计量经济分析 = Econometric analysis

Meyn & Tweedie is back! The bible on Markov chains in general state spaces has been brought up to date to reflect developments in the field since 1996 - many of them sparked by publication of the first edition. The pursuit of more efficient simulation algorithms for complex Markovian models, or algorithms for computation of optimal policies for controlled Markov models, has opened new directions for research on Markov chains. As a result, new applications have emerged across a wide range of topics including optimisation, statistics, and economics. New commentary and an epilogue by Sean Meyn summarise recent developments and references have been fully updated. This second edition reflects the same discipline and style that marked out the original and helped it to become a classic: proofs are rigorous and concise, the range of applications is broad and knowledgeable, and key ideas are accessible to practitioners with limited mathematical background.

Markov Chains and Stochastic Stability

Convergence of Probability Measures. By P. Billingsley. Chichester, Sussex, Wiley, 1968. xii, 253 p. 9 1/4“. 117s.

Convergence of Probability Measures

The author's preface gives an outline: "This book is about weakconvergence methods in metric spaces, with applications sufficient to show their power and utility. The Introduction motivates the definitions and indicates how the theory will yield solutions to problems arising outside it. Chapter 1 sets out the basic general theorems, which are then specialized in Chapter 2 to the space C[0, l ] of continuous functions on the unit interval and in Chapter 3 to the space D [0, 1 ] of functions with discontinuities of the first kind. The results of the first three chapters are used in Chapter 4 to derive a variety of limit theorems for dependent sequences of random variables. " The book develops and expands on Donsker's 1951 and 1952 papers on the invariance principle and empirical distributions. The basic random variables remain real-valued although, of course, measures on C[0, l ] and D[0, l ] are vitally used. Within this framework, there are various possibilities for a different and apparently better treatment of the material. More of the general theory of weak convergence of probabilities on separable metric spaces would be useful. Metrizability of the convergence is not brought up until late in the Appendix. The close relation of the Prokhorov metric and a metric for convergence in probability is (hence) not mentioned (see V. Strassen, Ann. Math. Statist. 36 (1965), 423-439; the reviewer, ibid. 39 (1968), 1563-1572). This relation would illuminate and organize such results as Theorems 4.1, 4.2 and 4.4 which give isolated, ad hoc connections between weak convergence of measures and nearness in probability. In the middle of p. 16, it should be noted that C*(S) consists of signed measures which need only be finitely additive if 5 is not compact. On p. 239, where the author twice speaks of separable subsets having nonmeasurable cardinal, he means "discrete" rather than "separable." Theorem 1.4 is Ulam's theorem that a Borel probability on a complete separable metric space is tight. Theorem 1 of Appendix 3 weakens completeness to topological completeness. After mentioning that probabilities on the rationals are tight, the author says it is an

Convergence of probability measures

This purpose of this introductory paper is threefold. First, it introduces the Monte Carlo method with emphasis on probabilistic machine learning. Second, it reviews the main building blocks of modern Markov chain Monte Carlo simulation, thereby providing and introduction to the remaining papers of this special issue. Lastly, it discusses new interesting research horizons.

/pdf/an-introduction-to-mcmc-for-machine-learning-22slt5b6x5.pdf

An introduction to MCMC for machine learning

We provide a general method to analyze the asymptotic properties of a variety of estimators of continuous time diffusion processes when the data are not only discretely sampled in time but the time separating successive observations may possibly be random. We introduce a new operator, the generalized infinitesimal generator, to obtain Taylor expansions of the asymptotic moments of the estimators. As a special case, our results apply to the situation where the data are discretely sampled at a fixed nonrandom time interval. We include as specific examples estimators based on maximum-likelihood and discrete approximations such as the Euler scheme.

/pdf/estimators-of-diffusions-with-randomly-spaced-discrete-1znnv0pear.pdf

Estimators of diffusions with randomly spaced discrete observations: A general theory

Ito processes are the most common form of continuous semimartingales, and include diffusion processes. This paper is concerned with the nonparametric regression relationship between two such Ito processes. We are interested in the quadratic variation (integrated volatility) of the residual in this regression, over a unit of time (such as a day). A main conceptual finding is that this quadratic variation can be estimated almost as if the residual process were observed, the difference being that there is also a bias which is of the same asymptotic order as the mixed normal error term. The proposed methodology, ``ANOVA for diffusions and Ito processes,'' can be used to measure the statistical quality of a parametric model and, nonparametrically, the appropriateness of a one-regressor model in general. On the other hand, it also helps quantify and characterize the trading (hedging) error in the case of financial applications.

ANOVA for diffusions and It\^{o} processes

Asset prices observed in financial markets combine equilibrium prices and market microstructure noise. In this paper, we study how to tell apart large shifts in equilibrium prices from noise using high frequency data. We propose a new nonparametric test which allows us to asymptotically remove the noise from observable price data and to discover jumps in fundamental asset values. We provide its asymptotic distribution to decide when such jumps occur. In finite samples, our test offers reasonable power for distinguishing between noise and jumps. Empirical evidence indicates that it is necessary to incorporate the presence of jumps in equilibrium prices.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm/SSRN_ID1693644_code456730.pdf?abstractid=1693644&mirid=2

Jumps in Equilibrium Prices and Market Microstructure Noise

The paper investigates the structure of the self-consistent estimators (SCE) and the nonparametric maximum likelihood estimator (NPMLE) for doubly censored data. An explicit sufficient and necessary condition for an SCE to be the NPMLE is given. Based on this, algorithms for computing the SCE and the NPMLE are provided. The relation between our algorithms and the EM algorithm is studied.

/pdf/algorithms-for-computing-self-consistent-and-maximum-2zc324fe3n.pdf

Algorithms for computing self-consistent and maximum likelihood estimators with doubly censored data

It is a common practice in finance to estimate volatility from the sum of frequently-sampled squared returns. However market microstructure poses challenges to this estimation approach, as evidenced by recent empirical studies in finance. This work attempts to lay out theoretical grounds that reconcile continuous-time modeling and discrete-time samples. We propose an estimation approach that takes advantage of the rich sources in tick-by-tick data while preserving the continuous-time assumption on the underlying returns. Under our framework, it becomes clear why and where the usual' volatility estimator fails when the returns are sampled at the highest frequency.

Per A. Mykland

Papers

Estimators of diffusions with randomly spaced discrete observations: A general theory

ANOVA for diffusions and It\^{o} processes

Jumps in Equilibrium Prices and Market Microstructure Noise

Algorithms for computing self-consistent and maximum likelihood estimators with doubly censored data

A Tale of Two Time Scales: Determining Integrated Volatility with Noisy High Frequency Data