This paper proposes a test of the null of underidentification in the nonlinear-in-parameters generalized method of moments model. It can be thought of as a nonlinear analog of the usual linear instrumental variables first-stage F-test. It can be used as a diagnostic to warn a researcher when conventional asymptotic theory is unlikely to work well.I am grateful to Don Andrews, Jon Faust, John Fernald, Jim Stock, and two anonymous referees for their helpful comments on earlier drafts of this manuscript. I am also grateful to George Tauchen for providing me with the code for generating artificial asset price data. All errors are my sole responsibility.

Weak convergence of partial sums and multilinear forms in independent random variables and linear processes and their nonlinear analogues to stochastic integrals now plays a major role in nonstationary time series and has been central to the development of unit root econometrics. The present paper develops a new and conceptually simple method for obtaining such forms of convergence. The method relies on the fact that the econometric quantities of interest involve discrete time martingales or semimartingales and shows how in the limit these quantities become continuous martingales and semimartingales. The limit theory itself uses very general convergence results for semimartingales that were obtained in the work of Jacod and Shiryaev (2003, Limit Theorems for Stochastic Processes). The theory that is developed here is applicable in a wide range of econometric models, and many examples are given. %One notable outcome of the new approach is that it provides a unified treatment of the asymptotics for stationary, explosive, unit root, and local to unity autoregression, and also some general nonlinear time series regressions. All of these cases are subsumed within the martingale convergence approach, and different rates of convergence are accommodated in a natural way. Moreover, the results on multivariate extensions developed in the paper deliver a unification of the asymptotics for, among many others, models with cointegration and also for regressions with regressors that are nonlinear transforms of integrated time series driven by shocks correlated with the equation errors. Because this is the first time the methods have been used in econometrics, the exposition is presented in some detail with illustrations of new derivations of some well-known existing results, in addition to the provision of new results and the unification of the limit theory for autoregression.

We establish the strong consistency and asymptotic normality of the quasi-maximum likelihood estimator (QMLE) of the parameters of a class of multivariate asymmetric generalized autoregressive conditionally heteroskedastic processes, allowing for cross leverage effects. The conditions required to establish the asymptotic properties of the QMLE are mild and coincide with the minimal ones in the univariate case. In particular, no moment assumption is made on the observed process. Instead, we require strict stationarity, for which a necessary and sufficient condition is established. The asymptotic results are illustrated by Monte Carlo experiments, and an application to a bivariate exchange rates series is proposed.

This paper considers various tests of the unit root hypothesis in panels where the cross-section dependence is due to common dynamic factors. Three situations are studied. First, the common factors and idiosyncratic components may both be nonstationary. In this case test statistics based on generalized least squares (GLS) possess a standard normal limiting distribution, whereas test statistics based on ordinary least squares (OLS) are invalid. Second, if the common component is I(1) and the idiosyncratic component is stationary (the case of cross-unit cointegration), then both the OLS and the GLS statistics fail. Finally, if the idiosyncratic components are I(1) but the common factors are stationary, then the OLS-based test statistics are severely biased, whereas the GLS-based test statistics are asymptotically valid in this situation. A Monte Carlo study is conducted to verify the asymptotic results.The research for this paper was carried out within research project “Unit roots and cointegration in panel data” financed by the German Research Association (DFG). We thank Paulo Rodrigues and two anonymous referees for helpful comments and suggestions.

This paper considers a Bayesian analysis of the linear regression model under independent sampling from general scale mixtures of normals. Using a common reference prior, we investigate the validity of Bayesian inference and the existence of posterior moments of the regression and scale parameters. We find that whereas existence of the posterior distribution does not depend on the choice of the design matrix or the mixing distribution, both of them can crucially intervene in the existence of posterior moments. We identify some useful characteristics that allow for an easy verification of the existence of a wide range of moments. In addition, we provide full characterizations under sampling from finite mixtures of normals, Pearson VII, or certain modulated normal distributions. For empirical applications, a numerical implementation based on the Gibbs sampler is recommended.

In this paper the asymptotic properties of ARMA processes with complex-conjugate unit roots in the AR lag polynomial are studied. These processes behave quite differently from regular unit root processes (with a single root equal to one). In particular, the asymptotic properties of a standardized version of the periodogram for such processes are analyzed, and a nonparametric test of the complex unit root hypothesis against the stationarity hypothesis is derived. This test is applied to the annual change of the monthly number of unemployed in the United States to see whether this time series has complex unit roots in the business cycle frequencies.

Standard econometric model selection methods are based on four conceptual errors: parametric vision, the assumption of a true data generating process, evaluation based on fit, and ignoring the impact of model uncertainty on inference. Instead, econometric model selection methods should be based on a semiparametric vision, models should be viewed as approximations, models should be evaluated based on their purpose, and model uncertainty should be incorporated into inference methods. These problems have been examined individually but not jointly, and my view is that future research into econometric model selection should attempt to address all four issues.This research was supported by the National Science Foundation. I thank Peter Phillips and a referee for helpful comments that greatly improved the arguments and exposition.

Strong consistency and asymptotic normality are established for the quasi-maximum likelihood estimator for a class of ARCH(q) models. The conditions are that the ARCH process is geometrically ergodic with a moment of arbitrarily small order. Furthermore for consistency, we assume that the second-order moment exists for the nondegenerate rescaled errors and, similarly, that the fourth-order moment exists for asymptotic normality to hold. Contrary to existing literature on (G)ARCH models the parameter space is not assumed to be compact; we only impose a lower bound for the constant term in our parameterization of the conditional variance. It is demonstrated that the general conditions are satisfied for a range of specific models.We are grateful to the editor and the referees for their very helpful and detailed suggestions, which, we believe, improved the paper substantially. We thank Søren T. Jensen for stimulating discussions and Jonathan Dennis for helpful research assistance. Rahbek acknowledges continuing financial support from the Danish Social Sciences Research Council. Kristensen received funding from the Danish Research Agency and the Financial Markets Group, LSE, during this research.

Some asymptotic properties of the least-squares estimator of the parameters of an AR model of order p, p ≥ 1, are studied when the roots of the characteristic polynomial of the given AR model are on or near the unit circle. Specifically, the convergence in distribution is established and the corresponding limiting random variables are represented in terms of functionals of suitable Brownian motions.

Further, the preceding convergence in distribution is strengthened to that of convergence uniformly over all Borel subsets. It is indicated that the method employed for this purpose has the potential of being applicable in the wider context of obtaining suitable asymptotic expansions of the distributions of leastsquares estimators.

Linearity in a causal relationship between a dependent variable and a set of regressors is a common assumption throughout economics. In this paper we consider the case when the coefficients in this relationship are random and distributed independently from the regressors. Our aim is to identify and estimate the distribution of the coefficients nonparametrically. We propose a kernel-based estimator for the joint probability density of the coefficients. Although this estimator shares certain features with standard nonparametric kernel density estimators, it also differs in some important characteristics that are due to the very different setup we are considering. Most importantly, the kernel is nonstandard and derives from the theory of Radon transforms. Consequently, we call our estimator the Radon transform estimator (RTE). We establish the large sample behavior of this estimator—in particular, rate optimality and asymptotic distribution. In addition, we extend the basic model to cover extensions, including endogenous regressors and additional controls. Finally, we analyze the properties of the estimator in finite samples by a simulation study, as well as an application to consumer demand using British household data.

This paper develops an asymptotic theory for integrated and near-integrated time series whose range is constrained in some ways. Such a framework arises when integration and cointegration analyses are applied to time series that are bounded either by construction or because they are subject to control. The asymptotic properties of some commonly used integration tests are discussed; the bounded unit root distribution is introduced to describe the limiting distribution of the sample first-order autoregressive coefficient of a random walk under range constraints. The theoretical results show that the presence of such constraints can lead to drastically different asymptotics. Because deviations from the standard unit root theory are measured through two noncentrality parameters that can be consistently estimated, simple measures of the impact of range constraints on the asymptotic distributions are obtained. Generalizations of standard unit root tests that are robust to the presence of range constraints are also provided. Finally, it is shown that the proposed asymptotic framework provides an adequate approximation to the finite-sample properties of the unit root statistics under range constraints.Partial financial support from Italian MIUR grants is gratefully acknowledged. I thank, without implicating, Pentti Saikkonen (the co-editor), an anonymous referee, Attilio Gardini, Martin Jacobsen, Robert de Jong, Paolo Paruolo, Anders Rahbek, and participants at the 58th European Meeting of the Econometric Society, Stockholm, August 21–24, 2003, for helpful comments. I also thank the Bank of International Settlements for providing the European monetary system exchange rate data.

We prove -consistency and asymptotic normality of a generalized semiparametric regression estimator that includes as special cases Ichimura's semiparametric least-squares estimator for single index models, and the estimator of Klein and Spady for the binary choice regression model. Two function expansions reveal a type of U-process structure in the criterion function; then new U-process maximal inequalities are applied to establish the requisite stochastic equicontinuity condition. This method of proof avoids much of the technical detail required by more traditional methods of analysis. The general framework suggests other -consistent and asymptotically normal estimators.

This paper updates Baltagi's (2003, Econometric Theory 19, 165–224) rankings of academic institutions by publication activity in econometrics over the period 1989–1999 to the period 1989–2005. This ranking is based on 16 leading international journals that publish econometrics articles. It is compared with the prior rankings by Hall (1987, Econometric Theory 3, 171–194; 1990, Econometric Theory 6, 1–16) for the period 1980–1988. In addition, a list of the top 150 individual producers of econometrics in these 16 journals over this 17-year period is provided. This is done for theoretical econometrics and also for all contributions in econometrics. Sensitivity analysis is provided using (i) alternative weighting factors given to the 16 journals taking into account impact citations, excluding self-citations, size and age of the journal, (ii) alternative time intervals, namely, 2000–2005, 1995–2005, and 1989–2005, (iii) alternative ranking using the number of articles published in these journals, (iv) separate rankings for both institutions and individuals by journal, (v) rankings for institutions and individuals based on publications in three core econometrics journals.I thank Peter C.B. Phillips for entrusting me with this study and P.M. Kisor for her research assistance. Also, I thank three referees for their helpful comments and suggestions.

The asymptotic distribution of the Gaussian quasi-maximum likelihood estimator (QMLE) is obtained for a wide class of asymmetric GARCH models with exogenous covariates. The true value of the parameter is not restricted to belong to the interior of the parameter space, which allows us to derive tests for the significance of the parameters. In particular, the relevance of the exogenous variables can be assessed. The results are obtained without assuming that the innovations are independent, which allows conditioning on different information sets. Monte Carlo experiments and applications to financial series illustrate the asymptotic results. In particular, an empirical study demonstrates that the realized volatility can be a helpful covariate for predicting squared returns.

In this paper a method is presented to estimate correlated discrete random variables with known univariate distribution functions up to some parameters. We also present an empirical illustration on Dutch recreational data.

This paper compares the performance of several single and system estimators of a two equation simultaneous model with unbalanced panel data. The Monte Carlo design varies the degree of unbalancedness in the data and the variance components ratio due to the individual effects. One useful result for applied researchers is that the feasible error components 2SLS and 3SLS procedures based on simple ANOVA type estimators of the variance components perform well with incomplete panels and are recommended in practice.

This paper considers series estimators of additive interactive regression (AIR) models. AIR models are nonparametric regression models that generalize additive regression models by allowing interactions between different regressor variables. They place more restrictions on the regression function, however, than do fully nonparametric regression models. By doing so, they attempt to circumvent the curse of dimensionality that afflicts the estimation of fully non-parametric regression models.

In this paper, we present a finite sample bound and asymptotic rate of convergence results for the mean average squared error of series estimators that show that AIR models do circumvent the curse of dimensionality. A lower bound on the rate of convergence of these estimators is shown to depend on the order of the AIR model and the smoothness of the regression function, but not on the dimension of the regressor vector. Series estimators with fixed and data-dependent truncation parameters are considered.

In this paper, new fully nonparametric estimators of the diffusion coefficient of continuous time models are introduced. The estimators are based on Fourier analysis of the state variable trajectory observed and on the estimation of quadratic variation between observations by means of realized volatility. The estimators proposed are shown to be consistent and asymptotically normally distributed. Moreover, the Fourier estimator can be iterated to get a fully nonparametric estimate of the diffusion coefficient in a bivariate model in which one state variable is the volatility of the other. The estimators are shown to be unbiased in small samples using Monte Carlo simulations and are used to estimate univariate and bivariate models for interest rates.

We obtain new central limit theorems (CLT's) and functional central limit theorems (FCLT's) for Hilbert-valued arrays near epoch dependent on mixing processes, and also new FCLT's for general Hilbert-valued adapted dependent heterogeneous arrays. These theorems are useful in delivering asymptotic distributions for parametric and nonparametric estimators and their functionals in time series econometrics. We give three significant applications for near epoch dependent observations: (1) A new CLT for any plug-in estimator of a cumulative distribution function (c.d.f.) (e.g., an empirical c.d.f., or a c.d.f. estimator based on a kernel density estimator), which can in turn deliver distribution results for many Von Mises functionals; (2) a new limiting distribution result for degenerate U-statistics, which delivers distribution results for Bierens's integrated conditional moment tests; (3) a new functional central limit result for Hilbert-valued stochastic approximation procedures, which delivers distribution results for nonparametric recursive generalized method of moment estimators, including nonparametric adaptive learning models.

Under general conditions the sample covariance matrix of a vector martingale and its differences converges weakly to the matrix stochastic integral ∫01BdB′, where B is vector Brownian motion. For strictly stationary and ergodic sequences, rather than martingale differences, a similar result obtains. In this case, the limit is ∫01BdB′ + Λ and involves a constant matrix Λ of bias terms whose magnitude depends on the serial correlation properties of the sequence. This note gives a simple proof of the result using martingale approximations.