The nearest correlation matrix problem is to find a valid (positive semidefinite) correlation matrix, R(m,m), that is nearest to a given invalid (negative semidefinite) or pseudo-correlation matrix, Q(m,m); m larger than 2. In the literature on this problem, 'nearest' is invariably defined in...

Our day-to-day experience suggests that certain variables are local in their effects. The influence of such variables is limited within the boundaries of the spatial entity (district) where they are physically located. In contrast, the effects of some other variables are percolating or pervasive...

The demographic canvas of the North Eastern Region of India (NER) is perhaps the most colourful and enchanting in the whole nation. We do not find in any other part of the country such a variety – anthropologically, socially, linguistically, culturally, economically, politically and...

Construction of (composite) indices by the PCA is very common, but this method has a preference for highly correlated variables to the poorly correlated variables in the data set. However, poor correlation does not entail the marginal importance, since correlation coefficients among the...

This paper elaborates on the deleterious effects of outliers and corruption of dataset on estimation of linear regression coefficients by the Ordinary Least Squares method. Motivated to ameliorate the estimation procedure, we have introduced the robust regression estimators based on Campbell’s...

Correlation matrices have many applications, particularly in marketing and financial economics - such as in risk management, option pricing and to forecast demand for a group of products in order to realize savings by properly managing inventories, etc. Various methods have been proposed by...

The issue of inequality or imbalance in sectional, sectoral or regional distribution of economic and social variables is connected to welfare implications of the functioning of an economy responsible for allocation of resources, and production, distribution and consumption of the material...

Econometricians generally take for granted that the error terms in the econometric models are generated by distributions having a finite variance. However, since the time of Pareto the existence of error distributions with infinite variance is known. Works of many econometricians, namely, Meyer...

Quality of higher education is a multi-dimensional concept. It lies in effectiveness of transmitting knowledge and skill; the authenticity, content, coverage and depth of information; availability of reading/teaching materials; help in removing obstacles to learning; applicability of knowledge...

Statistical distribution of Journal Impact Factor (JIF) is characteristically asymmetric and non-mesokurtic. Even the distribution of log10(JIF) exhibits conspicuous skewness and non-mesokurticity. In this paper we estimate the parameters of Johnson SU distribution fitting to the log10(JIF) data...