Semiparametric multivariate volatility models

Estimation of multivariate volatility models is usually carried out by quasi maximum likelihood (QMLE), for which consistency and asymptotic normality have been proven under quite general conditions. However, there may be a substantial efficiency loss of QMLE if the true innovation distribution is not multinormal. We suggest a nonparametric estimation of the multivariate innovation distribution, based on consistent parameter estimates obtained by QMLE. We show that under standard regularity conditions the semiparametric efficiency bound can be attained. Without reparametrizing the conditional covariance matrix (which depends on the particular model used), adaptive estimation is not possible. However, in some cases the efficiency loss of semiparametric estimationwith respect to full information maximum likelihood decreases as the dimension increases.In practice, one would like to restrict the class of possible density functions to avoid the curse of dimensionality. One way of doing so is to impose the constraint that the density belongs to the class of spherical distributions, for which we also derive the semiparametric efficiency bound and an estimator that attains this bound. A simulation experiment demonstrates the efficiency gain of the proposed estimator compared with QMLE.

Estimation of temporally aggregated multivariate GARCH models

This paper investigates the performance of quasi maximum likelihood (QML) and nonlinear least squares (NLS) estimation applied to temporally aggregated GARCH models.Since these are known to be only weak GARCH, the conditional variance of the aggregated process is in general not known. Thus, one major condition that is often used in proving the consistency of QML, the correct specification of the first two moments, is absent. Indeed, our results suggest that QML is not consistent, with asubstantial bias if both the initial degree of persistence and the aggregation level are high. In other cases, QML might be taken as an approximation with only a small bias. Based on results for univariate GARCH models, NLS is likely to be consistent, although inefficient, for weak GARCH models. Our simulation study reveals that NLS does not reduce the bias of QML in considerably large samples. As the variation of NLS estimates is much higher than that of QML, one would clearly prefer QML in most practical situations. An empirical example illustrates some of the results.multivariate GARCH;temporal aggregation;weak GARCH

Multivariate mixed normal conditional heteroskedasticity

We propose a new multivariate volatility model where the conditional distribution of a vector time series is given by a mixture of multivariate normal distributions. Each of these distributions is allowed to have a time-varying covariance matrix. The process can be globally covariance-stationary even though some components are not covariance-stationary. We derive some theoretical properties of the model such as the unconditional covariance matrix and autocorrelations of squared returns. The complexity of the model requires a powerful estimation algorithm. In a simulation study we compare estimation by a maximum likelihood with the EM algorithm and Bayesian estimation with a Gibbs sampler. Finally, we apply the model to daily U.S. stock returns.Multivariate volatility; Finite mixture; EM algorithm; Bayesian inference

Estimation of temporally aggregated multivariate GARCH models

This paper investigates the performance of quasi maximum likelihood (QML) and nonlinear least squares (NLS) estimation applied to temporally aggregated GARCH models. Since these are known to be only weak GARCH, the conditional variance of the aggregated process is in general not known. Thus, one major condition that is often used in proving the consistency of QML, the correct specification of the first two moments, is absent. Indeed, our results suggest that QML is not consistent, with a substantial bias if both the initial degree of persistence and the aggregation level are high. In other cases, QML might be taken as an approximation with only a small bias. Based on results for univariate GARCH models, NLS is likely to be consistent, although inefficient, for weak GARCH models. Our simulation study reveals that NLS does not reduce the bias of QML in considerably large samples. As the variation of NLS estimates is much higher than that of QML, one would clearly prefer QML in most practical situations. An empirical example illustrates some of the results

Semiparametric multivariate volatility models

Estimation of multivariate volatility models is usually carried out by quasi maximum likelihood (QMLE), for which consistency and asymptotic normality have been proven under quite general conditions. However, there may be a substantial efficiency loss of QMLE if the true innovation distribution is not multinormal. We suggest a nonparametric estimation of the multivariate innovation distribution, based on consistent parameter estimates obtained by QMLE. We show that under standard regularity conditions the semiparametric efficiency bound can be attained. Without reparametrizing the conditional covariance matrix (which depends on the particular model used), adaptive estimation is not possible. However, in some cases the efficiency loss of semiparametric estimation with respect to full information maximum likelihood decreases as the dimension increases. In practice, one would like to restrict the class of possible density functions to avoid the curse of dimensionality. One way of doing so is to impose the constraint that the density belongs to the class of spherical distributions, for which we also derive the semiparametric efficiency bound and an estimator that attains this bound. A simulation experiment demonstrates the efficiency gain of the proposed estimator compared with QMLE

Semiparametric multivariate density estimation for positive data using copulas

The estimation of density functions for positive multivariate data is discussed. The proposed approach is semiparametric. The estimator combines gamma kernels or local linear kernels, also called boundary kernels, for the estimation of the marginal densities with parametric copulas to model the dependence. This semiparametric approach is robust both to the well-known boundary bias problem and the curse of dimensionality problem. Mean integrated squared error properties, including the rate of convergence, the uniform strong consistency and the asymptotic normality are derived. A simulation study investigates the finite sample performance of the estimator. The proposed estimator performs very well, also for data without boundary bias problems. For bandwidths choice in practice, the univariate least squares cross validation method for the bandwidth of the marginal density estimators is investigated. Applications in the field of finance are provided.

On loss functions and ranking forecasting performances of multivariate volatility models

The ranking of multivariate volatility models is inherently problematic because when the unobservable volatility is substituted by a proxy, the ordering implied by a loss function may be biased with respect to the intended one. We point out that the size of the distortion is strictly tied to the level of the accuracy of the volatility proxy. We propose a generalized necessary and sufficient functional form for a class of non-metric distance measures of the Bregman type which ensure consistency of the ordering when the target is observed with noise. An application to three foreign exchange rates is provided. © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

A Nonparametric Copula Based Test for Conditional Independence with Applications to Granger Causality.

This article proposes a new nonparametric test for conditional independence that can directly be applied to test for Granger causality. Based on the comparison of copula densities, the test is easy to implement because it does not involve a weighting function in the test statistic, and it can be applied in general settings since there is no restriction on the dimension of the time series data. In fact, to apply the test, only a bandwidth is needed for the nonparametric copula. We prove that the test statistic is asymptotically pivotal under the null hypothesis, establishes local power properties, and motivates the validity of the bootstrap technique that we use in finite sample settings. A simulation study illustrates the size and power properties of the test. We illustrate the practical relevance of our test by considering two empirical applications where we examine the Granger noncausality between financial variables. In a first application and contrary to the general findings in the literature, we provide evidence on two alternative mechanisms of nonlinear interaction between returns and volatilities: nonlinear leverage and volatility feedback effects. This can help better understand the well known asymmetric volatility phenomenon. In a second application, we investigate the Granger causality between stock index returns and trading volume. We find convincing evidence of linear and nonlinear feedback effects from stock returns to volume, but a weak evidence of nonlinear feedback effect from volume to stock returns

Bayesian inference for the mixed conditional heteroskedasticity model

We estimate by Bayesian inference the mixed conditional heteroskedasticity model of Haas et al. (2004a Journal of Financial Econometrics 2, 211--50). We construct a Gibbs sampler algorithm to compute posterior and predictive densities. The number of mixture components is selected by the marginal likelihood criterion. We apply the model to the SP500 daily returns. Copyright Royal Economic Society 2007