In this paper we develop tests of functional form that are consistent against a class of nonlinear "smooth transition" models of the conditional mean. Our method is an extension of the consistent model specification tests developed by Bierens (1990), de Jong (1996) and Bierens and Ploberger...

We provide empirical evidence of volatility forecasting in relation to asymmetries present in the dynamics of both return and volatility processes. Using recently-developed methodologies to detect jumps from high frequency price data, we estimate the size of positive and negative jumps and...

We discuss several multivariate extensions of the Multiplicative Error Model to take into account dynamic interdependence and contemporaneously correlated innovations (vector MEM or vMEM). We suggest copula functions to link Gamma marginals of the innovations, in a specification where past...