Problem in options of bvar_density

Dynare v4 (legacy)
1

Hi all,

I have tried to estimate a version of Smets and Wouters (2007) model using the bvar toolbox in Dynare 4. When i enter the options bvar_prior_tau =10 as they do, i get the following error message :

“syntax error, unexpected INT_NUMBER, expecting FLOAT_NUMBER or MINUS or PLUS”.

If i enter for instance bvar_prior_tau = 1e1, everything is fine. To my knowledge, Sebastien does not mention this in the documention (bvar a la Sims). Is it a bug or a computer-specific problem (I use Windows vista)?

Thanks for reply.

2

Thanks for the bug report.

Your problem comes from the fact that the preprocessor only accepts floating point numbers for tau, but refuses integers.

This bug will be fixed in release 4.0.1 of Dynare (the bugfix did not make it into the 4.0.0 release, I read your message too late).

By the meantime, there is a simple workaround: replace “10” by “10.0”.
The latter is a floating point number, and will be accepted by the preprocessor.

Best

Sébastien