Jackknife estimation of stationary autoregressive models

This paper explores the properties of jackknife methods of estimation in stationary autoregressive models. Some general results concerning the correct weights for bias reduction under various sampling schemes are provided and the asymptotic properties of a jackknife estimator based on non-overlapping sub-samples are derived for the case of a stationary autoregression of order p$p$ when the number of sub-samples is either fixed or increases with the sample size at an appropriate rate. The results of a detailed investigation into the finite sample properties of various jackknife and alternative estimators are reported and it is found that the jackknife can deliver substantial reductions in bias in autoregressive models. This finding is robust to departures from normality, ARCH effects and misspecification. The median-unbiasedness and mean squared error properties are also investigated and compared with alternative methods as are the coverage rates of jackknife-based confidence intervals.     

Estimation of semiparametric locally stationary diffusion models

This paper proposes a class of locally stationary diffusion processes. The model has a time varying but locally linear drift and a volatility coefficient that is allowed to vary over time and space. The model is semiparametric because we allow these functions to be unknown and the innovation process is parametrically specified, indeed completely known. We propose estimators of all the unknown quantities based on long span data. Our estimation method makes use of the property of local stationarity. We establish asymptotic theory for the proposed estimators as the time span increases, so we do not rely on infill asymptotics. We apply this method to interest rate data to illustrate the validity of our model. Finally, we present a simulation study to provide the finite-sample performance of the proposed estimators.     

Estimation and forecasting in vector autoregressive moving average models for rich datasets

We address the issue of modelling and forecasting macroeconomic variables using rich datasets by adopting the class of Vector Autoregressive Moving Average (VARMA) models. We overcome the estimation issue that arises with this class of models by implementing an iterative ordinary least squares (IOLS) estimator. We establish the consistency and asymptotic distribution of the estimator for weak and strong VARMA(p,q) models. Monte Carlo results show that IOLS is consistent and feasible for large systems, outperforming the MLE and other linear regression based efficient estimators under alternative scenarios. Our empirical application shows that VARMA models are feasible alternatives when forecasting with many predictors. We show that VARMA models outperform the AR(1), ARMA(1,1), Bayesian VAR, and factor models, considering different model dimensions.     

Identification in models with autoregressive errors

Consider the model

$\text{A(L)x}{}_{\mathrm{t}}\text{=B(L)y}{}_{\mathrm{t}}\text{+C(L)z}{}_{\mathrm{t}}\text{=u}{}_{\mathrm{t}}\text{, t=1,…,T}$

, where

$\text{A(L)=(B(L):C(L))}$

is a matrix of polynomials in the lag operator so that $\text{L}{}^{\mathrm{r}}\text{x}{}_{\mathrm{t}}\text{=x}{}_{\mathrm{t?r}}$, and $\text{y}{}_{\mathrm{t}}$ is a vector of n endogenous variables,

$\text{B(L)=}\text{∑}\text{s=0}\text{k}\text{B}{}_{\mathrm{s}}\text{L}{}^{\mathrm{s}}$

$\text{B}{}_0\text{I}{}_{\mathrm{n}}$, and the remaining $\text{B}{}_{\mathrm{s}}$ are $\text{n × n}$ square matrices,

$\text{C(L)=}\text{∑}\text{s=0}\text{k}\text{C}{}_{\mathrm{s}}\text{L}{}^{\mathrm{s}}$

, and $\text{C}{}_{\mathrm{s}}$ is $\text{n × m}$.Suppose that $\text{u}{}_{\mathrm{t}}$ satisfies

$\text{R(L)u}{}_{\mathrm{t}}\text{=e}{}_{\mathrm{t}}$

, where

$\text{R(L)=}\text{∑}\text{s=0}\text{r}\text{R}{}_{\mathrm{s}}\text{L}{}^{\mathrm{s}}$

, $\text{R}{}_0\text{=I}{}_{\mathrm{n}}$, and $\text{R}{}_{\mathrm{s}}$ is a $\text{n × n}$ square matrix. $\text{e}{}_{\mathrm{t}}$ may be white noise, or generated by a vector moving average stochastic process.Now writing

$\text{Ψ(L)=R(L)A(L)}$

, it is assumed that ignoring the implicit restrictions which follow from eq. (1), $\text{Ψ(L)}$ can be consistently estimated, so that if the equation

$\text{Ψ(L)x}{}_{\mathrm{t}}\text{=e}{}_{\mathrm{t}}$

has a moving average error stochastic process, suitable conditions [see E.J. Hannan] for the identification of the unconstrained model are satisfied, and that the appropriate conditions (lack of multicollinearity) on the data second moments matrices discussed by Hannan are also satisfied. Then the essential conditions for identification of the A(L) and R(L) can be considered by requiring that for the true $\text{Ψ(L)}$ eq. (1) has a unique solution for $\text{A(L)}$ and $\text{R(L)}$.There are three types of lack of identification to be distinguished. In the first there are a finite number of alternative factorisations. Apart from a factorisation condition which will be satisfied with probability one a necessary and sufficient condition for lack of identification is that $\text{A(L)}$ has a latent root λ in the sense that for some non-zero vector β,

$\text{β′A(λ)=0}$

.The second concept of lack of identification corresponds to the Fisher conditions for local identifiability on the derivatives of the constraints. It is shown that a necessary and sufficient condition that the model is locally unidentified in this sense is that R(L) and A(L) have a common latent root, i.e., that for some vectors δ and β,

$\text{R(λ)δ=0 and β′A(λ)=0}$

.Firstly it is shown that only if further conditions are satisfied will this lead to local unidentifiability in the sense that there are solutions of the equation

$\text{Ψ(z)=R(z)A(z)}$

in any neighbourhood of the true values.     

The effect of parameter uncertainty on forecast variances and confidence intervals for unit root and trend stationary time-series models

In this paper I describe the effect of parameter uncertainty on the way conditional forecast variances grow as the forecast horizon increases. Without parameter uncertainty, forecast variances for the unit root model grow linearly with the forecast horizon while with the trend stationary model they are bounded. With parameter uncertainty, however, I find that for both the unit root and the trend stationary models, forecast variances grow with the square of the forecast horizon so that uncertainty grows at a much faster rate than without parameter uncertainty.     

Specification and estimation of spatial autoregressive models with autoregressive and heteroskedastic disturbances

This study develops a methodology of inference for a widely used Cliff–Ord type spatial model containing spatial lags in the dependent variable, exogenous variables, and the disturbance terms, while allowing for unknown heteroskedasticity in the innovations. We first generalize the GMM estimator suggested in  and  for the spatial autoregressive parameter in the disturbance process. We also define IV estimators for the regression parameters of the model and give results concerning the joint asymptotic distribution of those estimators and the GMM estimator. Much of the theory is kept general to cover a wide range of settings.     

Estimation and testing for a Poisson autoregressive model

This article considers statistical inference for a Poisson autoregressive model. A condition for ergodicity and a necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of moments are given. Asymptotics for maximum likelihood estimator and weighted least squares estimators with estimated weights or known weights of the parameters are established. Testing conditional heteroscedasticity and testing the parameters under a simple ordered restriction are noted. A simulation study is also given.     

Optimal regime switching and threshold effects

We consider a general control problem with two types of optimal regime switch. The first one concerns technological and/or institutional regimes indexed by a finite number of discrete parameter values, and the second features regimes relying on given threshold values for given state variables. We propose a general optimal control framework allowing to derive the first-order optimality conditions and in particular to characterize the geometry of the shadow prices at optimal switching times (if any). We apply this new optimal control material to address the problem of the optimal management of natural resources under ecological irreversibility, and with the possibility to switch to a backstop technology.     

Estimation of a dynamic system of seemingly unrelated regressions with autoregressive disturbances

This paper examines the small sample properties of the asymptotically efficient estimator due to Hatanaka (1976) and Dhrymes and Taylor (1976) applied to a system of seemingly unrelated regressions characterized by both autoregressive disturbances and lagged endogenous variables. The results of several Monte Carlo experiments suggest that, in general, this estimation procedure performs well in samples of modest size. Two important situations in which the results are mixed are also reported.     

Adaptive estimation of autoregressive models with time-varying variances

Stable autoregressive models are considered with martingale differences errors scaled by an unknown nonparametric time-varying function generating heterogeneity. An important special case involves structural change in the error variance, but in most practical cases the pattern of variance change over time is unknown and may involve shifts at unknown discrete points in time, continuous evolution or combinations of the two. This paper develops kernel-based estimators of the residual variances and associated adaptive least squares (ALS) estimators of the autoregressive coefficients. Simulations show that efficiency gains are achieved by the adaptive procedure.     

Numerical issues in threshold autoregressive modeling of time series

This paper analyses the contribution of various numerical approaches to making the estimation of threshold autoregressive time series more efficient. It relies on the computational advantages of QR factorizations and proposes Givens transformations to update these factors for sequential LS problems. By showing that the residual sum of squares is a continuous rational function over threshold intervals it develops a new fitting method based on rational interpolation and the standard necessary optimality condition. Taking as benchmark a simple grid search, the paper illustrates via Monte Carlo simulations the efficiency gains of the proposed tools.     

Averaging estimators for autoregressions with a near unit root

This paper uses local-to-unity theory to evaluate the asymptotic mean-squared error (AMSE) and forecast expected squared error from least-squares estimation of an autoregressive model with a root close to unity. We investigate unconstrained estimation, estimation imposing the unit root constraint, pre-test estimation, model selection estimation, and model average estimation. We find that the asymptotic risk depends only on the local-to-unity parameter, facilitating simple graphical comparisons. Our results strongly caution against pre-testing. Strong evidence supports averaging based on Mallows weights. In particular, our Mallows averaging method has uniformly and substantially smaller risk than the conventional unconstrained estimator, and this holds for autoregressive roots far from unity. Our averaging estimator is a new approach to forecast combination.     

GMM estimation of spatial autoregressive models with unknown heteroskedasticity

In the presence of heteroskedastic disturbances, the MLE for the SAR models without taking into account the heteroskedasticity is generally inconsistent. The 2SLS estimates can have large variances and biases for cases where regressors do not have strong effects. In contrast, GMM estimators obtained from certain moment conditions can be robust. Asymptotically valid inferences can be drawn with consistently estimated covariance matrices. Efficiency can be improved by constructing the optimal weighted estimation.     

Stochastic frontier models with threshold efficiency

This paper proposes a tail-truncated stochastic frontier model that allows for the truncation of technical efficiency from below. The truncation bound implies the inefficiency threshold for survival. Specifically, this paper assumes a uniform distribution of technical inefficiency and derives the likelihood function. Even though this distributional assumption imposes a strong restriction that technical inefficiency has a uniform probability density over [0, θ], where θ is the threshold parameter, this model has two advantages: (1) the reduction in the number of parameters compared with more complicated tail-truncated models allows better performance in numerical optimization; and (2) it is useful for empirical studies of the distribution of efficiency or productivity, particularly the truncation of the distribution. The Monte Carlo simulation results support the argument that this model approximates the distribution of inefficiency precisely, as the data-generating process not only follows the uniform distribution but also the truncated half-normal distribution if the inefficiency threshold is small.     

A note on multi-step forecasting with functional coefficient autoregressive models

This paper presents and evaluates alternative methods for multi-step forecasting using univariate and multivariate functional coefficient autoregressive (FCAR) models. The methods include a simple “plug-in” approach, a bootstrap-based approach, and a multi-stage smoothing approach, where the functional coefficients are updated at each step to incorporate information from the time series captured in the previous predictions. The three methods are applied to a series of U.S. GNP and unemployment data to compare performance in practice. We find that the bootstrap-based approach out-performs the other two methods for nonlinear prediction, and that little forecast accuracy is sacrificed using any of the methods if the underlying process is actually linear.     

A link between random coefficient autoregressive models and some agent based models

An agent based model (ABM), where each agent makes decisions by using the sum of two signals, is proposed. The first is related to the fundamental information while the second comes from trader’s idiosyncratic noise. This model entails the switching between two groups called fundamentalist and noise traders. Additionally, if the price impact function is log-linear, then the dynamic of log asset prices belongs to the class of random coefficient autoregressive RCA(p) models, which are known to share important stylized facts of financial prices.     

Pseudo maximum likelihood estimation of spatial autoregressive models with increasing dimension

Pseudo maximum likelihood estimates are developed for higher-order spatial autoregressive models with increasingly many parameters, including models with spatial lags in the dependent variables both with and without a linear or nonlinear regression component, and regression models with spatial autoregressive disturbances. Consistency and asymptotic normality of the estimates are established. Monte Carlo experiments examine finite-sample behaviour.     

Maximum likelihood estimation and inference methods for the covariance stationary panel AR(1)/unit root model

This paper considers Maximum Likelihood (ML) based estimation and inference procedures for linear dynamic panel data models with fixed effects.     

Exact tests in single equation autoregressive distributed lag models

For hypotheses on the coefficient values of the lagged-dependent variables in the ARX class of dynamic regression models, test procedures are developed which yield exact inference for given (up to an unknown scale factor) distribution of the innovation errors. They include exact tests on the maximum lag length, for structural change and on the presence of (seasonal or multiple) unit roots, i.e. they cover situations where usually asymptotic and non-exact t, F, AOC, ADF or HEGY tests are employed. The various procedures are demonstrated and compared in illustrative empirical models and the approach is critically discussed.