In this paper, we show how to estimate the parameters of stochastic volatility models using Bayesian estimation and Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) simulations through the approximation of the a-posteriori distribution of parameters. Simulated independent draws are made possible by using...

This is a guide that explains how to use software that implements the simulated nonparametric moments (SNM) estimator proposed by Creel and Kristensen (2009). The guide shows how results of that paper may easily be replicated, and explains how to install and use the software for estimation of...

Computing tasks may be parallelized top-down by splitting into per-node chunks when the tasks permit this kind of division, and particularly when there is little or no need for communication between the nodes. Another approach is to parallelize bottom-up, by the substitution of multi-threaded...

Despite attempts to get around the Jacobian in fitting spatial econometric models by using GMM and other approximations, it remains a central problem for maximum likelihood estimation. In principle, and for smaller data sets, the use of the eigenvalues of the spatial weights matrix provides a...

Recent advances in spatial econometrics model fitting techniques have made it more desirable to be able to compare results and timings. Results should correspond between implementations using different applications, while timings are more readily compared within a single application. A broad...

This study aims to describe the size distribution of Portuguese firms, as measured by annual sales and total assets, between 2006 and 2012, giving an economic interpretation for the evolution of the distribution along the time. Three distributions are fitted to data: the lognormal, the Pareto...

Parameter uncertainty has been a recurrent subject treated in the financial literature. The normative portfolio selection approach considers two main kinds of decision rules: expected expected utility maximization and mean-variance criterion. Assuming that the mean-variance criterion is a good...

It is generally accepted that the recent economic crisis of 2007-2010 has caused widespread economic recession in different countries. Since the ports and coastal regions are of great importance to economic infrastructure, this study examined the possible impact resulting from such a global...

The Brownian correlation has been recently introduced by Székely et al. (2007; 2009), which has an attractive property that when it is zero, it guarantees independence. This paper investigates into the effects and advantages, if any, of replacement of the Pearsonian coefficient of correlation (r)...

Recent research work has shown that inflation rate is asymmetric and it is also well known that asymmetry is a non-linear phenomenon. In order to better understand this non-linearity in inflation of Pakistan, we investigate the possible presence of Smooth Transition Autoregressive (STAR)...