One of the main objectives of empirical analysis of experiments and quasi-experiments is to inform policy decisions that determine the allocation of treatments to individuals with different observable covariates. We propose the Empirical Welfare Maximization (EWM) method, which estimates a...

This paper evaluates two Swedish active labour market programmes for youth, namely youth practice and labour market training. A non-parametric matching approach is applied to estimate the average program effects. Moreover, the results obtained by matching are compared to results from standard...

Accurate modeling of extreme price changes is vital to financial risk management. We examine the small sample properties of adaptive tail index estimators under the class of student-t marginal distribution functions including GARCH and propose a model-based bias-corrected estimation approach....

We use a no-arbitrage essentially affine three-factor model to estimate term premia in US and German ten-year government bond yields. In line with the existing literature, we find that estimated premia have followed a downward trend since the 1980s: from 4.9 per cent in 1981 to 0.7 per cent in...

A general methodology for time series modelling is developed which works down from distributional properties to implied structural models including the standard regression relationship. This general to specific approach is important since it can avoid spurious assumptions such as linearity in...

A new semiparametric estimator for an empirical asset pricing model with general nonparametric risk-return tradeoff and a GARCH process for the underlying volatility is introduced. The estimator does not rely on any initial parametric estimator of the conditional mean function, and this feature...

Measuring and modeling financial volatility is the key to derivative pricing, asset allocation and risk management. The recent availability of high-frequency data allows for refined methods in this field. In particular, more precise measures for the daily or lower frequency volatility can be...

We provide a new theoretical framework for disentangling and estimating sensitivity towards systematic diffusive and jump risks in the context of factor pricing models. Our estimates of the sensitivities towards systematic risks, or betas, are based on the notion of increasingly finer sampled...

External data can often be useful in improving estimation of operational risk loss distributions. This paper develops a systematic approach that incorporates external information into internal loss distribution modelling. The standard statistical model resembles bayesian methodology or...

A kernel weighted version of the standard realised integrated volatility estimator is proposed. By different choices of the kernel and bandwidth, the measure allows us to focus on specific characteristics of the volatility process. In particular, as the bandwidth vanishes, an estimator of the...