Both unconditional mixed normal distributions and GARCH models with fat-tailed conditional distributions have been employed in the literature for modeling financial data. We consider a mixed normal distribution coupled with a GARCH-type structure (termed MN-GARCH) which allows for conditional...

The use of Markov-switching models to capture the volatility dynamics of financial time series has grown considerably during past years, in part because they give rise to a plausible interpretation of nonlinearities. Nevertheless, GARCH-type models remain ubiquitous in order to allow for...