This paper describes an empirical investigation into the predictive ability of four credit scoring models as applied to US personal loans. The models tested include the Logit model (LM), the divergence – a discriminant – method (DVM), neural networks (NN), and the generalized additive model...

We describe characteristics of various risk measures (Value-at-Risk, Expected Shortfall, etc.) that are used to analyze and quantify the tail risk exposure, and discuss their relative strengths and weaknesses. Emphasis is placed on presenting and comparing methodologies to compute and backtest...

We consider the filtering model of Frey & Schmidt (2012) stated under the real probability measure and develop a method for estimating the parameters in this framework by using time-series data of CDS index spreads and classical maximum-likelihood algorithms. The estimation-approach incorporates...

Many of the concepts in theoretical and empirical finance developed over the past decades – including the classical portfolio theory, the Black-Scholes-Merton option pricing model or the RiskMetrics variance-covariance approach to VaR – rest upon the assumption that asset returns follow a...

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...

We study a Tikhonov Regularized (TiR) estimator of a functional parameter identified by conditional moment restrictions in a linear model with both exogenous and endogenous regressors. The nonparametric instrumental variable estimator is based on a minimum distance principle with penalization by...

We characterize the robustness of subsampling procedures by deriving a formula for the breakdown point of subsampling quantiles. This breakdown point can be very low for moderate subsampling block sizes, which implies the fragility of subsampling procedures, even if they are applied to robust...

Econometric estimation using simulation techniques, such as the efficient method of moments, may betime consuming. The use of ordinary matrix programming languages such as Gauss, Matlab, Ox or S-plus will very often cause extra delay. For the Efficient Method of Moments implemented to...

We propose a generic Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithm to speed up computations for datasets with many observations. A key feature of our approach is the use of the highly efficient difference estimator from the survey sampling literature to estimate the log-likelihood accurately using...

This paper considers the finite sample distribution of the 2SLS estimator and derives bounds on its exact bias in the presence of weak and/or many instruments. We then contrast the behavior of the exact bias expressions and the asymptotic expansions currently popular in the literature, including...