This paper describes a method for solving heterogeneous agent models with aggregate risk and many idiosyncratic states formulated in discrete time. It extends the method proposed by Reiter (2009) and complements recent work by Ahn, Kaplan, Moll, Winberry, and Wolf (2017) on how to solve such...

This paper introduces a numerical method for solving concave continuous state dynamic programming problems which is based on a pair of polyhedral approximations of concave functions. The method is globally convergent and produces computable upper and lower bounds on the value function which can...

We show that Australian options are equivalent to fixed or floating strike Asian options and consequently that by studying Asian options from the Australian perspective and vice versa, much can be gained. One specific application of this “Australian approach” leads to a natural dimension...

Forecasting Populations (FPOP) is a microsimulation model (MSM) that is the demographic core of an extensible modeling framework. The framework, with FPOP at its core, enables the geospatial projection of a population under purely demographic processes or under the additional influence of...

Approximating stochastic processes by finite-state Markov chains is useful for reducing computational complexity when solving dynamic economic models. We provide a new method for accurately discretizing general Markov processes by matching low order moments of the conditional distributions using...

The Rouwenhorst method of approximating stationary AR(1) processes has been overlooked by much of the literature despite having many desirable properties unmatched by other methods. In particular, we prove that it can match the conditional and unconditional mean and variance, and the first-order...

We extend the short rate model of Vasicek (1977) to include jumps in the local mean. Conditions ensuring existence of a unique equivalent martingale measure are given, implying that the model is arbitrage-free and complete. We develop efficient numerical methods for computation of zero coupon...

The author explains how optimal-control problems can be solved with a common spreadsheet such as Microsoft Excel. He illustrates the method with several examples ranging from simple models to quite advanced topics. The method is intended to be beneficial to students and teachers working with...

This paper discusses how numerical techniques may be used to solve the simultaneous functional equations that arise in general dynamic stochastic games. Unlike the conventional linear-quadratic approach, our methods may be used to address general model specifications that may include...