Inference for linear and nonlinear stable error processes via estimating functions

This paper describes an estimating function approach for parameter estimation in linear and nonlinear times series models with infinite variance stable errors. Joint estimates of location and scale parameters are derived for classes of autoregressive (AR) models and random coefficient autoregressive (RCA) models with stable errors, as well as for AR models with stable autoregressive conditionally heteroscedastic (ARCH) errors. Fast, on-line, recursive parametric estimation for the location parameter based on estimating functions is discussed using simulation studies. A real financial time series is also discussed in some detail.     

A non-linear time series approach to modelling asymmetry in stock market indexes

In this paper we analyse the performances of a novel approach to modelling non-linear conditionally heteroscedastic time series characterised by asymmetries in both the conditional mean and variance. This is based on the combination of a TAR model for the conditional mean with a Constrained Changing Parameters Volatility (CPV-C) model for the conditional variance. Empirical results are given for the daily returns of the S&P 500, NASDAQ composite and FTSE 100 stock market indexes.     

Asymptotic variance–covariance matrix of sample autocorrelations for threshold-asymmetric GARCH processes

In the field of financial time series, threshold-asymmetric conditional variance models can be used to explain asymmetric volatilities [C.W. Li and W.K. Li, On a double-threshold autoregressive heteroscedastic time series model, J. Appl. Econometrics 11 (1996), pp. 253–274]. In this paper, we consider a broad class of threshold-asymmetric GARCH processes (TAGARCH, hereafter) including standard ARCH and GARCH models as special cases. Since sample autocorrelation function provides a useful information to identify an appropriate time-series model for the data, we derive asymptotic distributions of sample autocorrelations both for original process and for squared process. It is verified that standard errors of sample autocorrelations for TAGARCH models are significantly different from unity for lower lags and they are exponentially converging to unity for higher lags. Furthermore they are shown to be asymptotically dependent while being independent of standard GARCH models. These results will be interesting in the light of the fact that TAGARCH processes are serially uncorrelated. A simulation study is reported to illustrate our results.     

Heteroscedasticity in non-stationary time series,some Monte Carlo evidence

A frequent question raised by practitioners doing unit root tests is whether these tests are sensitive to the presence of heteroscedasticity. Theoretically this is not the case for a wide range of heteroscedastic models. However, for some limiting cases such as degenerate and integrated heteroscedastic processes it is not obvious whether this will have an effect. In this paper we report a Monte Carlo study analyzing the implications of various types of heteroscedasticity on three types of unit root tests: The usual Dickey-Fuller test, Phillips' (1987) semi-parametric test and finally a Dickey-Fuller type test using White's (1980) heteroscedasticity consistent standard errors. The sorts of heteroscedasticity we examine are the GARCH model of Bollerslev (1986) and the Exponential ARCH model of Nelson (1991). In particular, we call attention to situations where the conditional variances exhibit a high degree of persistence as is frequently observed for returns of financial time series, and the case where, in fact, the variance process for the first class of models becomes degenerate.     

Asymptotics for a class of generalized multicast autoregressive processes

We propose a new class of generalized multicast autoregressive (GMCAR, for short, hereafter) models indexed by a multi-casting tree where each individual produces exactly the same number of offspring. This class includes standard bifurcating autoregressive processes (BAR, cf. Cowan and Staudte (1986)) and multicast autoregressive (MCAR, cf. Hwang and Choi (2009)) models as special cases. Accommodating non-Gaussian, non-negative and count data, the class includes various models such as nonlinear autoregression, conditionally heteroscedastic process and conditional exponential family. The pathwise stationarity of the GMCAR model is discussed. A law of large numbers and a central limit theorem are established which are in turn used to derive asymptotic distributions associated with martingale estimating functions.     

Periodic Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedasticity

Most high-frequency asset returns exhibit seasonal volatility patterns. This article proposes a new class of models featuring periodicity in conditional heteroscedasticity explicitly designed to capture the repetitive seasonal time variation in the second-order moments. This new class of periodic autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity, or P-ARCH, models is directly related to the class of periodic autoregressive moving average (ARMA) models for the mean. The implicit relation between periodic generalized ARCH (P-GARCH) structures and time-invariant seasonal weak GARCH processes documents how neglected autoregressive conditional heteroscedastic periodicity may give rise to a loss in forecast efficiency. The importance and magnitude of this informational loss are quantified for a variety of loss functions through the use of Monte Carlo simulation methods. Two empirical examples with daily bilateral Deutschemark/British pound and intraday Deutschemark/U.S. dollar spot exchange rates highlight the practical relevance of the new P-GARCH class of models. Extensions to discrete-time periodic representations of stochastic volatility models subject to time deformation are briefly discussed.     

Modeling Heteroscedasticity in Daily Foreign-Exchange Rates

This article estimates autoregressive conditionally heteroscedastic (ARCH) and generalized ARCH (GARCH) models for five foreign currencies, using 10 years of daily data, a variety of ARCH and GARCH specifications, a number of nonnormal error densities, and a comprehensive set of diagnostic checks. It finds that ARCH and GARCH models can usually remove all heteroscedasticity in price changes in all five currencies. Goodness-of-fit diagnostics indicate that exponential GARCH with certain nonnormal distributions fits the Canadian dollar extremely well and the Swiss franc and the deutsche mark reasonably well. Only one nonnormal distribution fits the Japanese yen reasonably well. None fit the British pound.     

Maximum Likelihood Estimation and Inference in Multivariate Conditionally Heteroscedastic Dynamic Regression Models With Student t Innovations

We provide numerically reliable analytical expressions for the score, Hessian, and information matrix of conditionally heteroscedastic dynamic regression models when the conditional distribution is multivariatet. We also derive one-sided and two-sided Lagrange multiplier tests for multivariate normality versus multivariate t based on the first two moments of the squared norm of the standardized innovations evaluated at the Gaussian pseudo-maximum likelihood estimators of the conditional mean and variance parameters. Finally, we illustrate our techniques through both Monte Carlo simulations and an empirical application to 26 U.K. sectorial stock returns that confirms that their conditional distribution has fat tails.     

Inflation uncertainty and economic growth: evidence from the LAD ARCH model

In this paper, we combined the panel data and least absolute deviation autoregressive conditional heteroscedastic (ARCH) (L ₁-ARCH) model to infer on the relationship between inflation uncertainty and economic growth in five emerging market economies. Two interesting findings emerged from the analysis; first, we confirmed that the inflation uncertainty has a significant and negative effect on economic growth. Second, inflation is also an important variable and it is detrimental to economic prospects in the fast-growing Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) economies. All in all, the empirical findings suggest that greater stability in the economy may be desirable in order to stimulate economic growth in the region.     

A non-parametric statistic for testing conditional heteroscedasticity for unobserved component models

When prediction intervals are constructed using unobserved component models (UCM), problems can arise due to the possible existence of components that may or may not be conditionally heteroscedastic. Accurate coverage depends on correctly identifying the source of the heteroscedasticity. Different proposals for testing heteroscedasticity have been applied to UCM; however, in most cases, these procedures are unable to identify the heteroscedastic component correctly. The main issue is that test statistics are affected by the presence of serial correlation, causing the distribution of the statistic under conditional homoscedasticity to remain unknown. We propose a nonparametric statistic for testing heteroscedasticity based on the well-known Wilcoxon''s rank statistic. We study the asymptotic validation of the statistic and examine bootstrap procedures for approximating its finite sample distribution. Simulation results show an improvement in the size of the homoscedasticity tests and a power that is clearly comparable with the best alternative in the literature. We also apply the test on real inflation data. Looking for the presence of a conditionally heteroscedastic effect on the error terms, we arrive at conclusions that almost all cases are different than those given by the alternative test statistics presented in the literature.     

Consistency of maximum likelihood estimators for the regime-switching GARCH model

The regime-switching GARCH (generalized autoregressive conditionally heteroscedastic) model incorporates the idea of Markov switching into the more restrictive GARCH model, which significantly extends the GARCH model. However, the statistical inference for such an extended model is rather difficult because observations at any time point then depend on the whole regime path and the likelihood becomes intractable quickly as the length of observations increases. In this paper, by transforming it into an infinite order ARCH model, we obtain the possibility of writing a likelihood which can be handled directly and the consistency of the maximum likelihood estimators is proved. Simulation studies to illustrate the consistency and asymptotic normality of the estimators (for both Gaussian and non-Gaussian innovations) and a model specification problem are presented.     

Optimal tests in AR (m) time series model

In the univariate framework, two problems of testing the nonlinearity are investigated in Hwang and Basawa. The first one is concerned with the testing problem for a nonlinear class contiguous to the AR(1) process. The second one is focused on the testing problem of the ARCH model contiguous to the AR(1) models. In each case, an efficient test of linearity was obtained, the local asymptotic normality (LAN) was proved, an efficient test of linearity was constructed, and the asymptotic power function was derived. All these results were obtained under the assumption where the parameter of the time series model is assumed to be known. In practical situation, this parameter is unspecified and its estimation induces an error that has an impact on the asymptotic limit distribution. A new method for the good evaluation of this error is introduced and investigated in the present article. Consequently, its application allows us to preserve the local asymptotic optimality with the estimated parameter. An extension to testing in class of ARCH models contiguous to p-order autoregressive processes is obtained. The LAN property plays a fundamental role in the present study.     

Double threshold autoregressive conditionally heteroscedastic model building by genetic algorithms

Asymmetric behaviour in both mean and variance is often observed in real time series. The approach we adopt is based on double threshold autoregressive conditionally heteroscedastic (DTARCH) model with normal innovations. This model allows threshold nonlinearity in mean and volatility to be modelled as a result of the impact of lagged changes in assets and squared shocks, respectively. A methodology for building DTARCH models is proposed based on genetic algorithms (GAs). The most important structural parameters, that is regimes and thresholds, are searched for by GAs, while the remaining structural parameters, that is the delay parameters and models orders, vary in some pre-specified intervals and are determined using exhaustive search and an Asymptotic Information Criterion (AIC) like criterion. For each structural parameters trial set, a DTARCH model is fitted that maximizes the (penalized) likelihood (AIC criterion). For this purpose the iteratively weighted least squares algorithm is used. Then the best model according to the AIC criterion is chosen. Extension to the double threshold generalized ARCH (DTGARCH) model is also considered. The proposed methodology is checked using both simulated and market index data. Our findings show that our GAs-based procedure yields results that comparable to that reported in the literature and concerned with real time series. As far as artificial time series are considered, the proposed procedure seems to be able to fit the data quite well. In particular, a comparison is performed between the present procedure and the method proposed by Tsay [Tsay, R.S., 1989, Testing and modeling threshold autoregressive processes. Journal of the American Statistical Association, Theory and Methods, 84, 231–240.] for estimating the delay parameter. The former almost always yields better results than the latter. However, adopting Tsay's procedure as a preliminary stage for finding the appropriate delay parameter may save computational time specially if the delay parameter may vary in a large interval.     

A joint test for parametric specification and independence in nonlinear regression models

This paper develops a testing procedure to simultaneously check (i) the independence between the error and the regressor(s), and (ii) the parametric specification in nonlinear regression models. This procedure generalizes the existing work of Sen and Sen [“Testing Independence and Goodness-of-fit in Linear Models,” Biometrika, 101, 927–942.] to a regression setting that allows any smooth parametric form of the regression function. We establish asymptotic theory for the test procedure under both conditional homoscedastic error and heteroscedastic error. The derived tests are easily implementable, asymptotically normal, and consistent against a large class of fixed alternatives. Besides, the local power performance is investigated. To calibrate the finite sample distribution of the test statistics, a smooth bootstrap procedure is proposed and found work well in simulation studies. Finally, two real data examples are analyzed to illustrate the practical merit of our proposed tests.     

Checking nonlinear heteroscedastic time series models

A procedure for testing simultaneously, the parametric forms of the conditional mean and the conditional variance functions of a real-valued heteroscedastic time series model is proposed. The Wald test statistic is based on a vector whose components are suitable normalized sums of some weighted residual series. The test is consistent under some fixed alternatives. The local power under two sequences of local alternatives is studied. A LAN property for the parametric model of interest is also established. Experiment conducted shows that the test performs well on the examples tested.     

Estimating high-frequency foreign exchange rate volatility with nonparametric ARCH models

High-frequency foreign exchange rate (HFFX) series are analyzed on an operational time scale using models of the ARCH class. Comparison of the estimated conditional variances focuses on the asymmetry and persistence issue. Estimation results for parametric models confirm standard results for HFFX series, namely high persistence and no significance of the asymmetry coefficient in an EGARCH model. To find out whether these results are robust against alternative specifications, nonparametric models are estimated. Local linear estimation techniques are applied to a nonparametric ARCH model of order one (CHARN). The results show significant asymmetry of the volatility function. To allow for both flexibility and persistence, a higher-order multiplicative model is fitted. The results show important asymmetries in volatility. In contrast to the EGARCH specification, the news impact curves have different shapes for different lags and tend to increase slower at the boundaries.     

Modelling the persistence of conditional variances

This paper will discuss the current research in building models of conditional variances using the Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedastic (ARCH) and Generalized ARCH (GARCH) formulations. The discussion will be motivated by a simple asset pricing theory which is particularly appropriate for examining futures contracts with risk averse agents. A new class of models defined to be integrated in variance is then introduced. This new class of models includes the variance analogue of a unit root in the mean as a special case. The models are argued to be both theoretically important for the asset pricing models and empirically relevant. The conditional density is then generalized from a normal to a Student-t with unknown degrees of freedom. By estimating the degrees of freedom, implications about the conditional kurtosis of these models and time aggregated models can be drawn. A further generalization allows the conditional variance to be a non-linear function of the squared innovations. Throughout empirical e imates of the logarithm of the exchange rate between the U.S. dollar and the Swiss franc are presented to illustrate the models.     

Canonical correlation analysis for the vector AR(1) model with ARCH innovations

This paper extends the results of canonical correlation analysis of Anderson [2002. Canonical correlation analysis and reduced-rank regression in autoregressive models. Ann. Statist. 30, 1134–1154] to a vector AR(1) process with a vector ARCH(1) innovations. We obtain the limiting distributions of the sample matrices, the canonical correlations and the canonical vectors of the process. The extension is important because many time series in economics and finance exhibit conditional heteroscedasticity. We also use simulation to demonstrate the effects of ARCH innovations on the canonical correlation analysis in finite sample. Both the limiting distributions and simulation results show that overlooking the ARCH effects in canonical correlation analysis can easily lead to erroneous inference.     

On periodic autoregressive stochastic volatility models: structure and estimation

To capture both the volatility evolution and the periodicity feature in the autocorrelation structure exhibited by many nonlinear time series, a Periodic AutoRegressive Stochastic Volatility (PAR-SV ) model is proposed. Some probabilistic properties, namely the strict and second-order periodic stationarity, are provided. Furthermore, conditions for the existence of higher-order moments are established. The autocovariance structure of the squares and higher order powers of the PAR-SV process is studied. Its dynamic properties are shown to be consistent with financial time series empirical findings. Ways in which the model may be estimated are discussed. Finally, a simulation study of the performance of the proposed estimation methods is provided and the PAR-SV is applied to model the spot rates of the euro and US dollar both against the Algerian dinar. The empirical analysis shows that the proposed PAR-SV model can be considered as a viable alternative to the periodic generalized autoregressive conditionally heteroscedastic (PGARCH) model.     

Inference for Box–Cox Transformed Threshold GARCH Models with Nuisance Parameters

Abstract. Generalized autoregressive conditional heteroscedastic (GARCH) models have been widely used for analyzing financial time series with time‐varying volatilities. To overcome the defect of the Gaussian quasi‐maximum likelihood estimator (QMLE) when the innovations follow either heavy‐tailed or skewed distributions, Berkes & Horváth (Ann. Statist., 32, 633, 2004) and Lee & Lee (Scand. J. Statist. 36, 157, 2009) considered likelihood methods that use two‐sided exponential, Cauchy and normal mixture distributions. In this paper, we extend their methods for Box–Cox transformed threshold GARCH model by allowing distributions used in the construction of likelihood functions to include parameters and employing the estimated quasi‐likelihood estimators (QELE) to handle those parameters. We also demonstrate that the proposed QMLE and QELE are consistent and asymptotically normal under regularity conditions. Simulation results are provided for illustration.