M. Hashem Pesaran, M H Pesaran, Mohammad H Pesaran, Mohammad Pesaran, M. Pesaran

This article considers tests of alpha in linear factor pricing models when the number of securities, N, is much larger than the time dimension, T, of the individual return series. We focus on class of tests that are based on Student’s t-tests of individual securities which have a number of advantages over the existing standardized Wald type tests, and propose a test procedure that allows for non-Gaussianity and general forms of weakly cross-correlated errors. It does not require estimation of an invertible error covariance matrix, it is much faster to implement, and is valid even if N is much larger than T. We also show that the proposed test can account for some limited degree of pricing errors allowed under Ross’s arbitrage pricing theory condition. Monte Carlo evidence shows that the proposed test performs remarkably well even when T = 60 and N = 5000. The test is applied to monthly returns on securities in the …

We provide a comprehensive examination of the predictive accuracy of panel forecasting methods based on individual, pooling, fixed effects, and Bayesian estimation, and propose optimal weights for forecast combination schemes. We consider linear panel data models, allowing for weakly exogenous regressors and correlated heterogeneity. We quantify the gains from exploiting panel data and demonstrate how forecasting performance depends on the degree of parameter heterogeneity, whether such heterogeneity is correlated with the regressors, the goodness of fit of the model, and the cross-sectional () and time () dimensions. Monte Carlo simulations and empirical applications to house prices and CPI inflation show that forecast combination and Bayesian forecasting methods perform best overall and rarely produce the least accurate forecasts for individual series.

Forecasts play a central role in decision making under uncertainty. After a brief review of the general issues, this paper considers ways of using high-dimensional data in forecasting. We consider selecting variables from a known active set, known knowns, using Lasso and OCMT, and approximating unobserved latent factors, known unknowns, by various means. This combines both sparse and dense approaches. We demonstrate the various issues involved in variable selection in a high-dimensional setting with an application to forecasting UK inflation at different horizons over the period 2020q1-2023q1. This application shows both the power of parsimonious models and the importance of allowing for global variables.

This paper is concerned with the problem of variable selection in the presence of parameter instability when both the marginal effects of signals on the target variable and the correlations of the covariates in the active set could vary over time. We pose the issue of whether one should use weighted or unweighted observations at the variable selection stage in the presence of parameter instability, particularly when the number of potential covariates is large. We allow parameter instability to be continuous or discrete, subject to certain regularity conditions. We discuss the pros and cons of Lasso and the One Covariate at a time Multiple Testing (OCMT) method for variable selection and argue that OCMT has important advantages under parameter instability. We establish three main theorems on selection, estimation post selection, and in-sample fit. These theorems provide justification for using unweighted observations at the selection stage of OCMT and down-weighting of observations only at the forecasting stage. It is shown that OCMT delivers better forecasts, in mean squared error sense, as compared to Lasso, Adaptive Lasso and boosting both in Monte Carlo experiments as well as in 3 sets of empirical applications: forecasting monthly returns on 28 stocks from Dow Jones , forecasting quarterly output growths across 33 countries, and forecasting euro area output growth using surveys of professional forecasters.

This paper proposes a linear categorical random coefficient model, in which the random coefficients follow parametric categorical distributions. The distributional parameters are identified based on a linear recurrence structure of moments of the random coefficients. A generalized method of moments estimation procedure is proposed, also employed by Peter Schmidt and his coauthors to address heterogeneity in time effects in panel data models. Using Monte Carlo simulations, we find that moments of the random coefficients can be estimated reasonably accurately, but large samples are required for the estimation of the parameters of the underlying categorical distribution. The utility of the proposed estimator is illustrated by estimating the distribution of returns to education in the USA by gender and educational levels. We find that rising heterogeneity between educational groups is mainly due to the increasing …

This article is our personal perspective on the IPS test and the subsequent developments of unit root and cointegration tests in dynamic panels with and without cross-section dependence. In this note, we discuss the main idea behind the test and the publication process that led to Im et al. (2003).

Using a transformation of the autoregressive distributed lag model due to Bewley, a novel pooled Bewley (PB) estimator of long-run coefficients for dynamic panels with heterogeneous short-run dynamics is proposed. The PB estimator is directly comparable to the widely used Pooled Mean Group (PMG) estimator, and is shown to be consistent and asymptotically normal. Monte Carlo simulations show good small sample performance of PB compared to the existing estimators in the literature, namely PMG, panel dynamic OLS (PDOLS), and panel fully-modified OLS (FMOLS). Application of two bias-correction methods and a bootstrapping of critical values to conduct inference robust to cross-sectional dependence of errors are also considered. The utility of the PB estimator is illustrated in an empirical application to the aggregate consumption function.

We investigate the long-term macroeconomic effects of climate change across 48 US states over the period 1963–2016 using a novel econometric strategy that links deviations of temperature and precipitation (weather) from their long-term moving-average historical norms (climate) to various state-specific economic performance indicators at the aggregate and sectoral levels. We show that climate change has a long-lasting adverse impact on real output in various states and economic sectors, and on labour productivity and employment in the United States. Moreover, in contrast to most cross-country results, our within US estimates tend to be asymmetrical with respect to deviations of climate variables (including precipitation) from their historical norms.