Continued improvements in life expectancy and fiscal insolvency of public pensions have led to an increase in pension entitlement ages in several countries, but its consequences for subjective well-being are largely unknown. Financial consequences of retirement complicate the estimation of...

This paper proposes a new welfare criterion which satisfies three desiderata: strong sensitivity to the least advantaged, sensitivity to the present, and sensitivity to the future. We develop necessary conditions for optimal paths under this new criterion, and demonstrate that, in a familiar...

We discuss how specifications of interdependent preferences found in the literature yield biased estimates of parameters of the underlying consumption or choice models. We present new specifications which alleviate this problem and permit an estimation of the size of the reference group. This...

This paper proposes a unified framework for measuring and managing longevity risk. Specifically, we develop a flexible framework for valuing survivor derivatives like forwards, swaps, as well as options both of European and American style. Our framework is essentially independent of the assumed...

This paper develops a general stochastic framework and an equilibrium asset pricing model that make clear how attitudes towards intertemporal substitution and risk matter for option pricing. In particular, we show under which statistical conditions option pricing formulas are not...

This paper assesses the empirical performance of an intertemporal option pricing model with latent variables which generalizes the Hull-White stochastic volatility formula. Using this generalized formula in an ad-hoc fashion to extract two implicit parameters and forecast next day S&P 500 option...

Simulation-based estimation methods have become more widely used in recent years. We propose a set of tests for structural change in models estimates via Simulated Method of Moments (see Duffie and Singleton (1993)). These tests extend the recent work of Andrews (1993) and Sowell (1996a, b)...

Several estimation procedures such as the Efficient Method of Moments (EMM) of Gallant and Tauchen (1996) and Indirect Inference procedure of Gouriéroux, Monfort and Renault (1993) involve two models, an auxiliary one and a model of interest. The role played by both models poses challenges and...

Stochastic volatility models, aka SVOL, are more difficult to estimate than standard time-varying volatility models (ARCH). Advances in the literature now offer well tested estimators for a basic univariate SVOL model. However, the basic model is too restrictive for many economic and finance...

This paper illustrates the usefulness of resampling based methods in the context of multiple (simultaneous) tests, with emphasis on econometric applications. Economic theory often suggests joint (or simultaneous) hypotheses on econometric models; consequently, the problem of evaluating joint...