Maximum Simulated Likelihood Methods and Applications (eBook)

The economics and statistics literature using computer simulation based methods has grown enormously over the past decades. Maximum Simulated Likelihood is a statistical tool useful for incorporating individual differences (called heterogeneity in the econometrics literature) and variations into a statistical analysis. Contributors to the volume discuss alternative simulation methods that permit faster and more accurate inference, as well as applications of established methods. Problems that can be intractable with traditional methods are solved using computer simulation integrated with classical methods. Instead of assuming that everyone responds to stimuli in the same way, allowances are made for the possibility that different decision makers will respond in different ways. The techniques can be applied to problems of individual choice, such as the choice of a transportation model, or choice among health care options, as well as to the problem of making financial and macroeconomic predictions. Contributors to the volume discuss alternative simulation methods that permit faster and more accurate inference, as well as applications of established methods.

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This volume is a collection of methodological developments and applications of simulation-based methods that were presented at a workshop at Louisiana State University in November, 2009. The first two papers are extensions of the GHK simulator: one reconsiders the computation of the probabilities in a discrete choice model while another example uses an adaptive version of sparse-grids integration (SGI) instead of simulation. Two studies are focused specifically on the methodology: the first compares the performance of the maximum-simulated likelihood (MSL) approach with a proposed composite marginal likelihood (CML) approach in multivariate ordered-response situations, while the second examines methods of testing for the presence of heterogeneity in the heterogeneity model. Further topics examined include: education savings accounts, parent contributions and education attainment; estimating the effect of exchange rate flexibility on financial account openness; estimating a fractional response model with a count endogenous regressor; and modelling and forecasting volatility in a bayesian approach.