Simulation estimation of continuous-time models with applications to finance

Over recent years, we have witnessed a rapid development in the body of economic theory with applications to finance. It has had great success in finding theoretical explanations to economic phenomena. Typically, theories are employed that are defined by mathematical models. Finance in particular has drawn upon and developed the theory of stochastic differential equations. These produce elegant and tractable frameworks which help us to better understand the world. To directly apply such theories, the models must be assessed and their parameters estimated. Implementation requires the estimation of the model's elements using statistical techniques. These fit the model to the observed data. Unfortunately, existing statistical methods do not work satisfactorily when applied to many financial models. These methods, when applied to complex models often yield inaccurate results. Consequently, simpler analytical models are often preferred, but these are typically unrealistic representations of the underlying process, given the stylised facts reported in the literature. In practical applications, data is observed at discrete intervals and a discretisation is typically used to approximate the continuous-time model. This can lead to biased estimates, since the true underlying model is assumed continuous.
This thesis develops new methods to estimate these types of models, with the objective of obtaining more accurate estimates of the underlying parameters present. The methods are applicable to general models. As the solution to the true continuous process is rarely known for these applications, the methods developed rely on building an Euler-Maruyama approximate model and using simulation techniques to obtain the distribution of the unknown quantities of interest. We propose to simulate the missing paths between the observed data points to reduce the bias from the approximate model. Alternatively, one could use a more sophisticated scheme to discretise the process. Unfortunately, their implementation with simulation methods require us to simulate from the density and evaluate the density at any given point. This has until now only been possible for the Euler-Maruyama scheme. One contribution of the thesis is to show the existence of a closed form solution from use of the higher order Milstein scheme. The likelihood based method is implemented within the Bayesian paradigm, as in the context of these models, Bayesian methods are often analytically easier. Concerning the estimation methodology, emphasis is placed on simulation efficiency; design and implementation of the method directly affects the accuracy and stability of the results. In conjunction with estimation, it is important to provide inference and diagnostic procedures. Meaningful information from simulation results must be extracted and summarised. This necessitates developing techniques to evaluate the plausibility and hence the fit of a particular model for a given dataset. An important aspect of model evaluation concerns the ability to compare model fit across a range of possible alternatives. The advantage with the Bayesian framework is that it allows comparison across non-nested models.
The aim of the thesis is thus to provide an efficient estimation method for these continuous-time models, that can be used to conduct meaningful inference, with their performance being assessed through the use of diagnostic tools.