This dissertation consists of two parts. The first part deals with theperformance appraisal of estimation algorithms. The second partfocuses on the application of estimation algorithms to targettracking. Performance appraisal is crucial for understanding,developing and comparing various...

This dissertation consists of two parts. The first part deals with the performance appraisal of estimation algorithms. The second part focuses on the application of estimation algorithms to target tracking. Performance appraisal is crucial for understanding, developing and comparing various...

University of Minnesota Ph.D. dissertation. July 2009. Major: Economics. Advisor: Timothy J. Kehoe. 1 compter file (PDF); appendices A-B. Ill. (some col.)

In this paper, I develop and estimate a dynamic model of strategicnetwork formation with heterogeneous agents. The main theoretical resultis the existence of a unique stationary equilibrium, which characterizesthe probability of observing a specific network in the data. As aconsequence, the...

Dynamic factor models (DFM) and dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) models are widely used for empirical research in macroeconomics. The empirical factor literature argues that the co-movement of large panels of macroeconomic and financial data can be captured by relatively few common...

In models with unobserved taste heterogeneity, distributional assumptions can be placed in two ways: (1) by specifying the distribution of coefficients in the utility function and deriving the distribution of willingness to pay (wtp), or (2) by specifying the distribution of wtp and deriving the...

Estimation of liquidity costs in agricultural futures markets is challenging because bid-askspreads are usually not observed. Spread estimators that use transaction data are available,but little agreement exists on their relative accuracy and performance. We evaluate fourconventional and a...

Understanding the determinants of liquidity costs in agricultural futures markets ishampered by a need to use proxies for the bid-ask spread which are often biased, and by a failure to account for a jointly determined micro-market structure. We estimate liquidity costs and its determinants for...

This paper examines the health effects of a fiscal food policy based on a combinationof fat taxes and thin subsidies. The fat tax is based on the saturated fat content of fooditems while the thin subsidy is applied to select fruit and vegetbale items. The policy is designed to be revenue neutral...

In dieser Arbeit werden die Folgen der Calvo-Annahme in dynamischen makroökonomischen Modellen untersucht. Dafür wird die Calvo-Annahme unter Anwendung des Konzepts der statistischen Hazardfunktion verallgemeinert. Ich untersuche zwei mögliche Anwendungen dieses Ansatzes innerhalb von...