Prof. N. M. Kiefer

Spring 2008

Econ 719: Topics in Econometrics

The topic this year will be Bayesian methods for risk analysis.  We will start out with lectures (concepts of Bayesian analysis) and move to detailed discussions of papers. Readings will be posted on the course website and will be updated through the term. Meetings Thursday 4:15-6:30, except the week of 2/3 we meet Tuesday 8-10 and not Thursday. All meetings in 488 Uris.

Office hours: Tuesday 3-4; but email me or just drop in.

Links to some Bayesian Websites:

Duke's Statistics website

International Society for Bayesian Analysis

CMU Statistics (check StatLib)

Software:

WinBugs

R (a versatile stats package)

Tinn - Editor for R Programming

Supervision:

International Convergence of Capital Standards (B2)

Risk-Based Capital Standards: Advanced Capital Adequacy Frame-
work and Market Risk; Proposed Rules and Notices
,.Federal Register, 71(185),
55830-55878.

Useful Books:

Subjective and Objective Bayesian Statistics, S. James Press, Wiley 2003

Statistical Decision Theory, James O. Berger, Springer-Verlag, 1985

Probability Theory: The Logic of Science, E. Jaynes, Cambridge 2003. Many chapters available online. This book has a lot of coverage of maximum entropy as well as insightful discussions of probability.

Operational Risk references:

Multivariate Estimation for Operational Risk with Judicious Use of Extreme Value Theory
Mahmoud El-Gamal, Hulusi Inanoglu, and Mitch Stengel (OCC)

Tale of Tails (Boston Fed Paper)

LDA at Work (DB)

Class material

Intro to Bayesian Stats

The Foundations of Decision Under Uncertainty: An Elementary Exposition
John W. Pratt; Howard Raiffa; Robert Schlaifer
Journal of the American Statistical Association, Vol. 59, No. 306. (Jun., 1964), pp. 353-375.

Default Estimation and Expert Information (updated 2/7)

Bayes Estimates for the Linear Model
D. V. Lindley; A. F. M. Smith
Journal of the Royal Statistical Society. Series B (Methodological), Vol. 34, No. 1. (1972), pp. 1-41.

Bayesian Analysis in Applications of Hierarchical Models: Issues and Methods (JSTOR link)
Michael H. Seltzer; Wing Hung Wong; Anthony S. Bryk
Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics > Vol. 21, No. 2 (Summer, 1996), pp. 131-167

Eliciting Expert Beliefs in Substantial Practical Applications
A. O'Hagan
The Statistician, Vol. 47, No. 1. (1998), pp. 21-35.

Experiences in Elicitation
Joseph B. Kadane; Lara J. Wolfson
The Statistician, Vol. 47, No. 1. (1998), pp. 3-19.

Discussion on the Papers on `Elicitation'
The Statistician, Vol. 47, No. 1. (1998), pp. 55-68.

Default Estimation, Correlated Defaults and Expert Information

4/3 Presentation: Capital and Risk: New Evidence on Implications
of Large Operational Losses

4/10 Presentation: The Smooth Colonel Meets the Reverend

4/17: B. Efron and C. Morris, Stein's Estimation Rule and its Competitors--An Empirical Bayes Approach

4/17: J. Deely and D. Lindley, Bayes Empirical Bayes

4/24: LEARNING UNDER AMBIGUITY.
Larry G. Epstein and Martin Schneider. This should be read carefully by everyone ahead of class. We will all discuss portions.