Bounds for the skewness kurtosis space corresponding to the skewed generalized T, skewed generalized error, skewed T, and some other distributions are presented and contrasted with the bounds reported by Klaassen et al.(2000) for unimodal probability density functions. The skewed generalized T...

Data censoring causes ordinary least squares estimators of linear models to be biased and inconsistent. The Tobit estimator yields consistent estimators in the presence of data censoring if the errors are normally distributed. However, non-normality or heteroskedasticity results in the Tobit...

A number of flexible distributions (generalized beta of the second kind, inverse hyperbolic sine, g-and-h, Weibull, Burr-3, Burr-12, generalized gamma) are examined in the setting of option-pricing to explore potential improvements over the standard assumption of lognormal returns. Price...

This study tests the degree to which payday and title lenders differentiate their store location and interest rates based on the socioeconomic characteristics of the areas in which they operate. We use store-level lender data, geographically matched IRS income data, and Census Bureau demographic...

Utility functions that are additively-separable in goods consumption and leisure are often used in dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) models. This paper illustrates how the use of an elliptical functional form for the utility of leisure can be substituted for the more common constant...

In 2008, the Utah Retirement System experienced a negative return of almost 25 percent on its portfolio. This resulted in an underfunding of the pension system. In 2010 the Utah legislature reformed state pension participation, placing all new employees hired after mid-2011 in a new hybrid...

We develop an envelope condition method (ECM) for dynamic programming problems –a tractable alternative to expensive conventional value function iteration. ECM has two novel features: First, to reduce the cost, ECM replaces expensive backward iteration on Bellman equation with relatively...

We characterize and demonstrate a solution method for an optimal commodity (sales) tax problem consisting of multiple goods, heterogeneous agents, and a nonconvex policy maker optimization problem. Our approach allows for more dimensions of heterogeneity than has been previously possible,...

First, we propose a more e¢ cient implementation of the Smolyak method for inter- polation, namely, we show how to avoid costly evaluations of repeated basis functions in the conventional Smolyak formula. Second, we extend the Smolyak method to include anisotropic constructions; this allows us...

This paper constructs a single-sector dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) model for a trading economy. We are able to examine the effects on output, consumption, factor prices, and utility. We do this for both steady states and for transition paths. By including macroeconomic shocks,...