C - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods

• Towards a More Complete Debt Strategy Simulation Framework

  Staff Working Paper 2002-13 David Bolder

  An effective technique governments use to evaluate the desirability of different financing strategies involves stochastic simulation. This approach requires the postulation of the future dynamics of key macroeconomic variables and the use of those variables in the construction of a debt charge distribution for each individual financing strategy.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Debt management, Econometric and statistical methods, Interest rates JEL Code(s): C, C0, C5, G, G0

• Risk, Entropy, and the Transformation of Distributions

  Staff Working Paper 2002-11 Mark Reesor, Don McLeish

  The exponential family, relative entropy, and distortion are methods of transforming probability distributions. We establish a link between those methods, focusing on the relation between relative entropy and distortion.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Econometric and statistical methods, Financial markets, Market structure and pricing JEL Code(s): C, C0, C1, D, D8, G, G0

• An Introduction to Wavelets for Economists

  Staff Working Paper 2002-3 Christoph Schleicher

  Wavelets are mathematical expansions that transform data from the time domain into different layers of frequency levels. Compared to standard Fourier analysis, they have the advantage of being localized both in time and in the frequency domain, and enable the researcher to observe and analyze data at different scales.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Econometric and statistical methods JEL Code(s): C, C1

• Asset Allocation Using Extreme Value Theory

  Staff Working Paper 2002-2 Younes Bensalah

  This paper examines asset allocation strategies in an extreme value at risk (VaR) framework in which the risk measure is the p-quantile from the extreme value distribution. The main focus is on the allocation problem faced by an extremely risk-averse institution, such as a central bank.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Financial markets JEL Code(s): C, C0, C4, C5, G, G1

• Modelling Mortgage Rate Changes with a Smooth Transition Error-Correction Model

  Staff Working Paper 2001-23 Ying Liu

  This paper uses a smooth transition error-correction model (STECM) to model the one-year and five-year mortgage rate changes. The model allows for a non-linear adjustment process of mortgage rates towards their long-run equilibrium.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Econometric and statistical methods, Interest rates JEL Code(s): C, C2, C22, C4, C49, E, E4, E47

• A Consistent Bootstrap Test for Conditional Density Functions with Time-Dependent Data

  Staff Working Paper 2001-21 Fuchun Li, Greg Tkacz

  This paper describes a new test for evaluating conditional density functions that remains valid when the data are time-dependent and that is therefore applicable to forecasting problems. We show that the test statistic is asymptotically distributed standard normal under the null hypothesis, and diverges to infinity when the null hypothesis is false.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Econometric and statistical methods JEL Code(s): C, C1, C12, C15, E, E3, E37

• Evaluating Factor Models: An Application to Forecasting Inflation in Canada

  Staff Working Paper 2001-18 Marc-André Gosselin, Greg Tkacz

  This paper evaluates the forecasting performance of factor models for Canadian inflation. This type of model was introduced and examined by Stock and Watson (1999a), who have shown that it is quite promising for forecasting U.S. inflation.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Econometric and statistical methods, Inflation and prices JEL Code(s): C, C3, C32, E, E3, E37

• Affine Term-Structure Models: Theory and Implementation

  Staff Working Paper 2001-15 David Bolder

  Affine models describe the stylized time-series properties of the term structure of interest rates in a reasonable manner, they generalize relatively easily to higher dimensions, and a vast academic literature exists relating to their implementation. This combination of characteristics makes the affine class a natural introductory point for modelling interest rate dynamics.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Debt management, Econometric and statistical methods, Interest rates JEL Code(s): C, C0, C5, G, G0

• Evaluating Linear and Non-Linear Time-Varying Forecast-Combination Methods

  Staff Working Paper 2001-12 Fuchun Li, Greg Tkacz

  This paper evaluates linear and non-linear forecast-combination methods. Among the non-linear methods, we propose a nonparametric kernel-regression weighting approach that allows maximum flexibility of the weighting parameters.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Econometric and statistical methods JEL Code(s): C, C1, C14, C5, C53, E, E2, E27

• Testing for a Structural Break in the Volatility of Real GDP Growth in Canada

  Staff Working Paper 2001-9 Alexandre Debs

  This study tests for a structural break in the volatility of real GDP growth in Canada following the methodology of McConnell and Quiros (1998). A break is found in the first quarter of 1991.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Business fluctuations and cycles, Econometric and statistical methods JEL Code(s): C, C1, C12, E, E3, E32