This chapter reviews the literature on variable selection in nonparametric and semiparametric regression models via shrinkage. We highlight recent developments on simultaneous variable selection and estimation through the methods of least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (Lasso), smoothly clipped absolute deviation (SCAD) or their variants, but restrict our attention to nonparametric a...

This note conducts a simulation study of parameter-stability tests using conditional cointegrated vector autoregressive (CVAR) models. Monte Carlo experiments show that, in small samples, the stability tests based on conditional CVAR models under the assumption of weak exogeneity are more powerful than those based on a joint CVAR model; the reverse is observed, however, when the assumption does...

We propose a methodology for constructing confidence regions with partially identified models of general form. The region is obtained by inverting a test of internal consistency of the econometric structure. We develop a dilation bootstrap methodology to deal with sampling uncertainty without reference to the hypothesized economic structure, and apply a duality principle to reduce the dimension...

This paper attempts to quantify the effect of skill shortages on the UK labour market by developing a simultaneous equation model of unemployment and real wage growth. The model is developed following a structural approach based on a priori economic information and is initially estimated using a two-stage least squares procedure. The model is also estimated using Zellner’s seemingly unrelated r...

This paper assesses the finite sample refinements of the block bootstrap and the Non-Parametric Bootstrap for conditional moment models. The study recononsiders inference in the generalized method of moments estimation of the consumption asset pricing model of Singleton (1986). These dependent bootstrap resampling schemes are proposed as an alternative to the asymptotic approximation in small s...

We examine whether by adding a credit channel to the standard New Keynesian model we can account better for the behaviour of US macroeconomic data up to and including the banking crisis. We use the method of indirect inference which evaluates statistically how far a model’s simulated behaviour mimics the behaviour of the data. We …nd that the model with credit dominates the standard model by a ...

The validation of probability calibration is an inherently difficult task. We develop a testing procedure for credit-scoring models. The models comprise two components to check whether the ex-ante probabilities support the ex-post frequencies. The first component tests the level of the probability calibration under dependencies. In the long term, the number of events should equal the sum of ass...

In this paper we provide analytical, simulation, and empirical evidence on a test of equal economic value from competing predictive models of asset returns. We define economic value using the concept of a performance fee — the amount an investor would be willing to pay to have access to an alternative predictive model that is used to make investment decisions. We establish that this fee can be ...

Economic value calculations are increasingly used to compare the predictive performance of competing models of asset returns. However, they lack a rigorous way to validate their evidence. This paper proposes a new methodology to test whether utility gains accruing to investors using competing predictive models are equal to zero. Monte Carlo evidence indicates that our testing procedure, that ca...

Technical traders base their analysis on the premise that the patterns in market prices are assumed to recur in the future, and thus, these patterns can be used for predictive purposes. This paper uses the daily Dow Jones Industrial Average Index from 1897 to 1988 to examine the linear and nonlinear predictability of stock market returns with simple technical trading rules. The nonlinear specif...