A general parametric framework is developed for pricing S&P500 options. Skewness and leptokurtosis in stock returns as well as time-varying volatility are priced. The parametric pricing model nests the Black-Scholes model and can explain volatility smiles and skews in stock options. The data...

In this paper we apply Bayesian methods to estimate a stochastic volatility model using both the prices of the asset and the prices of options written on the asset. Implicit posterior densities for the parameters of the volatility model, for the latent volatilities and for the market price of...

This paper considers Beveridge-Nelson decomposition in a context where the permanent and transitory components both follow a Markov switching process. Our approach incorporates Markov switching into a single source of error state-space framework, allowing business cycle asymmetries and regime...

Intermittent demand commonly occurs with inventory data, with many time periods having no demand and small demand in the other periods. Croston's method is a widely used procedure for intermittent demand forecasting. However, it is an ad hoc method with no properly formulated underlying...

This paper proposes neural network based measures of predictability in conditional mean, and then uses them to construct nonlinear analogues to autocorrelograms and partial autocorrelograms. In contrast to other measures of nonlinear dependence that rely on nonparametric estimation of densities...

This paper develops a new non-linear model to analyse the business cycle by exploiting the relationship between the asymmetrical behaviour of the cycle and leading indicators. The model proposed is an innovations form of the structural model underlying simple exponential smoothing that is...

A well known property of the Beveridge Nelson decomposition is that the innovations in the permanent and transitory components are perfectly correlated. We use a single source of error state space model to exploit this property and perform a Beveridge Nelson decomposition. The single source of...

Given that it is quite impractical to use standard model selection criteria in a nonlinear modeling context, the builders of nonlinear models often choose lag length by setting it equal to the lag length chosen for a linear autoregression of the data. This paper studies the performance of this...

The local linear trend and global linear trend models embody extreme assumptions about trends. According to the local linear trend formulation the level and growth rate are allowed to rapidly adapt to changes in the data path. On the other hand, the Glaobal linear trend model makes no allowance...

This paper extends the family of smooth transition autoregressive (STAR) models by proposing a specification in which the autoregressive parameters follow random walks. The random walks in the parameters can capture structural change within a regime switching framework, but in contrast to the...