The Value-at-Risk calculation reduces the dimensionality of the risk factor space. The main reasons for such simplifications are, e.g., technical efficiency, the logic and statistical appropriateness of the model. In Chapter 2 we present three simple mappings: the mapping on the market index,...

This study investigates the dynamics of quarterly real GDP per capita growth rates across four countries, the US, UK, Canada and France. I obtain estimates for ARIMA(p,q) processes for first differences of log quarterly real GDP per capita using Reversible Jump Markov Chain Monte Carlo, allowing...

More and more companies start offering digital payment systems. Smartphones evolve to a digital wallet such that it seems like we are about to enter the era of digital finance. In fact we are already inside an digital economy. The market of e-x (x = "finance", "money", "book", you name it . . ....

The S&P500 or DAX30 are important benchmarks for the financial industry. The first mimics the performance of the major US on the NYSE, AMEX and NASDAQ, while the second does the same for the German Prime Share sector. These and other indices describe different compositions of certain segments of...

The Reversible Jump Markov Chain Monte Carlo (RJMCMC) method can enhance Bayesian DSGE estimation by sampling from a posterior distribution spanning potentially nonnested models with parameter spaces of different dimensionality. We use the method to jointly sample from an ARMA process of unknown...

This article evaluates the performance of structural equation models in validating measurement models for hypothetical constructs and deals with specific issues following from the way this methodology is typically applied in scale construction. In particular, controlling for various types of...

Many researchers seem to be unsure about how to specify formative measurement models in software programs like LISREL or AMOS and to establish identification of the corresponding structural equation model. In order to make identification easier, a new, mainly graphically-oriented approach is...

Although there is an increasing interest in index-based insurances in many developing countries, crop data scarcity hinders its implementation by forcing insurers to charge higher premiums. Expert knowledge has been considered a valuable information source to augment limited data in insurance...

In this paper we investigate the labor market dynamics in a matching model where fluctuations are driven by movements in the discount factor. A comparison with the standard productivity shock is provided. Movements in the discount factor can be used as a proxy for variations in financial risks,...

This paper estimates a New Keynesian DSGE model with search frictions and monetary rules augmented with different labor market indicators. In accordance with a theoretical literature I find that a central bank reacts to a labor market tightness, employment or unemployment. Posterior odds tests...