arXiv subjects

Kenichiro McAlinn

Publications and source records attributed to Kenichiro McAlinn.

25 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2019

Dynamic Variable Selection with Spike-and-Slab Process Priors

We address the problem of dynamic variable selection in time series regression with unknown residual variances, where the set of active predictors is allowed to evolve over time. To capture time-varying variable selection uncertainty, we introduce new dynamic shrinkage priors for the time series of regression coefficients. These priors are characterized by two main ingredients: smooth parameter evolutions and intermittent zeroes for modeling predictive breaks. More formally, our proposed Dynamic Spike-and-Slab (DSS) priors are constructed as mixtures of two processes: a spike process for the irrelevant coefficients and a slab autoregressive process for the active coefficients. The mixing weights are themselves time-varying and depend on lagged values of the series. Our DSS priors are probabilistically coherent in the sense that their stationary distribution is fully known and characterized by spike-and-slab marginals. For posterior sampling over dynamic regression coefficients, model selection indicators as well as unknown dynamic residual variances, we propose a Dynamic SSVS algorithm based on forward-filtering and backward-sampling. To scale our method to large data sets, we develop a Dynamic EMVS algorithm for MAP smoothing. We demonstrate, through simulation and a topical macroeconomic dataset, that DSS priors are very effective at separating active and noisy coefficients. Our fast implementation significantly extends the reach of spike-and-slab methods to large time series data.

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arXiv2018

Dynamic Sparse Factor Analysis

Its conceptual appeal and effectiveness has made latent factor modeling an indispensable tool for multivariate analysis. Despite its popularity across many fields, there are outstanding methodological challenges that have hampered practical deployments. One major challenge is the selection of the number of factors, which is exacerbated for dynamic factor models, where factors can disappear, emerge, and/or reoccur over time. Existing tools that assume a fixed number of factors may provide a misguided representation of the data mechanism, especially when the number of factors is crudely misspecified. Another challenge is the interpretability of the factor structure, which is often regarded as an unattainable objective due to the lack of identifiability. Motivated by a topical macroeconomic application, we develop a flexible Bayesian method for dynamic factor analysis (DFA) that can simultaneously accommodate a time-varying number of factors and enhance interpretability without strict identifiability constraints. To this end, we turn to dynamic sparsity by employing Dynamic Spike-and-Slab (DSS) priors within DFA. Scalable Bayesian EM estimation is proposed for fast posterior mode identification via rotations to sparsity, enabling Bayesian data analysis at scales that would have been previously time-consuming. We study a large-scale balanced panel of macroeconomic variables covering multiple facets of the US economy, with a focus on the Great Recession, to highlight the efficacy and usefulness of our proposed method.

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arXiv2018

Multivariate Bayesian Predictive Synthesis in Macroeconomic Forecasting

We develop the methodology and a detailed case study in use of a class of Bayesian predictive synthesis (BPS) models for multivariate time series forecasting. This extends the recently introduced foundational framework of BPS to the multivariate setting, with detailed application in the topical and challenging context of multi-step macroeconomic forecasting in a monetary policy setting. BPS evaluates-- sequentially and adaptively over time-- varying forecast biases and facets of miscalibration of individual forecast densities, and-- critically-- of time-varying inter-dependencies among them over multiple series. We develop new BPS methodology for a specific subclass of the dynamic multivariate latent factor models implied by BPS theory. Structured dynamic latent factor BPS is here motivated by the application context-- sequential forecasting of multiple US macroeconomic time series with forecasts generated from several traditional econometric time series models. The case study highlights the potential of BPS to improve of forecasts of multiple series at multiple forecast horizons, and its use in learning dynamic relationships among forecasting models or agents.

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arXiv2018

Dynamic Mixed Frequency Synthesis for Economic Nowcasting

We develop a novel Bayesian framework for dynamic modeling of mixed frequency data to nowcast quarterly U.S. GDP growth. The introduced framework utilizes foundational Bayesian theory and treats data sampled at different frequencies as latent factors that are later synthesized, allowing flexible methodological specifications based on interests and utility. Time-varying inter-dependencies between the mixed frequency data are learnt and effectively mapped onto easily interpretable parameters. A macroeconomic study of nowcasting quarterly U.S. GDP growth using a number of monthly economic variables demonstrates improvements in terms of nowcast performance and interpretability compared to the standard in the literature. The study further shows that incorporating information during a quarter markedly improves the performance in terms of both point and density nowcasts.

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arXiv2018

Large-Scale Dynamic Predictive Regressions

We develop a novel "decouple-recouple" dynamic predictive strategy and contribute to the literature on forecasting and economic decision making in a data-rich environment. Under this framework, clusters of predictors generate different latent states in the form of predictive densities that are later synthesized within an implied time-varying latent factor model. As a result, the latent inter-dependencies across predictive densities and biases are sequentially learned and corrected. Unlike sparse modeling and variable selection procedures, we do not assume a priori that there is a given subset of active predictors, which characterize the predictive density of a quantity of interest. We test our procedure by investigating the predictive content of a large set of financial ratios and macroeconomic variables on both the equity premium across different industries and the inflation rate in the U.S., two contexts of topical interest in finance and macroeconomics. We find that our predictive synthesis framework generates both statistically and economically significant out-of-sample benefits while maintaining interpretability of the forecasting variables. In addition, the main empirical results highlight that our proposed framework outperforms both LASSO-type shrinkage regressions, factor based dimension reduction, sequential variable selection, and equal-weighted linear pooling methodologies.

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arXiv2017

Volatility Forecasts Using Nonlinear Leverage Effects

The leverage effect-- the correlation between an asset's return and its volatility-- has played a key role in forecasting and understanding volatility and risk. While it is a long standing consensus that leverage effects exist and improve forecasts, empirical evidence paradoxically do not show that most individual stocks exhibit this phenomena, mischaracterizing risk and therefore leading to poor predictive performance. We examine this paradox, with the goal to improve density forecasts, by relaxing the assumption of linearity in the leverage effect. Nonlinear generalizations of the leverage effect are proposed within the Bayesian stochastic volatility framework in order to capture flexible leverage structures, where small fluctuations in prices have a different effect from large shocks. Efficient Bayesian sequential computation is developed and implemented to estimate this effect in a practical, on-line manner. Examining 615 stocks that comprise the S\&P500 and Nikkei 225, we find that relaxing the linear assumption to our proposed nonlinear leverage effect function improves predictive performances for 89\% of all stocks compared to the conventional model assumption.

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arXiv2016

Fully Parallel Particle Learning for GPGPUs and Other Parallel Devices

We develop a novel parallel resampling algorithm for fully parallelized particle filters, which is designed with GPUs (graphics processing units) or similar parallel computing devices in mind. With our new algorithm, a full cycle of particle filtering (computing the value of the likelihood for each particle, constructing the cumulative distribution function (CDF) for resampling, resampling the particles with the CDF, and propagating new particles for the next cycle) can be executed in a massively and completely parallel manner. One of the advantages of our algorithm is that every single numerical computation or memory access related to the particle filtering is executed solely inside the GPU in parallel, and no data transfer between the GPU's device memory and the CPU's host memory occurs unless for further processing, so that it can circumvent the limited memory bandwidth between the GPU and the CPU. To demonstrate the advantage of our parallel algorithm, we conducted a Monte Carlo experiment in which we apply the parallel algorithm as well as conventional sequential algorithms for estimation of a simple state space model via particle learning, and compare them in terms of execution time. The results show that the parallel algorithm is far superior to the sequential algorithm.

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