The possibility of exact maximum likelihood estimation of many observation-driven models remains an open question. Often only approximate maximum likelihood estimation is attempted, because the unconditional density needed for exact estimation is not known in closed form. Using simulation and...

Continuous-time Markov processes can be characterized conveniently by their infinitesimal generators. For such processes there exist forward and reverse-time generators. We show how to use these generators to construct moment conditions implied by stationary Markov processes. Generalized method...

This paper studies the econometric problems associated with estimation of a stochastic process that is endogenously sampled. Our interest is to infer the law of motion of a discrete-time stochastic process {pt} that is observed only at a subset of times {t1,..., tn} that depend on the outcome of...

We study the identification and estimation of preferences in hedonic discrete choice models of demand for differentiated products. In the hedonic discrete choice model, products are represented as a finite dimensional bundle of characteristics, and consumers maximize utility subject to a budget...

Standard sufficient conditions for identification in the regression discontinuity design are continuity of the conditional expectation of counterfactual outcomes in the running variable. These continuity assumptions may not be plausible if agents are able to manipulate the running variable. This...

When economists talk about equality, they typically have equality of outcomes, like welfare or income in mind. However such a view of equality is not entirely satisfactory and theories of equality of opportunity have been developed and proposed as an alternative. While there has been some...

The J test for nonnested regression models often works badly as an asypmtotic test, but it generally works very well when bootstrapped. We provide a theroretical analysis of the J test which explains both of these phenomena. We also propose a modified version of the test which works even better...

We investigate confidence intervals and inference for the instrumental variables model with weak instruments. Wald-based confidence intervals for a structural parameter perform poorly in that the probability they reject the null is far greater than their nominal size. We show that the preactice...

We use high-frequency data to study the dynamic relationship between volatility and equity returns. We provide evidence on two alternative mechanisms of interaction between returns and volatilities: the leverage effect and the volatility feedback effect. The leverage hypothesis asserts that...

In moments of financial distress downside risk measures like lower partial moments are more appropriate than the standard variance to characterize risk. The goal of this paper is to study how to choose optimal portfolios in these periods. In order to do this we extend the definition of lower...