Measures of the Output Gap in Turkey: An Empirical Assessment of Selected Methods

The output gap indicating the difference between the actual and potential levels of output is a critical factor for estimating the inflationary pressures in an economy. If the main target of a central bank is ensuring and maintaining the price stability, estimating the output gap with a minimum error is crucial for the efficiency of the monetary policy. In this study, we estimated the output gap in Turkey for the 2002-2014 period by using four different methods. Two of these estimation methods are purely statistical (Linear Trend and Hodrick-Presscot (HP) Filtering) while the others are integrated with the relations suggested by the economic theory (multivariate structural model and structural autoregressive (SVAR) model). By using empirical decision criteria common in the literature, we conclude that SVAR model produces the most reliable output gap estimates to explain inflationary pressures in Turkey. However, we also found that the Hodrick-Presscot filtering method is the second best methodology in the output gap estimation process.