Market efficiency of Brazilian exchange rate: Evidence from variance ratio statistics and technical trading rules

This study utilizes the variance ratio test to examine the behavior of Brazilian exchange rate. We show that adjustments for multiple tests and a bootstrap methodology must be employed in order to avoid size distortions. We propose a block bootstrap scheme and show that it has much nicer properties than the traditional Chow–Denning [Chow, K.V., Denning, K.C., 1993. A simple multiple variance ratio test. Journal of Econometrics 58 (3), 385–401] multiple variance ratio tests. Overall, the method proposed in the paper provides evidence refuting the random walk behavior for the Brazilian exchange rate for long investment horizon, but consistent with the random walk hypothesis for short-run horizon. Additionally, we also test for the predictive power of variable moving average (VMA) and trading range break (TRB) technical rules and find evidence of forecasting ability for these rules. Nonetheless, the excess return that can be obtained from such rules is not significant, suggesting that such predictability is not economically significant.     

L1 regression estimate and its bootstrap

We study the asymptotic distribution of the L ₁ regression estimator under general conditions with matrix norming and possibly non i.i.d. errors. We then introduce an appropriate bootstrap procedure to estimate the distribution of this estimator and study its asymptotic properties. It is shown that this bootstrap is consistent under suitable conditions and in other situations the bootstrap limit is a random distribution. This work was supported by J.C. Bose National Fellowship, Government of India     

Heteroscedasticity checks for regression models

For checking on heteroscedasticity in regression models, a unified approach is proposed to constructing test statistics in parametric and nonparametric regression models. For nonparametric regression, the test is not affected sensitively by the choice of smoothing parameters which are involved in estimation of the nonparametric regression function. The limiting null distribution of the test statistic remains the same in a wide range of the smoothing parameters. When the covariate is one-dimensional, the tests are, under some conditions, asymptotically distribution-free. In the high-dimensional cases, the validity of bootstrap approximations is investigated. It is shown that a variant of the wild bootstrap is consistent while the classical bootstrap is not in the general case, but is applicable if some extra assumption on conditional variance of the squared error is imposed. A simulation study is performed to provide evidence of how the tests work and compare with tests that have appeared in the literature. The approach may readily be extended to handle partial linear, and linear autoregressive models.     

L_1 regression estimate and its bootstrap

We study the asymptotic distribution of the L1 regression estimator under general condi-tions with matrix norming and possibly non i.i.d.errors.We then introduce an appropriate bootstrap procedure to estimate the distribution of this estimator and study its asymptotic properties.It is shown that this bootstrap is consistent under suitable conditions and in other situations the bootstrap limit is a random distribution.     

Kernel-based goodness-of-fit tests for copulas with fixed smoothing parameters

We study a test statistic based on the integrated squared difference between a kernel estimator of the copula density and a kernel smoothed estimator of the parametric copula density. We show for fixed smoothing parameters that the test is consistent and that the asymptotic properties are driven by a U-statistic of order 4 with degeneracy of order 1. For practical implementation we suggest to compute the critical values through a semiparametric bootstrap. Monte Carlo results show that the bootstrap procedure performs well in small samples. In particular, size and power are less sensitive to smoothing parameter choice than they are under the asymptotic approximation obtained for a vanishing bandwidth.     

On testing the log-gamma distribution hypothesis by bootstrap

In this paper we propose two bootstrap goodness of fit tests for the log-gamma distribution with three parameters, location, scale and shape. These tests are built using the properties of this distribution family and are based on the sample correlation coefficient which has the property of invariance with respect to location and scale transformations. Two estimators are proposed for the shape parameter and show that both are asymptotically unbiased and consistent in mean-squared error. The test size and power is estimated by simulation. The power of the two proposed tests against several alternative distributions is compared to that of the Kolmogorov-Smirnov, Anderson-Darling, and chi-square tests. Finally, an application to data from a production process of carbon fibers is presented.     

DISPERSION COMPARISONS OF TWO PROBABILITY VECTORS UNDER MULTINOMIAL SAMPLING

We consider testing hypotheses concerning comparing dispersions between two parameter vectors of multinomial distributions in both one-sample and two-sample cases. The comparison criterion is the concept of Schur majorization. A new dispersion index is proposed for testing the hypotheses. The corresponding test for the one-sample problem is an exact test. For the two-sample problem, the bootstrap is used to approximate the null distribution of the test statistic and the p-value. We prove that the bootstrap test is asymptotically correct and consistent. Simulation studies for the bootstrap test are reported and a real life example is presented.     

Kullback-Leibler Information Consistent Estimation for Censored Data

This paper is intended as an investigation of parametric estimation for the randomly right censored data. In parametric estimation, the Kullback-Leibler information is used as a measure of the divergence of a true distribution generating a data relative to a distribution in an assumed parametric model M. When the data is uncensored, maximum likelihood estimator (MLE) is a consistent estimator of minimizing the Kullback-Leibler information, even if the assumed model M does not contain the true distribution. We call this property minimum Kullback-Leibler information consistency (MKLI-consistency). However, the MLE obtained by maximizing the likelihood function based on the censored data is not MKLI-consistent. As an alternative to the MLE, Oakes (1986, Biometrics, 42, 177–182) proposed an estimator termed approximate maximum likelihood estimator (AMLE) due to its computational advantage and potential for robustness. We show MKLI-consistency and asymptotic normality of the AMLE under the misspecification of the parametric model. In a simulation study, we investigate mean square errors of these two estimators and an estimator which is obtained by treating a jackknife corrected Kaplan-Meier integral as the log-likelihood. On the basis of the simulation results and the asymptotic results, we discuss comparison among these estimators. We also derive information criteria for the MLE and the AMLE under censorship, and which can be used not only for selecting models but also for selecting estimation procedures.     

Mean-value at risk portfolio efficiency: approaches based on data envelopment analysis models with negative data and their empirical behaviour

We deal with the problem of an investor who is using a mean-risk model for accessing efficiency of investment opportunities. Our investor employs value at risk on several risk levels at the same time which corresponds to the approach called risk shaping. We review several data envelopment analysis (DEA) models which can deal with negative data. We show that a diversification–consistent extension of the DEA models based on a directional distance measure can be used to identify the Pareto–Koopmans efficient investment opportunities. We derive reformulations as chance constrained, nonlinear and mixed-integer problems under particular assumptions. In the numerical study, we access efficiency of US industry representative portfolios based on empirical distribution of random returns. We employ bootstrap and jackknife to investigate the empirical properties of the efficiency estimators.     

Testing strategies for model specification

A crucial element in the development of econometric methodology during the past decade has been the concern with testing as opposed to estimating econometric models. In this paper we discuss—especially for the econometric analysis of time series—the main types of test procedures, and we also investigate the opportunities to uphold the Neyman-Pearson theory in the context of thorough model specification testing. In applied work it is quite usual to carry out several tests on the same set of sample data. We consider an extension of the Neyman-Pearson framework to the case of such repeated testing, and examine situations where the various hypotheses under test have a particular nesting structure. For the case where a sequence of superposed alternatives is tested by so-called marginal tests, we prove that the various test statistics are asymptotically independent under a common null hypothesis if the statistics are based on either the likelihood-ratio, or the Wald, or the Lagrange-multiplier approach. Testing a particular null hypothesis against a series of juxtaposed alternatives appears to lead to independent test statistics only in specific circumstances. It is shown how independence of test statistics enables the control over the overall Type I error probability, which is an essential element in the Neyman-Pearson theory. Using the notions of constructive hypotheses and auxiliary hypotheses, we can draw a clear distinction between specification tests and misspecification tests. Next an overview is given of approaches to and examples of specification and misspecification testing. With respect to the former, attention is paid to the problem determining the order of dynamics and discriminating between system dynamics and error dynamics. The misspecification testing is reviewed for specification error, nonconstancy of coefficients, heteroscedasticity, serial dependence, and nonnormality of disturbances. Also the problem of testing for several misspecifications jointly or sequentially is considered. Finally we discuss the options and associated difficulties in implementing the various tests in an overall testing strategy.     

Diagnosing Bootstrap Success

We show that convergence of intuitive bootstrap distributions to the correct limit distribution is equivalent to a local asymptotic equivariance property of estimators and to an asymptotic independence property in the bootstrap world. The first equivalence implies that bootstrap convergence fails at superefficiency points in the parameter space. However, superefficiency is only a sufficient condition for bootstrap failure. The second equivalence suggests graphical diagnostics for detecting whether or not the intuitive bootstrap is trustworthy in a given data analysis. Both criteria for bootstrap convergence are related to Hájek's (1970, Zeit. Wahrscheinlichkeitsth., 14, 323-330) formulation of the convolution theorem and to Basu's (1955, Sankhy, 15, 377-380) theorem on the independence of an ancillary statistic and a complete sufficient statistic.     

Hybrid bootstrap aided unit root testing

In this paper, we propose a hybrid bootstrap procedure for augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) tests for the presence of a unit root. This hybrid proposal combines a time domain parametric autoregressive fit to the data and a nonparametric correction applied in the frequency domain to capture features that are possibly not represented by the parametric model. It is known that considerable size and power problems can occur in small samples for unit root testing in the presence of an MA parameter using critical values of the asymptotic Dickey-Fuller distribution. The benefit of the sieve bootstrap in this situation has been investigated by Chang and Park (J Time Ser Anal 24:379–400, 2003). They showed asymptotic validity as well as substantial improvements for small sample sizes, but the actual sizes of their bootstrap tests were still quite far away from the nominal size. The finite sample performances of our procedure are extensively investigated through Monte Carlo simulations and compared to the sieve bootstrap approach. Regarding the size of the tests, our results show that the hybrid bootstrap remarkably outperforms the sieve bootstrap.     

Asymptotic properties of sample quantiles from a finite population

In this paper we consider the problem of estimating quantiles of a finite population of size N on the basis of a finite sample of size n selected without replacement. We prove the asymptotic normality of the sample quantile and show that the scaled variance of the sample quantile converges to the asymptotic variance under a slight moment condition. We also consider the performance of the bootstrap in this case, and find that the usual (Efron’s) bootstrap method fails to be consistent, but a suitably modified version of the bootstrapped quantile converges to the same asymptotic distribution as the sample quantile. Consistency of the modified bootstrap variance estimate is also proved under the same moment conditions.     

A Random Effect Block Bootstrap for Clustered Data

Random effects models for hierarchically dependent data, for example, clustered data, are widely used. A popular bootstrap method for such data is the parametric bootstrap based on the same random effects model as that used in inference. However, it is hard to justify this type of bootstrap when this model is known to be an approximation. In this article, we describe a random effect block bootstrap approach for clustered data that is simple to implement, free of both the distribution and the dependence assumptions of the parametric bootstrap, and is consistent when the mixed model assumptions are valid. Results based on Monte Carlo simulation show that the proposed method seems robust to failure of the dependence assumptions of the assumed mixed model. An application to a realistic environmental dataset indicates that the method produces sensible results. Supplementary materials for the article, including the data used for the application, are available online.     

Bootstrap model selection for possibly dependent and heterogeneous data

This paper proposes the use of the bootstrap in penalized model selection for possibly dependent heterogeneous data. The results show that we can establish (at least asymptotically) a direct relationship between estimation error and a data based complexity penalization. This requires redefinition of the target function as the sum of the individual expected predicted risks. In this framework, the wild bootstrap and related approaches can be used to estimate the penalty with no need to account for heterogeneous dependent data. The methodology is highlighted by a simulation study whose results are particularly encouraging.     

Inferential aspects of the zero-inflated Poisson INAR(1) process

A first-order INteger-valued AutoRegressive (INAR) process with zero-inflated Poisson distributed innovations was proposed by Jazi, Jones and Lai (2012) [First-order integer valued AR processes with zero inflated Poisson innovations. Journal of Time Series Analysis. 33, 954–963.], which is able for dealing with zero-inflated/deflated count time series data. The inferential aspects of this model were not well explored by the authors, only a conditional maximum likelihood approach was briefly discussed. In this paper, we explore the inferential aspects of this zero-inflated Poisson INAR(1) process. We propose parameter estimation through Two-Step Conditional Least Squares and Yule–Walker methods. The asymptotic properties of the estimators are provided. Simulation results about the finite-sample behavior of both estimation methods and comparisons with the conditional maximum likelihood approach are presented under correct model specification and misspecification. Two empirical applications to real data sets are considered in order to illustrate the usefulness of the proposed methodology in practical situations.     

Asymptotic Normality of a Combined Regression Estimator

In this paper, we propose a combined regression estimator by using a parametric estimator and a nonparametric estimator of the regression function. The asymptotic distribution of this estimator is obtained for cases where the parametric regression model is correct, incorrect, and approximately correct. These distributional results imply that the combined estimator is superior to the kernel estimator in the sense that it can never do worse than the kernel estimator in terms of convergence rate and it has the same convergence rate as the parametric estimator in the case where the parametric model is correct. Unlike the parametric estimator, the combined estimator is robust to model misspecification. In addition, we also establish the asymptotic distribution of the estimator of the weight given to the parametric estimator in constructing the combined estimator. This can be used to construct consistent tests for the parametric regression model used to form the combined estimator.     

Second-order generalized estimating equations for correlated count data

Generalized estimating equations have been widely used in the analysis of correlated count data. Solving these equations yields consistent parameter estimates while the variance of the estimates is obtained from a sandwich estimator, thereby ensuring that, even with misspecification of the so-called working correlation matrix, one can draw valid inferences on the marginal mean parameters. That they allow misspecification of the working correlation structure, though, implies a limitation of these equations should scientific interest also be in the covariance or correlation structure. We propose herein an extension of these estimating equations such that, by incorporating the bivariate Poisson distribution, the variance-covariance matrix of the response vector can be properly modelled, which would permit inference thereon. A sandwich estimator is used for the standard errors, ensuring sound inference on the parameters estimated. Two applications are presented.     

Direction-Projection-Permutation for High-Dimensional Hypothesis Tests

High-dimensional low sample size (HDLSS) data are becoming increasingly common in statistical applications. When the data can be partitioned into two classes, a basic task is to construct a classifier that can assign objects to the correct class. Binary linear classifiers have been shown to be especially useful in HDLSS settings and preferable to more complicated classifiers because of their ease of interpretability. We propose a computational tool called direction-projection-permutation (DiProPerm), which rigorously assesses whether a binary linear classifier is detecting statistically significant differences between two high-dimensional distributions. The basic idea behind DiProPerm involves working directly with the one-dimensional projections of the data induced by binary linear classifier. Theoretical properties of DiProPerm are studied under the HDLSS asymptotic regime whereby dimension diverges to infinity while sample size remains fixed. We show that certain variations of DiProPerm are consistent and that consistency is a nontrivial property of tests in the HDLSS asymptotic regime. The practical utility of DiProPerm is demonstrated on HDLSS gene expression microarray datasets. Finally, an empirical power study is conducted comparing DiProPerm to several alternative two-sample HDLSS tests to understand the advantages and disadvantages of each method.     

线性回归模型Bootstrap LM-Error检验的水平扭曲

基于OLS估计残差,本文将Bootstrap方法用于空间误差相关性LM-Error检验,综合考虑Bootstrap模拟抽样次数、空间衔接结构以及样本量,研究并比较空间误差相关Bootstrap LM-Error检验与渐近检验的水平扭曲。大量Monte Carlo实验结果显示,当模型误差不满足独立正态分布的假设条件时,空间误差相关LM-Error渐近检验的水平扭曲较大,采用Bootstrap方法可以较好地降低该水平扭曲;不管模型误差是否满足独立正态分布的假设条件,Bootstrap方法均能够有效地降低LMError渐近检验的水平扭曲。