🌍 Week 11 Homework — Feedback

Student: Matteo Pugliese Assignment: VAR Estimation and Identification

✅ Overall Assessment

Result: ✅ Pass

Excellent submission. The code is correct, well-structured, and includes a good interpretation of the results. The use of a matrix formulation for OLS (Y_lhs * X_rhs' / ...) is elegant.

🔍 Task-by-Task Check

Task Description Status Notes
1.1 Data Loading & Cleanup ✅ Correctly loads and transforms data
1.2 Data Transformation ✅ Correctly computes annualized growth rates
1.3 Construct Data Matrices ✅ Correct setup of VAR matrices (using transposes correctly)
1.4 OLS Estimation ✅ Correct matrix OLS estimation
1.5 Extract A1 Matrix ✅ Correct extraction of A1
1.6 Residuals & Sigma ✅ Correct covariance calculation
1.7 Identification (Cholesky) ✅ Correct Cholesky decomposition
1.8 Compute IRFs ✅ Correct loop for IRF generation
1.9 Plot IRFs ✅ Generates clear plots for the rate shock
1.10 Save Figures ✅ Saves the figure correctly

📈 Technical Implementation

  • Matrix Algebra: The OLS estimation is implemented using the Y*X' * inv(X*X') form, which is mathematically elegant and correct.
  • Completeness: Implements all steps of the assignment accurately.

💬 Style & Clarity

  • Interpretation: The economic interpretation section at the end is accurate and well-written.
  • Structure: Clear coding structure.

📊 Visual Output Assessment

  • Plots: The figures are clean and informative.
  • Labels: Axes and titles are correct.

✅ Suggestions for Improvement

  1. None: The code is very good.

🎯 Summary

Great job. The submission is technically sound and includes a correct economic analysis of the findings.

Grade Level: ✅ Pass (10/10 tasks correct)