This paper gives a brief overview on the nonparametric techniques that are useful for financial econometric problems. The problems include estimation and inferences of instantaneous returns and volatility functions of time-homogeneous and time-dependent diffusion processes, and estimation of transition densities and state price densities. We first briefly describe the problems and then outline main techniques and main results. Some useful probabilistic aspects of diffusion processes are also briefly summarized to facilitate our presentation and applications.
Financial econometrics has become an increasingly popular research field. In this paper we review a few parametric and nonparametric models and methods used in this area. After introducing several widely used continuous-time and discrete-time models, we study in detail dependence structures of discrete samples, including Markovian property, hidden Markovian structure, contaminated observations, and random samples. We then discuss several popular parametric and nonparametric estimation methods. To avoid model mis-specification, model validation plays a key role in financial modeling. We discuss…
In this chapter we discuss conceptually high dimensional sparse econometric models as well as estimation of these models using L1-penalization and post-L1-penalization methods. Focusing on linear and nonparametric regression frameworks, we discuss various econometric examples, present basic theoretical results, and illustrate the concepts and methods with Monte Carlo simulations and an empirical application. In the application, we examine and confirm the empirical validity of the Solow-Swan model for international economic growth.
This paper develops and implements a nonparametric test of Random Utility Models. The motivating application is to test the null hypothesis that a sample of cross-sectional demand distributions was generated by a population of rational consumers. We test a necessary and sufficient condition for this that does not rely on any restriction on unobserved heterogeneity or the number of goods. We also propose and implement a control function approach to account for endogenous expenditure. An econometric result of independent interest is a test for linear inequality constraints when these are represe…
This article explores the existing normalizing and variance-stabilizing (NoVaS) method on predicting squared log-returns of financial data. First, we explore the robustness of the existing NoVaS method for long-term time-aggregated predictions. Then we develop a more parsimonious variant of the existing method. With systematic justification and extensive data analysis, our new method shows better performance than current NoVaS and standard GARCH(1,1) methods on both short- and long-term time-aggregated predictions.
To handle the ubiquitous problem of "dependence learning," copulas are quickly becoming a pervasive tool across a wide range of data-driven disciplines encompassing neuroscience, finance, econometrics, genomics, social science, machine learning, healthcare and many more. Copula (or connection) functions were invented in 1959 by Abe Sklar in response to a query of Maurice Frechet. After 60 years, where do we stand now? This article provides a history of the key developments and offers a unified perspective.
Monotonicity is a key qualitative prediction of a wide array of economic models derived via robust comparative statics. It is therefore important to design effective and practical econometric methods for testing this prediction in empirical analysis. This paper develops a general nonparametric framework for testing monotonicity of a regression function. Using this framework, a broad class of new tests is introduced, which gives an empirical researcher a lot of flexibility to incorporate ex ante information she might have. The paper also develops new methods for simulating critical values, whic…
This paper proposes a valid bootstrap-based distributional approximation for M-estimators exhibiting a Chernoff (1964)-type limiting distribution. For estimators of this kind, the standard nonparametric bootstrap is inconsistent. The method proposed herein is based on the nonparametric bootstrap, but restores consistency by altering the shape of the criterion function defining the estimator whose distribution we seek to approximate. This modification leads to a generic and easy-to-implement resampling method for inference that is conceptually distinct from other available distributional approx…
In nonlinear state-space models, sequential learning about the hidden state can proceed by particle filtering when the density of the observation conditional on the state is available analytically (e.g. Gordon et al., 1993). This condition need not hold in complex environments, such as the incomplete-information equilibrium models considered in financial economics. In this paper, we make two contributions to the learning literature. First, we introduce a new filtering method, the state-observation sampling (SOS) filter, for general state-space models with intractable observation densities. Sec…
Wholesale electricity markets are increasingly integrated via high voltage interconnectors, and inter-regional trade in electricity is growing. To model this, we consider a spatial equilibrium model of price formation, where constraints on inter-regional flows result in three distinct equilibria in prices. We use this to motivate an econometric model for the distribution of observed electricity spot prices that captures many of their unique empirical characteristics. The econometric model features supply and inter-regional trade cost functions, which are estimated using Bayesian monotonic regr…
The Blumenthal-Getoor (BG) index characterizes the jump measure of an infinitely active Lévy process. It determines sample path properties and affects the behavior of various econometric procedures. If the process contains a diffusion term, existing estimators of the BG index based on high-frequency observations only achieve rates of convergence which are suboptimal by a polynomial factor. In this paper, a novel estimator for the BG index and the successive BG indices is presented, attaining the optimal rate of convergence. If an additional proportionality factor needs to be inferred, the prop…
This paper illustrates how one can deduce preference from observed choices when attention is not only limited but also random. In contrast to earlier approaches, we introduce a Random Attention Model (RAM) where we abstain from any particular attention formation, and instead consider a large class of nonparametric random attention rules. Our model imposes one intuitive condition, termed Monotonic Attention, which captures the idea that each consideration set competes for the decision-maker's attention. We then develop revealed preference theory within RAM and obtain precise testable implicatio…
Nowcasting can play a key role in giving policymakers timelier insight to data published with a significant time lag, such as final GDP figures. Currently, there are a plethora of methodologies and approaches for practitioners to choose from. However, there lacks a comprehensive comparison of these disparate approaches in terms of predictive performance and characteristics. This paper addresses that deficiency by examining the performance of 12 different methodologies in nowcasting US quarterly GDP growth, including all the methods most commonly employed in nowcasting, as well as some of the m…
Nonparametric kernel density and local polynomial regression estimators are very popular in Statistics, Economics, and many other disciplines. They are routinely employed in applied work, either as part of the main empirical analysis or as a preliminary ingredient entering some other estimation or inference procedure. This article describes the main methodological and numerical features of the software package nprobust, which offers an array of estimation and inference procedures for nonparametric kernel-based density and local polynomial regression methods, implemented in both the R and Stata…
We propose a new class of financial volatility models, called the REcurrent Conditional Heteroskedastic (RECH) models, to improve both in-sample analysis and out-ofsample forecasting of the traditional conditional heteroskedastic models. In particular, we incorporate auxiliary deterministic processes, governed by recurrent neural networks, into the conditional variance of the traditional conditional heteroskedastic models, e.g. GARCH-type models, to flexibly capture the dynamics of the underlying volatility. RECH models can detect interesting effects in financial volatility overlooked by the e…
Random coefficient regression models are a popular tool for analyzing unobserved heterogeneity, and have seen renewed interest in the recent econometric literature. In this paper we obtain the optimal pointwise convergence rate for estimating the density in the linear random coefficient model over Hölder smoothness classes, and in particular show how the tail behavior of the design density impacts this rate. In contrast to previous suggestions, the estimator that we propose and that achieves the optimal convergence rate does not require dividing by a nonparametric density estimate. The optimal…
The problem of endogeneity in statistics and econometrics is often handled by introducing instrumental variables (IV) which fulfill the mean independence assumption, i.e. the unobservable is mean independent of the instruments. When full independence of IV's and the unobservable is assumed, nonparametric IV regression models and nonparametric demand models lead to nonlinear integral equations with unknown integral kernels. We prove convergence rates for the mean integrated square error of the iteratively regularized Newton method applied to these problems. Compared to related results we derive…
We derive an asymptotic theory of nonparametric estimation for a time series regression model $Z_t=f(X_t)+W_t$, where \ensuremath\{X_t\} and \ensuremath\{Z_t\} are observed nonstationary processes and $\{W_t\}$ is an unobserved stationary process. In econometrics, this can be interpreted as a nonlinear cointegration type relationship, but we believe that our results are of wider interest. The class of nonstationary processes allowed for $\{X_t\}$ is a subclass of the class of null recurrent Markov chains. This subclass contains random walk, unit root processes and nonlinear processes. We deriv…
Nested-error regression models are widely used for analyzing clustered data. For example, they are often applied to two-stage sample surveys, and in biology and econometrics. Prediction is usually the main goal of such analyses, and mean-squared prediction error is the main way in which prediction performance is measured. In this paper we suggest a new approach to estimating mean-squared prediction error. We introduce a matched-moment, double-bootstrap algorithm, enabling the notorious underestimation of the naive mean-squared error estimator to be substantially reduced. Our approach does not …
We study the problem of nonparametric regression when the regressor is endogenous, which is an important nonparametric instrumental variables (NPIV) regression in econometrics and a difficult ill-posed inverse problem with unknown operator in statistics. We first establish a general upper bound on the sup-norm (uniform) convergence rate of a sieve estimator, allowing for endogenous regressors and weakly dependent data. This result leads to the optimal sup-norm convergence rates for spline and wavelet least squares regression estimators under weakly dependent data and heavy-tailed error terms. …
The paper considers the problem of robust estimating a periodic function in a continuous time regression model with dependent disturbances given by a general square integrable semimartingale with unknown distribution. An example of such a noise is non-gaussian Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process with the Lévy process subordinator, which is used to model the financial Black-Scholes type markets with jumps. An adaptive model selection procedure, based on the weighted least square estimates, is proposed. Under general moment conditions on the noise distribution, sharp non-asymptotic oracle inequalities fo…
This paper discusses the local linear smoothing to estimate the unknown first and second infinitesimal moments in second-order jump-diffusion model based on Gamma asymmetric kernels. Under the mild conditions, we obtain the weak consistency and the asymptotic normality of these estimators for both interior and boundary design points. Besides the standard properties of the local linear estimation such as simple bias representation and boundary bias correction, the local linear smoothing using Gamma asymmetric kernels possess some extra advantages such as variable bandwidth, variance reduction a…
Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) have been employed for a range of modelling and prediction tasks using financial data. However, evidence on their predictive performance, especially for time-series data, has been mixed. Whereas some applications find that ANNs provide better forecasts than more traditional estimation techniques, others find that they barely outperform basic benchmarks. The present article aims to provide guidance as to when the use of ANNs might result in better results in a general setting. We propose a flexible nonparametric model and extend existing theoretical results for …
We study estimation of multivariate densities $p$ of the form $p(x)=h(g(x))$ for $x\in \mathbb {R}^d$ and for a fixed monotone function $h$ and an unknown convex function $g$. The canonical example is $h(y)=e^{-y}$ for $y\in \mathbb {R}$; in this case, the resulting class of densities [\mathcal {P}(e^{-y})={p=\exp(-g):g is convex}] is well known as the class of log-concave densities. Other functions $h$ allow for classes of densities with heavier tails than the log-concave class. We first investigate when the maximum likelihood estimator $\hat{p}$ exists for the class $\mathcal {P}(h)$ for var…
Financial data are as a rule asymmetric, although most econometric models are symmetric. This applies also to continuous-time models for high-frequency and irregularly spaced data. We discuss some asymmetric versions of the continuous-time GARCH model, concentrating then on the GJR-COGARCH. We calculate higher order moments and extend the first jump approximation. These results are prerequisites for moment estimation and pseudo maximum likelihood estimation of the GJR-COGARCH parameters, respectively, which we derive in detail.
Stochastic volatility modelling of financial processes has become increasingly popular. The proposed models usually contain a stationary volatility process. We will motivate and review several nonparametric methods for estimation of the density of the volatility process. Both models based on discretely sampled continuous time processes and discrete time models will be discussed. The key insight for the analysis is a transformation of the volatility density estimation problem to a deconvolution model for which standard methods exist. Three type of nonparametric density estimators are reviewed: …
Indiana University Bloomington（印第安纳大学伯明顿分校）；Carnegie Mellon University（卡内基梅隆大学）；Santa Fe Institute（圣塔菲研究所）
We derive generalization error bounds for traditional time-series forecasting models. Our results hold for many standard forecasting tools including autoregressive models, moving average models, and, more generally, linear state-space models. These non-asymptotic bounds need only weak assumptions on the data-generating process, yet allow forecasters to select among competing models and to guarantee, with high probability, that their chosen model will perform well. We motivate our techniques with and apply them to standard economic and financial forecasting tools---a GARCH model for predicting …
