Models, Methods, and Applications of Econometrics: Essays in Honor of A.R. Bergstrom.
Caudill, Steven B.
A. R. Bergstrom is a prominent econometrician from New Zealand. His
major contributions are the development of continuous-time econometric
models and finite sample theory. Bergstrom's former student P. C.
B. Phillips has assembled a collection of essays from an impressive
group of econometricians to honor Bergstrom on the occasion of his
sixty-fifth birthday. With the exception of an introductory chapter
discussing Bergstrom's career, this volume is a collection of
essays dealing with both theoretical and empirical aspects of
continuous-time econometric models. The volume contains twenty-four
papers organized into five groups. Part I discusses Bergstrom's
education and his contributions to econometrics. Part II contains four
papers on continuous-time models, and Part III contains five papers on
finite-sample theory. Part IV contains seven papers on dynamic
econometric models, and the final section, Part V, contains four
empirical applications.
The first essay in Part I, written by Phillips, is a brief overview
of Bergstrom's education and career. The second essay, entitled,
"What is Econometrics?," is written by Bergstrom and was first
published in 1966 in The University of Auckland Gazette. The third essay
is a reproduction of Bergstrom's interview in Econometric Theory published in 1988. Part I concludes with a list of Bergstrom's
publications.
Part II contains four papers on continuous-time models. The first
paper, by Chambers, compares forecasts between continuous-time and
discrete-time econometric models. The second paper, by Harvey and Stock,
illustrates the application of continuous-time econometric modelling to
the problem of interpolation (estimation of intermediate values of
discretely sampled time series). The third paper, by Robinson, describes
frequency-domain approaches to the estimation of parametric and
semiparametric continuous-time econometric models. In the final paper,
Wymer discusses the estimation of nonlinear continuous-time models.
Part III contains five papers on finite-sample theory. The first
paper, written by Hillier and Skeels, presents some finite sample
results for LIML, OLS, and TSLS estimators of the coefficients of
exogenous variables in structural models. The second paper, by Phillips,
presents a general mathematical framework for determining the
distribution of any estimator or test statistic. The third essay, by
Richmond, deals with multiple comparisons. The fourth paper, by Sargan,
presents some alternatives to the Edgeworth approximation. A final paper
by Ellison and Satchell is a Monte Carlo study of the properties of
tests for the presence of cointegration.
Part IV contains seven papers on dynamic econometric modelling. The
first paper, by Bowden and Martin, describes how a principal component
decomposition of the spectral-density matrix can be used to identify
peaks and troughs in the business cycle. The second paper, by Gregory,
Pagan, and Smith, is an effort to synthesize two ideas. One idea,
prominent in Bergstrom's work, is that the specification of the
objective function faced by economizing agents determines the
specification of the estimating equations. The other idea is that the
estimation theory and procedures must be adapted for the data. The next
paper, by Hannan, discusses parameter reduction in econometric models.
The paper by Hansen obtains an efficiency bound for semiparametric
estimators in time-series models. Next is a paper by Hendry and Mizon
which discusses evaluating econometric models using the encompassing
principle. A paper by Maheswaran and Sims uses continuous data to show
that there are probability models for price behavior outside the
semimartingale class. A final paper by Wickens examines
rational-expectations models with integrated variables.
Part V contains four empirical applications. The first paper in the
section is written by Agbeyegbe and examines the stochastic behavior of
mineral-commodity prices. The second paper, by Gandolfo and Padoan, uses
continuous-time models to examine the effects of capital liberalization.
The third paper, by Giles and Wyatt, examines economies of scale in
electricity distribution in New Zealand. The final paper in the section
is written by Hall and Trevor. This paper estimates a continuous-time
error-correction model using Australian household-level data on
disposable income and aggregated and disaggregated consumer
expenditures.
This volume is a serious effort in the area of econometrics, and is
not light reading. Most of the essays are well written extensions or
illustrations of Bergstrom's contributions to continuous-time
econometric modelling or finite-sample theory. In several of the essays
the reader is reminded that Bergstrom's contributions have been
largely overlooked in North America. In fact, my own informal survey of
the most popular econometrics books in my possession failed to yield a
reference to Bergstrom. Consequently, I am sympathetic to the view that
some have overlooked Bergstrom's important contributions. This
oversight could be corrected by reading this volume or Bergstrom's
book Continuous Time Econometric Models [1].
Reference
1. Bergstrom, A. Rex. Continuous Time Econometric Modelling. Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 1990.
Steven B. Caudill Auburn University