Bayesian time-varying quantile forecasting for Value-at-Risk in financial markets

Recently, Bayesian solutions to the quantile regression problem, via the likelihood of a Skewed-Laplace distribution, have been proposed. These approaches are extended and applied to a family of dynamic conditional autoregressive quantile models. Popular Value at Risk models, used for risk management in finance, are extended to this fully nonlinear family. An adaptive Markov chain Monte Carlo sampling scheme is adapted for estimation and inference. Simulation studies illustrate favourable performance, compared to the standard numerical optimization of the usual nonparametric quantile criterion function, in finite samples. An empirical study generating Value at Risk forecasts for ten major financial stock indices finds significant nonlinearity in dynamic quantiles and evidence favoring the proposed model family, for lower level quantiles, compared to a range of standard parametric volatility models, a semi-parametric smoothly mixing regression and some nonparametric risk measures, in the literature

Nonparametric Bayesian hazard rate models based on penalized splines

Extensions of the traditional Cox proportional hazard model, concerning the following features are often desirable in applications: Simultaneous nonparametric estimation of baseline hazard and usual fixed covariate effects, modelling and detection of time-varying covariate effects and nonlinear functional forms of metrical covariates, and inclusion of frailty components. In this paper, we develop Bayesian multiplicative hazard rate models for survival and event history data that can deal with these issues in a flexible and unified framework. Some simpler models, such as piecewise exponential models with a smoothed baseline hazard, are covered as special cases. Embedded in the counting process approach, nonparametric estimation of unknown nonlinear functional effects of time or covariates is based on Bayesian penalized splines. Inference is fully Bayesian and uses recent MCMC sampling schemes. Smoothing parameters are an integral part of the model and are estimated automatically. We investigate performance of our approach through simulation studies, and illustrate it with a real data application

Nonparametric identification of linearizations and uncertainty using Gaussian process models – application to robust wheel slip control

Gaussian process prior models offer a nonparametric approach to modelling unknown nonlinear systems from experimental data. These are flexible models which automatically adapt their model complexity to the available data, and which give not only mean predictions but also the variance of these predictions. A further advantage is the analytical derivation of derivatives of the model with respect to inputs, with their variance, providing a direct estimate of the locally linearized model with its corresponding parameter variance. We show how this can be used to tune a controller based on the linearized models, taking into account their uncertainty. The approach is applied to a simulated wheel slip control task illustrating controller development based on a nonparametric model of the unknown friction nonlinearity. Local stability and robustness of the controllers are tuned based on the uncertainty of the nonlinear models’ derivatives

A flexible approach to parametric inference in nonlinear time series models

Many structural break and regime-switching models have been used with macroeconomic and …nancial data. In this paper, we develop an extremely flexible parametric model which can accommodate virtually any of these speci…cations and does so in a simple way which allows for straightforward Bayesian inference. The basic idea underlying our model is that it adds two simple concepts to a standard state space framework. These ideas are ordering and distance. By ordering the data in various ways, we can accommodate a wide variety of nonlinear time series models, including those with regime-switching and structural breaks. By allowing the state equation variances to depend on the distance between observations, the parameters can evolve in a wide variety of ways, allowing for everything from models exhibiting abrupt change (e.g. threshold autoregressive models or standard structural break models) to those which allow for a gradual evolution of parameters (e.g. smooth transition autoregressive models or time varying parameter models). We show how our model will (approximately) nest virtually every popular model in the regime-switching and structural break literatures. Bayesian econometric methods for inference in this model are developed. Because we stay within a state space framework, these methods are relatively straightforward, drawing on the existing literature. We use arti…cial data to show the advantages of our approach, before providing two empirical illustrations involving the modeling of real GDP growth

Semiparametric Bayesian inference in smooth coefficient models

We describe procedures for Bayesian estimation and testing in cross-sectional, panel data and nonlinear smooth coefficient models. The smooth coefficient model is a generalization of the partially linear or additive model wherein coefficients on linear explanatory variables are treated as unknown functions of an observable covariate. In the approach we describe, points on the regression lines are regarded as unknown parameters and priors are placed on differences between adjacent points to introduce the potential for smoothing the curves. The algorithms we describe are quite simple to implement - for example, estimation, testing and smoothing parameter selection can be carried out analytically in the cross-sectional smooth coefficient model. We apply our methods using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY). Using the NLSY data we first explore the relationship between ability and log wages and flexibly model how returns to schooling vary with measured cognitive ability. We also examine a model of female labor supply and use this example to illustrate how the described techniques can been applied in nonlinear settings

Nonparametric Dynamic State Space Modeling of Observed Circular Time Series with Circular Latent States: A Bayesian Perspective

Circular time series has received relatively little attention in statistics and modeling complex circular time series using the state space approach is non-existent in the literature. In this article we introduce a flexible Bayesian nonparametric approach to state space modeling of observed circular time series where even the latent states are circular random variables. Crucially, we assume that the forms of both observational and evolutionary functions, both of which are circular in nature, are unknown and time-varying. We model these unknown circular functions by appropriate wrapped Gaussian processes having desirable properties. We develop an effective Markov chain Monte Carlo strategy for implementing our Bayesian model, by judiciously combining Gibbs sampling and Metropolis-Hastings methods. Validation of our ideas with a simulation study and two real bivariate circular time series data sets, where we assume one of the variables to be unobserved, revealed very encouraging performance of our model and methods. We finally analyse a data consisting of directions of whale migration, considering the unobserved ocean current direction as the latent circular process of interest. The results that we obtain are encouraging, and the posterior predictive distribution of the observed process correctly predicts the observed whale movement.Comment: This significantly updated version will appear in Journal of Statistical Theory and Practic

Econometrics: A bird's eye view

As a unified discipline, econometrics is still relatively young and has been transforming and expanding very rapidly over the past few decades. Major advances have taken place in the analysis of cross sectional data by means of semi-parametric and non-parametric techniques. Heterogeneity of economic relations across individuals, firms and industries is increasingly acknowledge and attempts have been made to take them into account either by integrating out their effects or by modeling the sources of heterogeneity when suitable panel data exists. The counterfactual considerations that underlie policy analysis and treatment evaluation have been given a more satisfactory foundation. New time series econometric techniques have been developed and employed extensively in the areas of macroeconometrics and finance. Non-linear econometric techniques are used increasingly in the analysis of cross section and time series observations. Applications of Bayesian techniques to econometric problems have been given new impetus largely thanks to advances in computer power and computational techniques. The use of Bayesian techniques have in turn provided the investigators with a unifying framework where the tasks and forecasting, decision making, model evaluation and learning can be considered as parts of the same interactive and iterative process; thus paving the way for establishing the foundation of the "real time econometrics". This paper attempts to provide an overview of some of these developments