This paper examines the Olsonian thesis that group is size inversely related to successful collective action. We start with an empirical analysis based on primary data. This data gives information on a set of 21 villages in the Indian Himalayas that collectively monitor to protect and conserve...

In this paper we examine the interaction between data transformation and the empirical evidence obtained when testing for (non-)linearity. For this purpose we examine nonlinear features in 64 monthly and 53 quarterly US macroeconomic variables for a range of Box-Cox data transformations. Our...

We construct limiting and small sample distributions of maximum likelihood estimators (mle) from the property that they satisfy the first order condition (foc). The foc relates the mle of the analyzed model to the mle of an encompassing model and shows that the mle of the analyzed model is a...

We establish the relationships between certain Bayesian and classical approaches to instrumental variable regression. We determine the form of priors that lead to posteriors for structural parameters that have similar properties as classical 2SLS and LIML and in doing so provide some new insight...

In addition to clear-cut seasonality in mean and variance, weekly Dutch temperature data appear to have a strong asymmetry in the impact of unexpectedly high or low temperatures on conditional volatility. Furthermore, this asymmetry also shows fairly pronounced seasonal variation. To describe...

This note gives a few practical guidelines for cointegration analysis. The focus is on testing the cointegration rank in a VAR model and on how an intercept and a trend should be incorporated in the model. Only two cases appear relevant for most economic data.

We consider representation, estimation and inference on cointegration in a periodic vector autoregressive time series model (PVAR). We show that cointegration amounts to a restriction on a product of parameter matrices. We therefore use GMM to construct estimators of the long-run (cointegration)...

Using a standard 4-variable linear vector error correction model (VECM), we first show that the null hypothesis of linearity can be strongly rejected against the alternative of smooth transition autoregressive nonlinearity. An important result from this stage of the analysis is that the...

In this paper the issue of detecting and handling outliers in the GARCH(1,1) model is addressed. Simulation evidence shows that neglecting even a single outlier has a dramatic on parameter estimates. To detect and correct for outliers, we propose an adaptation of the iterative in Chen and Liu...

This paper is concerned with forecasting univariate seasonal time series data using periodic autoregressive models. We show how one should account for unit roots and deterministic terms when generating out-of-sample forecasts. We illustrate the models for various quarterly UK consumption series.