We present several Markov chain Monte Carlo simulation methods that have been widely used in recent years in econometrics and statistics. Among these is the Gibbs sampler, which has been of particular interest to econometricians. Although the paper summarizes some of the relevant theoretical literature, its emphasis is on the presentation and explanation of applications to important models that are studied in econometrics. We include a discussion of some implementation issues, the use of the methods in connection with the EM algorithm, and how the methods can be helpful in model specification questions. Many of the applications of these methods are of particular interest to Bayesians, but we also point out ways in which frequentist statisticians may find the techniques useful.

It is common for an applied researcher to use filtered data, like seasonally adjusted series, for instance, to estimate the parameters of a dynamic regression model. In this paper, we study the effect of (linear) filters on the distribution of parameters of a dynamic regression model with a lagged dependent variable and a set of exogenous regressors. So far, only asymptotic results are available. Our main interest is to investigate the effect of filtering on the small sample bias and mean squared error. In general, these results entail a numerical integration of derivatives of the joint moment generating function of two quadratic forms in normal variables. The computation of these integrals is quite involved. However, we take advantage of the Laplace approximations to the bias and mean squared error, which substantially reduce the computational burden, as they yield relatively simple analytic expressions. We obtain analytic formulae for approximating the effect of filtering on the finite sample bias and mean squared error. We evaluate the adequacy of the approximations by comparison with Monte Carlo simulations, using the Census X-11 filter as a specific example

The efficient method of numerical saddlepoint integration is described and applied to calculating the probability distribution of the maximum likelihood and Yule-Walker estimators of the correlation coefficient a of a first-order autoregressive normal time series with initial value either zero or nonzero when a finite number n of data are at hand. Stationary time series of the same type are also treated. Significance points are computed in a number of examples to show how, as n increases, the finite-sample distributions approach the asymptotic distributions that have appeared in the literature.

For a first-order autoregressive AR(1) model with zero initial value, xi = axi−1,_, + ei, we provide the bias, mean squared error, skewness, and kurtosis of the maximum likelihood estimator â. Brownian motion approximations by Phillips (1977, Econometrica 45, 463–485; 1978, Biometrika 65, 91–98; 1987, Econometrica 55, 277–301), Phillips and Perron (1988, Biometrika 75, 335–346), and Perron (1991, Econometric Theory 7, 236–252; 1991, Econometrica 59, 211–236), among others, yield an elegant unified theory but do not yield convenient formulas for calibration of skewness and kurtosis. In addition to the usual stationary case |α| < 1, we include the unstable |α| = 1 case of the random walk model. For the |α| < 1 case, we give new exact results for White's (1961, Biometrika 48, 85–94) model B, where the initial value x0 is a normal random variable N(0,σ2/(l – α2)). Our expressions are exact for small samples computed by relatively reliable Gaussian quadrature methods, rather than approximate ones in powers of n−l or α2.

This paper sketches the history of how Bayesian inference was adopted and utilized in econometrics during its first 20 years. It focuses on the causes of the Bayesian movement, the ways in which Bayesian inference was applied, the problems that the application was intended to solve, and the results achieved. It shows that Bayesian research has largely followed mainstream econometric development as far as the major econometric ideas and methods are concerned and that Bayesian reformulation of mainstream econometrics has nevertheless helped in deepening econometricians' understanding of many modeling problems by presenting them from a different angle.

Recent advances in the application of game theory to the study of auctions have spawned a growing empirical literature involving both experimental and field data. In this paper, we focus on four different mechanisms (the Dutch, English, first-price sealed-bid, and Vickrey auctions) within one of the most commonly used theoretical models (the independent private values paradigm) to investigate issues of identification, estimation, and testing in parametric structural econometric models of auctions.

The usual standard errors for the regression coefficients in a seemingly unrelated regression model have a substantial downward bias. Bootstrapping the standard errors does not seem to improve inferences. In this paper, Monte Carlo evidence is reported which indicates that bootstrapping can result in substantially better inferences when applied to t-ratios rather than to standard errors.