We consider estimation in generalized linear mixed models (GLMM) for longitudinal data with informative dropouts. At the time a unit drops out, time-varying covariates are often unobserved in addition to the missing outcome. However, existing informative dropout models typically require...

Unlike conventional fiscal sustainability assessments, the Value-at-Risk approach developed in this paper explicitly captures the contribution of key risk variables to public sector vulnerability. In an illustrative application to Ecuador, the VaR approach confirms a significant risk of...

This paper investigates the generalized parametric measurement methods of aggregate operational risk in compliance with the regulatory capital standards for operational risk in the New Basel Capital Accord ("Basel II"). Operational risk is commonly defined as the risk of loss resulting from...

In missing-data analysis, Little's test (1988, Journal of the American Statistical Association 83: 1198–1202) is useful for testing the assumption of missing completely at random for multivariate, partially observed quantitative data. I introduce the mcartest command, which implements Little's...

It is popular belief that the weather is bad more frequently on weekends than on other days of the week and this is often perceived to be associated with an increased chance of rain. In fact, the meteorological literature does report some evidence for such human-induced weekly cycles although...

We analyze the performance of firms in the German business-related services sector. A quarterly business survey provides the panel data base of our study. Firm performance is measured by the survey respondents? ordinal indication of their changes in total sales. We use a firstorder Markov chain...

In spite of the widespread use of generalized additive models (GAMs), there is no well established methodology for simultaneous inference and variable selection for the components of GAM. There is no doubt that both, inference on the marginal component functions and their selection, are...