1,721,066 research outputs found
Investigating Asymmetry in U.S. Stock Market Indexes: Evidence from a Stochastic Volatility Model
No full textThis study provides empirical evidence on asymmetry in financial returns using a simple stochastic volatility model which allows a parsimonious yet flexible treatment of both skewness and heavy tails in the conditional distribution of returns. In particular, it is assumed that returns
have a Skew-GED conditional distribution. Inference is conducted under a Bayesian framework using Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods for estimating the properties of the posterior distributions of the parameters.
One is also able to perform some specification testing via Bayes factors. The data set consists of daily and weekly returns on the DJ30, S&P500 and Nasdaq US stock market indexes. The estimation results are consistent with the presence of substantial asymmetry and heavy tails
in the distribution of US stock market indexes
Policy rules, regime switches, and trend inflation: an empirical investigation for the United States
Full text linkThis paper estimates Taylor rules featuring instabilities in policy parameters and switches in policy shocksvolatility for the post-WWII U.S. economy. We contrast a rule embedding a fixed-inflation target with another featuring trend inflation, i.e. a time-varying inflation target. The rule embedding trend inflation turns out to be a) empirically superior according to a marginal likelihood-based comparison, and b) more able to pin down some relevant episodes of the post-WWII U.S. monetary policy history. Estimates conducted with Greenbook data confirm the empirical superiority of the rule featuring a time-varying inflation target. A comparison with recently published estimates of trend inflation is also conducte
MCMC Bayesian Estimation of a Skew-GED Stochastic Volatility Model
No full textIn this paper we present a stochastic volatility model assuming that the return shock has a Skew-GED distribution. This allows a parsimonious yet flexible treatment of asymmetry and heavy tails in the conditional distribution of returns. The Skew-GED distribution nests both the GED, the Skew-normal and the normal densities as special cases so that specification tests are easily performed. Inference is conducted under a Bayesian framework using Markov Chain MonteCarlo methods for computing the posterior distributions of the parameters. More precisely, our Gibbs-MH updating scheme makes use of the Delayed Rejection Metropolis-Hastings methodology as proposed by Tierney and Mira (1999), and of Adaptive-Rejection Metropolis sampling. We apply this methodology to a data set of daily and weekly exchange rates. Our results suggest that daily returns are mostly symmetric with fat-tailed distributions while weekly returns exhibit both significant asymmetry and fat tails
On the role of fundamentals, private signals, and beauty contests to predict exchange rates
Full text linkThis paper proposes a model where heterogeneous agents formulate their predictions of exchange rates based on a Bayesian learning process and higher-order beliefs where fundamentals and private information are used. We exploit survey data on professional forecasts to estimate the model through a Bayesian approach. Our analysis shows that higher-order beliefs are crucial, as they improve the ability to make predictions of exchange rates due to the possible coordination among agents. Moreover, public information plays the most critical role in determining individual predictions. Although the precision of the private signal is higher than the public one, information publicly revealed does exert a disproportionate influence, and differences in the estimated signals determine the equilibrium strategy of each agent as a combination of personal beliefs and higher-order expectations
Comparing stochastic volatility models through Monte Carlo simulations
No full textStochastic volatility models are important tools for studying the behavior of many financial markets.
For this reason a number of versions have been introduced and studied in the recent literature. The
goal is to review and compare some of these alternatives by using Bayesian procedures. The quantity
used to assess the goodness-of-fit is the Bayes factor, whereas the ability to forecast the volatility has
been tested through the computation of the one-step-ahead value-at-risk (VaR). Model estimation has
been carried out through adaptive Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) procedures. The marginal
likelihood, necessary to compute the Bayes factor, has been computed through reduced runs of the
same MCMC algorithm and through an auxiliary particle filter. The empirical analysis is based on
the study of three international financial indexes
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
- …
