log prior density at that point (up to a 
          constant). 
        * StationaryDistAccuracy=INTEGER (default: 10) 
          The number of periods used to evaluate the stationary distribution of the model is 
          2^StationaryDistAccuracy. 
        * StationaryDistDrop=INTEGER (default: 0) 
          The number of periods used as burn-in prior to evaluating the stationary distribution of 
          the model. Does not need to be greater than zero given the algorithm used for drawing 
          from the stationary distribution. 
        * SkipStandardErrors 
          Makes DynareOBC skip calculation of standard errors for the estimated parameters. 
        * FilterCubatureDegree=INTEGER (default: 0) 
          If this is greater than zero, then DynareOBC uses an alternative sparse cubature rule 
          including additional points for integrating over the states and shocks of the model in 
          the filter. While this requires solving the model less far from the steady-state when the 
          state dimension is large, it also requires negative weights, which may cause numerical 
          issues e.g. with the positive definiteness of the state covariance matrix. this cubature 
          method exactly integrates a polynomial of degree FilterCubatureDegree. Values above 51 
          are treated as equal to 51. 
          If this is less than zero, then DynareOBC takes 2.^(-FilterCubatureDegree) points from a 
          high order Sobol sequence. 
        * StdDevThreshold=FLOAT (default: 1e-6) 
          Specifies the threshold below which the standard deviation of the state is set to zero, 
          for dimension reduction. 
        * NoSkewLikelihood 
          Disables the skewing of the distribution used to approximate the likelihood. 
        * NoTLikelihood 
          Disables the use of a (extended skew) t-distribution to approximate the likelihood. 
          Instead a (extended skew) normal distribution will be used. 
        * DynamicNu 
          Causes the estimation procedure to calibrate the degrees of freedom parameter, nu, at 
          each time step. We recommend that FilterCubatureDegree is at least 9 if this option is 
          specified. 
        * MaximisationFunctions=STRING (default: CMAESWrapper,FMinConWrapper) 
          A , ; or # delimitated list of maximisation function names, which will be invoked in 
          order. DynareOBC includes the following: 
            * CMAESWrapper an evolutionary global search algorithm, 
            * CMAESResumeWrapper an evolutionary global search algorithm, resuming an interrupted 
              CMAES run, 
            * ACDWrapper an adaptive coordinate descent algorithm, 
            * ACDResumeWrapper an adaptive coordinate descent algorithm, resuming an interrupted 
              ACD run, 
            * PACDWrapper an alternative adaptive coordinate descent algorithm, 
            * PACDResumeWrapper an alternative adaptive coordinate descent algorithm, resuming an 
              interrupted ACD run, 
            * FMinConWrapper MATLAB's local search, which requires a license for the MATLAB 
              Optimisation Toolbox. 
        * FixedParameters=STRING (default: '') 
          A , ; or # delimitated list of parameters names. Any parameters in this list will not be 
          estimated, even if they occur in the second sheet of the data file. 
    * Smoothing DISABLED IN THIS VERSION 
      Performs smoothing to estimate the model's state variables and shocks. It is recommended that 
      smoothing is invoked in a separate DynareOBC run after estimation has completed. Note that 
      Smoothing requires the MATLAB Statistics and Machine Learning Toolox. 
        * DataFile=STRING (default: MOD-FILE-NAME.xlsx) 
          Specifies the spreadsheet containing the data to estimate. This spreadsheet should 
          contain at least one worksheet. The first sheet should have a title row containing the 
          names of the MLVs being observed, followed by one row per observation. There should not 
          be a column with dates. 
        * StationaryDistPeriods=INTEGER (default: 1000) 
          The number of periods used to evaluate the stationary distribution of the model. 
        * StationaryDistDrop=INTEGER (default: 100) 
          The number of periods used as burn-in prior to evaluating the stationary distribution of 
          the model. 
        * FilterCubatureDegree=INTEGER (default: 0) 
          If this is greater than zero, then DynareOBC uses an alternative sparse cubature rule 
          including additional points for integrating over the states and shocks of the model in 
          the predict step. While this requires solving the model less far from the steady-state 
          when the state dimension is large, it also requires negative weights, which may cause 
          numerical issues e.g. with the positive definiteness of the state covariance matrix. The 
          cubature method exactly integrates a polynomial of degree INTEGER. Thus, in a model 
          without bounds, there is no need to have INTEGER larger than four times the order of 
          approximation. Values above 51 are treated as equal to 51. 
        * StdDevThreshold=FLOAT (default: 1e-6) 
          Specifies the threshold below which the standard deviation of the state is set to zero, 
          for dimension reduction. 
 
* EXPERIMENTAL settings for controlling accuracy 
    * Global 
      Without this, DynareOBC assumes agents realise that shocks may arrive in the near future 
      which push them towards the bound, but they do not take into account the risk of hitting the 
      bound in the far future. With the global option, DynareOBC assumes agents take into account 
      the risk of hitting the bound at all horizons. Note that under the global solution algorithm, 
      dotted lines give the responses with the polynomial approximation to the bound. They are not 
      the response ignoring the bound entirely. 
      Requires the MATLAB Optimization toolbox, or an alternative non-linear least squares routine, 
      see above for details. Implies the Cubature option. 
        * Resume 
          Resumes an interrupted solution iteration, when using global. 
 
* Advanced options 
    * Bypass 
      Ignores all non-differentiabilities in the model. Useful for debugging. 
    * MinParametricSolutionParallelisationDimension=INTEGER (default: 5) 
      The minimum dimension before the problem of finding a parametric solution is parallelized if 
      a parallel pool is not otherwise needed. 
    * DisplayBoundsSolutionProgress 
      Displays progress solving the bounds problem. Only useful for very hard to solve models under 
      perfect foresight. 
    * CompileSimulationCode 
      Compiles the code used for simulating the base model, without the bound. May speed up long 
      simulations. 
    * SkipAllSimulation 
      Ignores any IRF or stochastic simulation instructions from the stoch_simul command. 
    * NoCleanup 
      Prevents the deletion of DynareOBC's temporary files. Useful for debugging. 
    * NoPoolClose 
      Prevents DynareOBC closing parallel pools. 
    * NoRestorePath 
      Prevents DynareOBC restoring the original path. 
    * OrderOverride=1|2|3 
      Overrides the order of approximation set within the call to stoch_simul. 
    * ShockSequenceFile=FILENAME.mat 
      Specifies a MAT file to open to load shocks for simulation from. The MAT file should contain 
      a matrix called ShockSequence, which should have as many rows as there are shocks, and as 
      many columns as there are simulation periods. Shocks are ordered in declaration order. 
    * InitialStateFile=FILENAME.mat 
      Specifies a MAT file to open to load the initial state for simulation from. The MAT file 
      should contain a column vector called InitialState, which should have as many rows as there 
      are endogenous variables. Variables are ordered in declaration order. Values assigned to 
      non-state variables are ignored. 
    * SimulateOnGridPoints 
      Rather than running an actual simulation, causes DynareOBC to draw QMC points from a Gaussian 
      approximation to the stationary distribution of the model without bounds. The mean for the 
      Gaussian approximation is accurate to the same order as the order of approximation, but the 
      variance used is always only accurate to a first order approximation. 
 
See the Dynare reference manual for other available options. 
 
Supported options inside the .mod file 
-------------------------------------- 
 
Note that DynareOBC only supports some of the options of stoch_simul, and no warning is generated 
if it is used with an unsupported option. Currently supported options for stoch_simul are: 
* irf=INTEGER 
* periods=INTEGER 
* drop=INTEGER 
* order=1|2|3 
* replic=INTEGER 
* loglinear 
* irf_shocks 
* nograph 
* nodisplay 
* nomoments 
* nocorr 
 
DynareOBC also supports a list of variables for simulation after the call to stoch_simul. When 
MLVSimulationMode>0, this list can include the names of model local variables. Any MLV included in 
this list will be simulated even if it does not meet the previous criteria. 
 
Advanced Usage 
-------------- 
 
Alternative usage: dynareOBC [AddPath|RmPath|TestSolvers] [OPTIONS] 
 
* AddPath 
  Adds all folders used by DynareOBC to the path, useful for debugging and testing. 
* RmPath 
  Removes all folders used by DynareOBC from the path, useful for cleanup following a crash. 
* TestSolvers 
  Tests the installed solvers. 
 
Acknowledgements and copyright information 
------------------------------------------ 
 
DynareOBC incorporates code: 
* from Dynare, that is copyright Adjemian, Bastani, Juillard, Mihoubi, Perendia, Pfeifer, Ratto, 
  Villemot, and the rest of the Dynare Team, 2011-2016, 
* for calculating risky first order approximations, that is copyright Meyer-Gohde, 2014. 
  More information is contained in his paper describing the algorithm, available here: 
  http://enim.wiwi.hu-berlin.de/vwl/wtm2/mitarbeiter/meyer-gohde/stochss_main.pdf 
* from the nonlinear moving average toolkit, that is copyright Lan and Alexander Meyer-Gohde, 2014, 
* for nested Gaussian cubature, that is copyright Genz and Keister, 1996, 
* for displaying a progress bar, that is copyright Cacho, "Stefan" and Scheff, 2014, 
* for (mixed-integer) linear programming, from GLPKMEX, copyright Makhorin, Legat and others, 2015, 
* for calculating pseudo-spectral radii, from EigTool, copyright Wright, Mengi, Overton and 
  colleagues, 2014, 
* for interfacing with optimization packages, from YALMIP, copyright Lofberg, 2017, 
* for various optimizers, from the Opti Toolbox, copyright Currie, and others, 2017, 
* for non-linear state space estimation non-linear state space estimation with an Extended Skew T 
  (EST) approximation to the state distribution, from EST-NLSS, copyright Holden, 2017. 
 
Additionally, DynareOBC automatically downloads: 
* MPT, with its dependencies, copyright Herceg and others, 2015. 
 
The original portions of DynareOBC are copyright (c) Tom Holden, 2016-2017. 
 
DynareOBC is released under the GNU GPL, version 3.0 or later, available from 
https://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html 
 
DynareOBC is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU 
General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the 
License, or(at your option) any later version. 
 
DynareOBC is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even 
the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General 
Public License for more details. 
 
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with dynareOBC. If not, see 
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/.