Optimization algorithms must be among the most common numerical methods used by economists. Yet, there is surprisingly little guidance on choosing the appropriate one. This problem is most notable with regard to conventional versus global optimizers. Typically, a global optimizer is used when a...

The method proposed in this chapter is making use of the bispectrum transformation to estimate the level of integration of a fractionally integrated time series. Bispectrum ransformation transforms the series into a two dimensional frequency space, and thus has higher information content...

Valid predictions for the direction of nonresponse bias were obtained from subjective estimates and extrapolations in an analysis of mail survey data from published studies. For estimates of the magnitude of bias, the use of extrapolations led to substantial improvements over a strategy of not...