A class of composite estimators of small area quantities that exploit spatial (distancerelated) similarity is derived. It is based on a distribution-free model for the areas, but the estimators are aimed to have optimal design-based properties. Composition is applied also to estimate some of the...

This paper shows that the asymptotic normal approximation is often insufficiently accurate for volatility estimators based on high frequency data. To remedy this, we compute Edgeworth expansions for such estimators. Unlike the usual expansions, we have found that in order to obtain meaningful...

In this article we present a new model of the spot interest rate and a new method of estimation of nonlinear stochastic differential equations. We show how an integrated discrete time process in an econometric sense can be modelled by a continuous time ergodic process. We make an application to...

Long memory processes have been extensively studied over the past decades. When dealing with the financial and economic data, seasonality and time-varying long-range dependence can often be observed and thus some kind of non-stationarity can exist inside financial data sets. To take into account...

In the current paper, the finite-sample stability of various implementations of the KPSS test is studied. The implementations considered differ in how the so-called long-run variance is estimated under the null hypothesis. More specifically, the effects that the choice of kernel, the value of...

The sample mean is one of the most natural estimators of the population mean based on independent identically distributed sample. However, if some control variate is available, it is known that the control variate method reduces the variance of the sample mean. The control variate method often...

The globalisation on financial markets and the development of financial derivatives has increased not only chances but also potential risk within the banking industry. Especially market risk has gained major significance since market price variation of interest rates, stocks or exchange rates...

Multilevel Analysis - Techniques and Applications is intended as an introduction to multilevel analysis for students and applied researchers, a book that can be used either in psychology, education, sociology, or business courses. Hox takes the reader step by step into the area of multilevel...

Current methods for constructing house price indices are based on comparisons of sale prices of residential properties sold two or more times and on regression of the sale prices on the attributes of the properties and of their locations. The two methods have well recognised deficiencies,...

In this paper we study the finite sample behavior of the Hill estimator under α-stable distributions. Using large Monte Carlo simulations we show that the Hill estimator overestimates the true tail exponent and can hardly be used on samples with small length. Utilizing our results, we introduce...