Econometrics Commons^™

U.S. Current Account: Why Is It Increasingly Negative?, Joshua Champagne

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper investigates the reasons for the increasingly negative United States current account. The study incorporates information into a multivariate linear regression model to examine the influence of various economic indicators on the U.S. current account. The paper focuses more so on which variables create an increase in the current account and which variables cause deterioration and why the overall value of the current account is continually becoming more negative. The results show that the U.S. Current Account is negative because there is not enough government investment, savings, and private savings, along with a negative fiscal policy, combined with an …

The Importance Of Governance To A Stable And Developed Economy, Peter Litvinenko

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper investigates the assumption that proficient governance is essential in securing a stable economy. It studies and analyzes many relevant variables that one would find controlled by the government in its economy. My results show that these established nations all have differences in terms of debt and balance of trades but all seem to agree on the importance of maintaining a morally stable and efficient government structure that allows them to compete in the world economy.

Economic And Social Factors That Influence Life Expectancy And Infant Mortality, Kenneth Smith

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper investigates life expectancy and infant mortality rates in randomly selected countries from around the world. This study takes into consideration many economic and social factors that could potentially have an effect on life expectancy and infant mortality in different countries. Factors are modeled using a least-squared regression model and are determined as significant based on their probability factor. Results show both positive and negative effects depending on the economic and social factor.

The Interaction Between The Stock Market, Monetary Policy And Inflation In Singapore And Malaysia, Lindsey Kahler

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper investigates and compares the interactions among the stock market, monetary policy, and inflation in both Singapore and Malaysia from 2005 through 2007 using bivariate and multivariate vector autoregressive cointegrating specifications. The Granger-causality test shows that for Malaysia there significant unidirectional relationships of inter-bank loan rates to inflation, and inflation to Kuala Lumpur stock returns. For Singapore there is only one significant marginal unidirectional Granger-causality relationship of inflation to Straits Times stock returns. There are no reciprocal relationships in either country. Based on changes in the stock market, the multivariate results show negative changes on the interbank interest rates …

The Impact Of Sectoral Performance On The Stock Market: Does Volatility Equal Explanatory Power?, Jeffrey Haydock

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper investigates the real impact of sector performance on the overall stock market and the possibility that the primary culprit of negative or positive performance isn’t necessarily the one that significantly drives overall market performance. The study compares average gain or loss by sector with regression analysis to determine if the largest gainer or loser is also reflected in regression analysis after beta calculation. The results show that there is very limited correlation between the two measures suggesting that major volatility in one sector doesn’t necessarily have the greatest impact on total market movement.

United States Homeownership Rates: The Effect Of Macroeconomic Factors On The Domestic Real Estate Market, Alexander Grande

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper examines the correlation between U.S. economic indicators and the domestic real estate market. The analysis of the study’s findings and results show that some indicators adversely affect homeownership rates in conjunction to the overall state of the market during the time frame depicted. The regression is from a model used on an international level and it is taken and applied here to the domestic market of one country; the United States. The results from the research and tests performed highlight the economic indicators that are closely correlated to the rate of homeownership.

Causality Relationship Between Foreign Exchange Rates And Stock Market Close: Evidence From Singapore, Jeffrey Shew, Jr.

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper attempts to examine whether or not a causal relationship exists between exchange rates and stock market returns. By using the Granger Causality model, causality relationships were determined for four data sets created through the use of significant structural breaks between 1990 and 2006 in Singapore. The results suggest that over the course of 16 years there exists no relationship between exchange rates and stock market returns. However, from 1990 up until the Asian Financial Crisis exchange rates led stock prices as suggested by Granger et al. (2000). The other two time series, between the Asian Financial Crisis and …

An Analysis Of The Female Labor Force Participation Rate In The U.S. 1980-2004, Larry Martins

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This research uses census data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics to examine the female labor force participation from 1980 to 2004. These statistics are used to find the determinants of women’s decisions to enter the job market. The purpose of studying the female involvement in the labor force is to illustrate if females are still having trouble in the market. This article also reviews historical labor force statistics to determine how the labor force has changed and which factors have affected its changes between 1980 and 2004. The model, estimated with U.S. data, has provided empirical support for the …

Causality Between Defense Spending Gdp And Economic Growth, Ryan P. Daley

Empirical Economic Bulletin, An Undergraduate Journal

This paper addresses whether or not the government members of the “Coalition of the Willing” military expenditure as a participant in the war in Iraq will help to generate domestic economic growth on the eve of an impending recession. This paper analyzes the findings during the time period 1989-2006 regarding military expenditure as a percentage of GDP, and its effect on GDP growth, through comparing that relationship between studies and in different political, socioeconomic circumstances. It also performs the same tests on the most recent and complete set of data available for the 31 member nations of the Coalition, to …

Ape205, Section 4, Real Competition, Loose Notes, Anwar Shaikh Phd

Archives of Anwar Shaikh

This collection includes:

• Profit-rate differences across firms [Handwritten research notes citing John Cable and Dennis Mueller and contrasting static and Schumpeterian explanations of interfirm profit-rate differences, followed by related equations]. (2007, September 16).
• Classical competitive process [Handwritten analytical note deriving relationships among relative prices, profit rates, output, and capital growth]. (2008, January 18).
• Quantitative Micro Software, LLC. (2004, October 27). EViews help: Structuring a workfile [Heavily annotated software-help excerpt on dated, cross-sectional, and panel-data organization, balancing, identifiers, missing values, and restructuring].
• Data in EViews regressions [Handwritten econometric note specifying a cross-industry regression and panel error components]. (n.d.).
• Chen, P. (2008, …

Capital Stock, Anwar Shaikh Phd

Archives of Anwar Shaikh

This collection includes:

• Shaikh, A. (n.d.). Capital stock [Handwritten notes with formulas for gross and net stock]. Unpublished manuscript.

• Tsoulfidis, L. (1999, May 27). Capacity utilization measures [Email to Anwar Shaikh]. Unpublished correspondence.

• Shaikh, A. (n.d.). Capacity utilization [Notes addressed to Anwar Shaikh]. Unpublished manuscript.

• U.S. Bureau of the Census. (1999, May 4). Plant capacity utilization [Data table]. U.S. Department of Commerce.

• Shaikh, A. (n.d.). Depreciation and geometric decay [Handwritten notes with equations]. Unpublished manuscript.

• Wasshausen, D. (2008, January 8). Census book value measures versus BEA measures [Email exchange with Anwar Shaikh]. Unpublished correspondence. …

The Effect Of Devaluation On Output In The Egyptian Economy: A Vector Autoregression Analysis, Sahar M. Abdel-Haleim, Hala El-Ramly

Business Administration

The objective of this paper is to analyze the relationship between exchange rate changes and output in the Egyptian economy. This is the first such study that we know of for Egypt. Employing a Vector Autoregression model, the paper conducts the study using annual data for Egypt over the period 1982-2004. The results of the study indicate that devaluations have an initial contractionary effect on output in Egypt. This contractionary effect lasts for a period of as long as four years before the expected positive effect of the devaluation starts to materialize. Moreover, the study clarifies that real exchange rate …

Market Efficiency At The Derby: A Real Horse Race, Steven D. Dolvin, Mark K. Pyles

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

Using race data from each Kentucky Derby from 1920 to 2005, we examine whether the horse wagering market is efficient. Most prior studies in this arena test potential betting strategies that rely on posted odds, generally finding that it is extremely difficult to devise and implement any consistently successful wager (i.e., market efficiency). We extend these studies by examining underlying determinants of posted race odds, specifically focusing on the experience of auxiliary members (e.g., jockey, breeder and trainer) associated with each entrant. We find that past Derby experience is an important determinant of posted odds and that the odds-making system …

Testing For Heteroskedasticity And Spatial Correlation In A Random Effects Panel Data Model, Badi H. Baltagi, Seuck Heun Song, Jae Hyeok Kwon

Center for Policy Research

A panel data regression model with heteroskedastic as well as spatially correlated disturbance is considered, and a joint LM test for homoskedasticity and no spatial correlation is derived. In addition, a conditional LM test for no spatial correlation given heteroskedasticity, as well as a conditional LM test for homoskedasticity given spatial correlation, are also derived. These LM tests are compared with marginal LM tests that ignore heteroskedasticity in testing for spatial correlation, or spatial correlation in testing for homoskedasticity. Monte Carlo results show that these LM tests as well as their LR counterparts perform well even for small N and …

Testing For Heteroskedasticity And Serial Correlation In A Random Effects Panel Data Model, Badi H. Baltagi, Byoung Cheol Jung, Seuck Heun Song

Center for Policy Research

This paper considers a panel data regression model with heteroskedastic as well as serially correlated disturbances, and derives a joint LM test for homoskedasticity and no first order serial correlation. The restricted model is the standard random individual error component model. It also derives a conditional LM test for homoskedasticity given serial correlation, as well as a conditional LM test for no first order serial correlation given heteroskedasticity, all in the context of a random effects panel data model. Monte Carlo results show that these tests, along with their likelihood ratio alternatives, have good size and power under various forms …

Optimal Bandwidth Selection In Heteroskedasticity-Autocorrelation Robust Testing, Yixiao Sun, Peter C. B. Phillips, Sainan Jin

Research Collection School Of Economics

This paper considers studentized tests in time series regressions with nonparametrically autocorrelated errors. The studentization is based on robust standard errors with truncation lag M = bT for some constant b ∈ (0, 1] and sample size T. It is shown that the nonstandard fixed-b limit distributions of such nonparametrically studentized tests provide more accurate approximations to the finite sample distributions than the standard small-b limit distribution. We further show that, for typical economic time series, the optimal bandwidth that minimizes a weighted average of type I and type II errors is larger by an order of magnitude than the …

Cointegration + Capital Stock, Anwar Shaikh Phd

Archives of Anwar Shaikh

This collection includes:

• Shaikh, A. (2003, March; 2004, May 19). Cointegration and capital stock [Handwritten notes].

• Liang, G., & Shaikh, A. (2004, July 7). State space coefficient restrictions in EViews [Email printout].

• Moudud, J. K. (2005, April 4). Microfit 4.0 tutorial lessons [Software tutorial printouts with handwritten annotations].

• Shaikh, A. (2005, April 8). Hicksian adjustment [Handwritten notes].

• Shaikh, A. (2005, May 6). Pesaran bounds testing procedure [Handwritten notes].

• Shaikh, A. (2008, May 25). Basic model, error correction mechanism, and Cochrane–Orcutt [Handwritten notes].

• Shaikh, A. (n.d.). Tutorial lessons: Lessons in cointegration analysis [Printouts with …

Refined Inference On Long Memory In Realized Volatility, Peter C. B. Phillips, Offer Lieberman

Research Collection School Of Economics

There is an emerging consensus in empirical finance that realized volatility series typically display long range dependence with a memory parameter around 0.4 (Andersen et al., 2001; Martens et al., 2004). The present article provides some illustrative analysis of how long memory may arise from the accumulative process underlying realized volatility. The article also uses results in Lieberman and Phillips (2004, 2005) to refine statistical inference about by higher order theory. Standard asymptotic theory has an error rate for error rejection probabilities, and the theory used here refines the approximation to an error rate of. The new formula is independent …

Hong Kong's Money: The History, Logic And Operation Of The Currency Peg, Hwee Kwan Chow

Research Collection School Of Economics

No abstract provided.

Testing For Random Effects And Spatial Lag Dependence In Panel Data Models, Badi H. Baltagi, Long Liu

Center for Policy Research

This paper derives a joint Lagrande Multiplier (LM) test which simultaneously tests for the absence of spatial lag dependence and random individual effects in a panel data regression model. It turns out that this LM statistic is the sum of two standard LM statistics. The first one tests for the absence of spatial lag dependence ignoring the random individual effects, and the second one tests for the absence of random individual effects ignoring the spatial lag dependence. This paper also derives two conditional LM tests. The first one tests for the absence of random individual effects without ignoring the possible …

Adaptive Estimation Of Autoregressive Models With Time-Varying Variances, Ke-Li Xu, Peter C. B. Phillips

Research Collection School Of Economics

Stable autoregressive models are considered with martingale differences errors scaled by an unknown nonparametric time-varying function generating heterogeneity. An important special case involves structural change in the error variance, but in most practical cases the pattern of variance change over time is unknown and may involve shifts at unknown discrete points in time, continuous evolution or combinations of the two. This paper develops kernel-based estimators of the residual variances and associated adaptive least squares (ALS) estimators of the autoregressive coefficients. Simulations show that efficiency gains are achieved by the adaptive procedure.

Unit Root Model Selection, Peter C. B. Phillips

Research Collection School Of Economics

Some limit properties for information based model selection criteria are given in the context of unit root evaluation and various assumptions about initial conditions. Allowing for a nonparametric short memory component, standard information criteria are shown to be weakly consistent for a unit root provided the penalty coefficient Cn?? and Cn/n?0 as n??. Strong consistency holds when Cn/(log logn)3?? under conventional assumptions on initial conditions and under a slightly stronger condition when initial conditions are infinitely distant in the unit root model. The limit distribution of the AIC criterion is obtained.

Rational And Boundedly Rational Behavior In Sender-Receiver Games, Massimiliano Landi, Domenico Colucci

Research Collection School Of Economics

The authors investigate the strategic rationale behind the message sent by Osama bin Laden on the eve of the 2004 U.S. Presidential elections. They model this situation as a signaling game in which a population of receivers takes a binary choice, the outcome is decided by majority rule, sender and receivers have conflicting interests, and there is uncertainty about both players’ degree of rationality. They characterize the structure of the sequential equilibria of the game as a function of the parameters governing the uncertainty and find that in all pure strategy equilibria, the outcome most preferred by the rational sender …

High Stakes Behavior With Low Payoffs: Inducing Preferences With Holt-Laury Gambles, John Dickhaut, Daniel Houser, Jason A. Aimone, Dorina Tila, Cathleen Johnson

ESI Working Papers

A continuing goal of experiments is to understand risky decisions when the decisions are important. Often a decision’s importance is related to the magnitude of the associated monetary stake. Khaneman and Tversky (1979) argue that risky decisions in high stakes environments can be informed using questionnaires with hypothetical choices (since subjects have no incentive to answer questions falsely.) However, results reported by Holt and Laury (2002, henceforth HL), as well as replications by Harrison (2005) suggest that decisions in “high” monetary payoff environments are not well-predicted by questionnaire responses. Thus, a potential implication of the HL results is that studying …

Generating Ambiguity In The Laboratory, Jack Douglas Stecher, Timothy W. Shields, John Dickhaut

ESI Working Papers

This article develops a method for drawing samples from which it is impossible to infer any quantile or moment of the underlying distribution. The method provides researchers with a way to give subjects the experience of ambiguity. In any experiment, learning the distribution from experience is impossible for the subjects, essentially because it is impossible for the experimenter. We describe our method mathematically, illustrate it in simulations, and then test it in a laboratory experiment. Our technique does not withhold sampling information, does not assume that the subject is incapable of making statistical inferences, is replicable across experiments, and requires …

Can Manipulators Mislead Prediction Market Observers?, Ryan Oprea, David Porter, Chris Hibbert, Robin Hanson, Dorina Tila

ESI Working Papers

We study experimental markets where privately informed traders exchange simple assets, and where uninformed third parties are asked to forecast the values of these assets, guided only by market prices. Although prices only partially aggregate information, they signicantly improve the forecasts of third parties. In a second treatment, a portion of traders are given preferences over the forecasts made by observers. Although we find evidence that these traders attempt to manipulate prices in order to influence the beliefs of observers, we find no evidence that observers make less accurate forecasts as a result.

Rhode Island Current Conditions Index — December 2007, Leonard Lardaro

The Rhode Island Current Conditions Index

No abstract provided.

Fitting Event-History Models To Uneventful Data, Douglas A. Wolf, Thomas M. Gill

Center for Policy Research

Data with which to study disability dynamics usually take the form of successive current-status measures of disability rather than a record of events or spell durations. One recent paper presented a semi-Markov model of disability dynamics in which spell durations were inferred from sequences of current-status measures taken at 12-month intervals. In that analysis, it was assumed that no unobserved disablement transitions occurred between annual interviews. We use data from a longitudinal survey in which participants' disability was measured at monthly intervals, and simulate the survival curves for remaining disabled that would be obtained with 1- and 12-month follow-up intervals. …

Global Analysis Of An Expectations Augmented Evolutionary Dynamics, Angelo Antoci, Antonio Gay, Massimiliano Landi, Pier Luigi Sacco

Research Collection School Of Economics

We consider a deterministic evolutionary model where players form expectations about future play. Players are not fully rational and have expectations that change over time in response to current payoffs and feedback from the past. We provide a complete characterization of the qualitative dynamics so induced for a two strategies population game, and relate our findings to standard evolutionary dynamics and equilibrium selection when agents have rational forward looking expectations.

Nonstationary Discrete Choice: A Corrigendum And Addendum, Peter C. B. Phillips, Sainan Jin, Ling Hu

Research Collection School Of Economics

We correct the limit theory presented in an earlier paper by Hu and Phillips [2004a. Nonstationary discrete choice. Journal of Econometrics 120, 103-138] for nonstationary time series discrete choice models with multiple choices and thresholds. The new limit theory shows that, in contrast to the binary choice model with nonstationary regressors and a zero threshold where there are dual rates of convergence (n1/4 and n3/4), all parameters including the thresholds converge at the rate n3/4. The presence of nonzero thresholds therefore materially affects rates of convergence. Dual rates of convergence reappear when stationary variables are present in the system. Some …