Time series forecasting with the WARIMAX-GARCH method

It is well-known that causal forecasting methods that include appropriately chosen Exogenous Variables (EVs) very often present improved forecasting performances over univariate methods. However, in practice, EVs are usually difficult to obtain and in many cases are not available at all. In this paper, a new causal forecasting approach, called Wavelet Auto-Regressive Integrated Moving Average with eXogenous variables and Generalized Auto-Regressive Conditional Heteroscedasticity (WARIMAX-GARCH) method, is proposed to improve predictive performance and accuracy but also to address, at least in part, the problem of unavailable EVs. Basically, the WARIMAX-GARCH method obtains Wavelet “EVs” (WEVs) from Auto-Regressive Integrated Moving Average with eXogenous variables and Generalized Auto-Regressive Conditional Heteroscedasticity (ARIMAX-GARCH) models applied to Wavelet Components (WCs) that are initially determined from the underlying time series. The WEVs are, in fact, treated by the WARIMAX-GARCH method as if they were conventional EVs. Similarly to GARCH and ARIMA-GARCH models, the WARIMAX-GARCH method is suitable for time series exhibiting non-linear characteristics such as conditional variance that depends on past values of observed data. However, unlike those, it can explicitly model frequency domain patterns in the series to help improve predictive performance. An application to a daily time series of dam displacement in Brazil shows the WARIMAX-GARCH method to remarkably outperform the ARIMA-GARCH method, as well as the (multi-layer perceptron) Artificial Neural Network (ANN) and its wavelet version referred to as Wavelet Artificial Neural Network (WANN) as in [1], on statistical measures for both in-sample and out-of-sample forecasting

Which univariate time series model predicts quicker a crisis? The Iberia case

In this paper four univariate models are fitted to monthly observations of the number of passengers in the Spanish airline IBERIA from January 1985 to October 1994. During the first part of the sample, the series shows an upward trend which has a rupture during 1990 with the slope changing to be negative. The series is also characterized by having seasonal variations. We fit a deterministic components model, the Holt-Winters algorithm, an ARIMA model and a structural time series model to the observations up to December 1992. Then we predict with each ofthe models and compare predicted with observed values. As expected, the results show that the detenninistic model is too rigid in this situation even if the within-sample fit is even better than for any of the other models considered. With respect to Holt-Winters predictions, they faH because they are not able to accornmodate outliers. Finally, ARIMA and structural models are shown to have very similar prediction performance, being flexible enough to predict reasonably well when there are changes in trend

Forecasting VARMA processes using VAR models and subspace-based state space models

VAR modelling is a frequent technique in econometrics for linear processes. VAR modelling offers some desirable features such as relatively simple procedures for model specification (order selection) and the possibility of obtaining quick non-iterative maximum likelihood estimates of the system parameters. However, if the process under study follows a finite-order VARMA structure, it cannot be equivalently represented by any finite-order VAR model. On the other hand, a finite-order state space model can represent a finite-order VARMA process exactly, and, for state-space modelling, subspace algorithms allow for quick and non-iterative estimates of the system parameters, as well as for simple specification procedures. Given the previous facts, we check in this paper whether subspace-based state space models provide better forecasts than VAR models when working with VARMA data generating processes. In a simulation study we generate samples from different VARMA data generating processes, obtain VAR-based and state-space-based models for each generating process and compare the predictive power of the obtained models. Different specification and estimation algorithms are considered; in particular, within the subspace family, the CCA (Canonical Correlation Analysis) algorithm is the selected option to obtain state-space models. Our results indicate that when the MA parameter of an ARMA process is close to 1, the CCA state space models are likely to provide better forecasts than the AR models. We also conduct a practical comparison (for two cointegrated economic time series) of the predictive power of Johansen restricted-VAR (VEC) models with the predictive power of state space models obtained by the CCA subspace algorithm, including a density forecasting analysis.subspace algorithms; VAR; forecasting; cointegration; Johansen; CCA

Prediction with univariate time series models: The Iberia case

In this paper we model the monthly number of passengers flying with the Spanish airline IBERIA from January 1985 to December 1992 and predict future values of the series up to October 1994. This series is characterized by strong seasonal variations and by having an upward trend which has a rupture during 1990 with the slope changing to be negative. We compare observed values with predictions made by a deterministic components model, the Holt-Winters exponential smoothing filter, an ARIMA model and a structural time series model. As expected, we show that the deterministic components model is too rigid in the presence fo breaks in trends although surprisingly the within-sample fit is better than for any of the other models considered. With respect to Holt-Winters predictions, they fail because they are not able to acommodate outliers. Finally, ARIMA and structural models are shown to have very similar prediction performance, being very flexible to predict reasonably well when there are changes in trend and outliers.ARIMA models, Breaks in trends, Deterministic components, Holt-Winters algorithm, Outliers, Intervention analysis, Structural time series models, Unobserved components models.