The distribution of the first j digits of beta related random variables

This paper gives the discrete distribution of the first j significant digits of two random variables: (1) a beta variable with integer parameter n and the other parameter m > 0, and (2) the reciprocal of (1). As a special case for n=1, we obtain the distribution of the first j significant digits of the pwoers of uniformly distributed random variables. These generalize the results of Kennard and Reith (1981) and Friedberg (1984), who considered only uniformly distributed random variables.     

The distribution of the product of two independent generalized trapezoidal random variables

ABSTRACT

In this article, we derive the probability density function (pdf) of the product of two independent generalized trapezoidal random variables having different supports, in closed form, by considering all possible cases. We also show that the results for the product of two triangular and uniform random variables follow as special cases of our main result. As an illustration, we obtain pdf of product for a suitably constrained set of parameters and plot some graphs using MATLAB, which express variation in pdf with change in different parameters of the generalized trapezoidal distribution.     

On the Product and Ratio of Gamma and Beta Random Variables

Summary: The distributions of the product XY and the ratio X/Y are derived when X and Y are gamma and beta random variables distributed independently of each other. Tabulations of the associated percentage points and illustrations of their practical use are also provided. * The authors would like to thank the referee and the editor for carefully reading the paper and for their help in improving the paper.     

The two-sided power-binomial distribution for modeling binary count data

The two-sided power (TSP) distribution is a flexible two-parameter distribution having uniform, power function and triangular as sub-distributions, and it is a reasonable alternative to beta distribution in some cases. In this work, we introduce the TSP-binomial model which is defined as a mixture of binomial distributions, with the binomial parameter p having a TSP distribution. We study its distributional properties and demonstrate its use on some data. It is shown that the newly defined model is a useful candidate for overdispersed binomial data.     

Generalized binomial distributions

In many cases where the binomial dismbution fails to apply to real world data it is because of more variability in the data than can be explained by that dismbution. Several authors have proposed models that are useful in explaining extra-binomial variation. In this paper we point out a characterization of sequences of exchangeable Bernoulli random variables which can be used to develop models which show more variability than the binomial. We give sufficient conditions which will yield such models and show how existig models can be combined to generate further models. The usefulness of some of these models is illustrated by fitting them to sets of real data.     

Sum,product and ratio of Pareto and gamma variables

The exact distributions of X+Y, X Y and X/(X+Y) are studied when X and Y are independent Pareto and gamma random variables. Applications are discussed, to real problems in clinical trials, computer networks and economics.     

The limiting power of the durbin-watson test

We compute the limiting povwer of the Durbin-Watson test in a general linear regression model Our treatment includes previous results due to W. Kramer and H, Zeisel as well as new results. In particular, we provide new insight under which conditions the limiting power is zero or one. Stochastic-simulations correspond to our investigations.     

Linear Combinations, Products and Ratios of t Random Variables

Summary: Results on linear combinations, products, and ratios of t random variables are reviewed. We believe that this review will serve as an important reference and encourage further research activities in the area.     

Estimating the distribution function of a transformed random vector

Frequently a random vector Y with known distribution function is readily observed. However, the random variable of interest is a transformation of Y say h(Y), and sample values of h are expensive to evaluate. The objective is to estimate the distribution function of using only a small sample on Y. Four estimators are proposed for use when Y is discrete. A Monte Carlo study of the estimators is presented This estimation problem frequently arises when Y is a parameter in a mathematical programming problem and h(Y) is the optimal objective function value. Two examples of this type are presented.     

Negative moments of a modified power series distribution and bias of the maximum likelihood estimator

The class of Modified Power Series distributions (MPSD) containing Lagrangian Poisson (LPD) (Consul and Jain, 1973) and Lagrangian binomial distributions (LBD) (Jain and Consul, 1971) was studied by Gupta (1974). We investigate the problem of finding the negative momentsE[X^-r ], of displaced and decapitated Modified Power Series Distributions. We derive the relationship between rand (r-1) negative moments. The negative moments of the decapitated and displaced LPD are obtained. These results are, then, used to find the exact amount of bias in the ML estimators of the parameters in the LPD and the LBD. We have also given the variances of the ML estimator and the minimum variance unbiased estimator of the parameter in the LPD.     

The coefficient of variation asymptotic distribution in the case of non-iid random variables

Due to the widespread use of the coefficient of variation in empirical finance, we derive its asymptotic sampling distribution in the case of non-iid random variables to deal with autocorrelation and/or conditional heteroskedasticity stylized facts of financial returns. We also propose statistical tests for the comparison of two coefficients of variation based on asymptotic normality and studentized time-series bootstrap. In an illustrative example, we analyze the monthly return volatility of six stock market indexes during the years 1990–2007.     

The inverse binomial distribution as a statistical model

A particular case of Jain and Consul's (1971) generalized neg-ative binomial distribution is studied. The name inverse binomial is suggested because of its close relation with the inverse Gaussian distribution. We develop statistical properties including conditional inference of a parameter. An application using real data is given.     

Improved approximations for the inverse moments of the positive binomial distribution

Several alternatives to the most common approximation to the inverse moments of the positive binomial distribution are obtained. The method is based on equating moments and gives considerably better approximations for some values of the parameters.     

The limiting power of point optimal autocorrelation tests

This paper considers the point optimal tests for AR(1) errors in the linear regression model. It is shown that these tests have the same limiting power characteristics as the Durbin-Watson test. . The limiting power is zero or one when the regression has no intercept, but lies strictly between these values when an intercept is included.     

The skew generalized t distribution as the scale mixture of a skew exponential power distribution and its applications in robust estimation

In this paper, we consider the family of skew generalized t (SGT) distributions originally introduced by Theodossiou [P. Theodossiou, Financial data and the skewed generalized t distribution, Manage. Sci. Part 1 44 (12) ( 1998), pp. 1650–1661] as a skew extension of the generalized t (GT) distribution. The SGT distribution family warrants special attention, because it encompasses distributions having both heavy tails and skewness, and many of the widely used distributions such as Student's t, normal, Hansen's skew t, exponential power, and skew exponential power (SEP) distributions are included as limiting or special cases in the SGT family. We show that the SGT distribution can be obtained as the scale mixture of the SEP and generalized gamma distributions. We investigate several properties of the SGT distribution and consider the maximum likelihood estimation of the location, scale, and skewness parameters under the assumption that the shape parameters are known. We show that if the shape parameters are estimated along with the location, scale, and skewness parameters, the influence function for the maximum likelihood estimators becomes unbounded. We obtain the necessary conditions to ensure the uniqueness of the maximum likelihood estimators for the location, scale, and skewness parameters, with known shape parameters. We provide a simple iterative re-weighting algorithm to compute the maximum likelihood estimates for the location, scale, and skewness parameters and show that this simple algorithm can be identified as an EM-type algorithm. We finally present two applications of the SGT distributions in robust estimation.     

Zero-modified power series distribution and its Hurdle distribution version

This paper presents a new family of distributions for count data, the so called zero-modified power series (ZMPS), which is an extension of the power series (PS) distribution family, whose support starts at zero. This extension consists in modifying the probability of observing zero of each PS distribution, enabling the new zero-modified distribution to appropriately accommodate data which have any amount of zero observations (for instance, zero-inflated or zero-deflated data). The Hurdle distribution version of the ZMPS distribution is presented. PS distributions included in the proposed ZMPS family are the Poisson, Generalized Poisson, Geometric, Binomial, Negative Binomial and Generalized Negative Binomial distributions. The paper also describes the properties and particularities of the new distribution family for count data. The distribution parameters are estimated via maximum likelihood method and the use of the new family is illustrated in three real data sets. We emphasize that the new distribution family can accommodate sets of count data without any previous knowledge on the characteristic of zero-inflation or zero-deflation present in the data.     

A flexible cure rate model based on the polylogarithm distribution

Models for dealing with survival data in the presence of a cured fraction of individuals have attracted the attention of many researchers and practitioners in recent years. In this paper, we propose a cure rate model under the competing risks scenario. For the number of causes that can lead to the event of interest, we assume the polylogarithm distribution. The model is flexible in the sense it encompasses some well-known models, which can be tested using large sample test statistics applied to nested models. Maximum-likelihood estimation based on the EM algorithm and hypothesis testing are investigated. Results of simulation studies designed to gauge the performance of the estimation method and of two test statistics are reported. The methodology is applied in the analysis of a data set.     

Minimum variance unbiased estimation in a modified power series distribution and some of its applications

In this paper we study the minimum variance unbiased estimation in the modified power series distribution introduced by the author (1974a). Necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of minimum variance unbiased estimate (MVUE) of the parameter based on sufficient statistics are obtained. These results are, then, applied to obtain MVUE of θ^r (r ≥ 1) for the generalized negative binomial and the decapitated generalized negative binomial distributions (Jain and Consul, 1971). Similar estimates are obtained for the generalized Poisson (Consul and Jain, 1973a) and the generalized logarithmic series distributions (Jain and Gupta, 1973). Several of the well-known results follow trivially from the results obtained here.