Alexander Aue

BREAK DETECTION IN THE COVARIANCE STRUCTURE OF MULTIVARIATE TIME SERIES MODELS

In this paper, we introduce an asymptotic test procedure to assess the stability of volatilities and cross-volatilites of linear and nonlinear multivariate time series models. The test is very flexible as it can be applied, for example, to many of the multivariate GARCH models established in the literature, and also works well in the case of high dimensionality of the underlying data. Since it is nonparametric, the procedure avoids the difficulties associated with parametric model selection, model fitting and parameter estimation. We provide the theoretical foundation for the test and demonstrate its applicability via a simulation study and an analysis of financial data. Extensions to multiple changes and the case of infinite fourth moments are also discussed.

Structural Breaks in Time Series

This paper gives an account of some of the recent work on structural breaks in time series models. In particular, we show how procedures based on the popular cumulative sum, CUSUM, statistics can be modified to work also for data exhibiting serial dependence. Both structural breaks in the unconditional and conditional mean as well as in the variance and covariance/correlation structure are covered. CUSUM procedures are nonparametric by design. If the data allows for parametric modeling, we demonstrate how likelihood approaches may be utilized to recover structural breaks. The estimation of multiple structural breaks is discussed. Furthermore, we cover how one can disentangle structural breaks (in the mean and/or the variance) on one hand and long memory or unit roots on the other. Several new lines of research are briefly mentioned.

Change-Point Monitoring in Linear Models

, both methods have correct asymptotic size and detect a change with probability approaching unity. The methods are illustrated and compared in a small simulation study. Copyright Royal Economic Society 2006

On the Prediction of Stationary Functional Time Series

This article addresses the prediction of stationary functional time series. Existing contributions to this problem have largely focused on the special case of first-order functional autoregressive processes because of their technical tractability and the current lack of advanced functional time series methodology. It is shown here how standard multivariate prediction techniques can be used in this context. The connection between functional and multivariate predictions is made precise for the important case of vector and functional autoregressions. The proposed method is easy to implement, making use of existing statistical software packages, and may, therefore, be attractive to a broader, possibly nonacademic, audience. Its practical applicability is enhanced through the introduction of a novel functional final prediction error model selection criterion that allows for an automatic determination of the lag structure and the dimensionality of the model. The usefulness of the proposed methodology is demonstrated in a simulation study and an application to environmental data, namely the prediction of daily pollution curves describing the concentration of particulate matter in ambient air. It is found that the proposed prediction method often significantly outperforms existing methods.

Mean Shift Testing in Correlated Data

Several tests for detecting mean shifts at an unknown time in stationary time series have been proposed, including cumulative sum (CUSUM), Gaussian likelihood ratio (LR), maximum of F(F) and extreme value statistics. This article reviews these tests, connects them with theoretical results, and compares their finite sample performance via simulation. We propose an adjusted CUSUM statistic which is closely related to the LR test and which links all tests. We find that tests based on CUSUMing estimated one‐step‐ahead prediction residuals from a fitted autoregressive moving average perform well in general and that the LR and F tests (which induce substantial computational complexities) offer only a slight increase in power over the adjusted CUSUM test. We also conclude that CUSUM procedures work slightly better when the changepoint time is located near the centre of the data, but the adjusted CUSUM methods are preferable when the changepoint lies closer to the beginning or end of the data record. Finally, an application is presented to demonstrate the importance of the choice of method.

Estimation in Random Coefficient Autoregressive Models

We propose the quasi-maximum likelihood method to estimate the parameters of an RCA(1) process, i.e. a random coefficient autoregressive time series of order 1. The strong consistency and the asymptotic normality of the estimators are derived under optimal conditions. Copyright 2006 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

SEQUENTIAL TESTING FOR THE STABILITY OF HIGH-FREQUENCY PORTFOLIO BETAS

Despite substantial criticism, variants of the capital asset pricing model (CAPM) remain to this day the primary statistical tools for portfolio managers to assess the performance of financial assets. In the CAPM, the risk of an asset is expressed through its correlation with the market, widely known as the beta. There is now a general consensus among economists that these portfolio betas are time-varying and that, consequently, any appropriate analysis has to take this variability into account. Recent advances in data acquisition and processing techniques have led to an increased research output concerning high-frequency models. Within this framework, we introduce here a modified functional CAPM and sequential monitoring procedures to test for the constancy of the portfolio betas. As our main results we derive the large-sample properties of these monitoring procedures. In a simulation study and an application to S&P 100 data we show that our method performs well in finite samples.

Estimation of a change-point in the mean function of functional data

The paper develops a comprehensive asymptotic theory for the estimation of a change-point in the mean function of functional observations. We consider both the case of a constant change size, and the case of a change whose size approaches zero, as the sample size tends to infinity. We show how the limit distribution of a suitably defined change-point estimator depends on the size and location of the change. The theoretical insights are confirmed by a simulation study which illustrates the behavior of the estimator in finite samples.

Testing for changes in polynomial regression

We consider a nonlinear polynomial regression model in which we wish to test the null hypothesis of structural stability in the regression parameters against the alternative of a break at an unknown time. We derive the extreme value distribution of a maximum-type test statistic which is asymptotically equivalent to the maximally selected likelihood ratio. The resulting test is easy to apply and has good size and power, even in small samples.

On the Marčenko–Pastur law for linear time series

This paper is concerned with extensions of the classical Mar\v{c}enko-Pastur law to time series. Specifically,