We develop a two-step estimator for a class of Markov decision processes with continuous control that is intuitive and simple to implement. Making use of the monotonicity assumption we estimate the expected continuation value functions nonparametrically in the first stage. In the second stage...

A number of conditional transition probability models make use of side information - explanatory variable values known only initially and useful for predicting transitions of the variables of interest. For example, the Cox Proportional Hazard Model is used to provide future hazard arrival...

This paper presents a credit migration model that aims to consistently capture the point-in-time dynamics of the credit worthiness of debt issuers and their obligations, and a calibration routine that permits the model to effectively fit historical ratings data. Our approach is to view the...

We develop a minimum distance estimator for dynamic games of incomplete information. We take a two-step approach, following Hotz and Miller (1993), based on the pseudo-model that does not solve the dynamic equilibrium in order to circumvent the potential indeterminacy issues associated with...

We propose a new methodology to estimate the empirical pricing kernel implied from option data. In contrast to most of the studies in the literature that use an indirect approach, i.e. first estimating the physical and risk-neutral densities and obtaining the pricing kernel in a second step, we...

We consider median regression and, more generally, quantile regression in high-dimensional sparse models. In these models the overall number of regressors p is very large, possibly larger than the sample size n, but only s of these regressors have non-zero impact on the conditional quantile of...

This paper examines the joint dynamics of a system of asset returns by describing and implementing a factor multivariate stochastic volatility (factor MSV) model. The foundation for the model discussed here is the work of Doz and Renault (2006). Despite its attractive design, that model has not...

Semiparametric models are characterized by a finite- and infinite-dimensional (functional) component. As such they allow for added flexibility over fully parametric models, and at the same time estimators of parametric components can be developed that exhibit standard parametric convergence...

The econometric literature of high frequency data usually relies on moment estimators which are derived from assuming local constancy of volatility and related quantities. We here show that this first order approximation is not always valid if used naively. We find that such approximations...

In this paper, a model is developed to forecast simultaneously a security's price, growth rate, volatility, and high moments (if applicable). The model has many features. It is built based on its own price growth in a certain time horizon. It is not based on many assumptions such as prices being...