Bayesian Hypothesis Testing in Latent Variable Models

• Main Authors: LI, Yong, YU, Jun
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2011
• Subjects: Bayes factors; Kullback-Leibler divergence; Decision theory; EM Algorithm; Markov Chain Monte Carlo.; Econometrics
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soe_research/1303; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/soe_research/article/2302/viewcontent/BTS0711_2011.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

Hypothesis testing using Bayes factors (BFs) is known not to be well defined under the improper prior. In the context of latent variable models, an additional problem with BFs is that they are difficult to compute. In this paper, a new Bayesian method, based on decision theory and the EM algorithm, is introduced to test a point hypothesis in latent variable models. The new statistic is a by-product of the Bayesian MCMC output and, hence, easy to compute. It is shown that the new statistic is easy to interpret and appropriately defined under improper priors because the method employs a continuous loss function. The method is illustrated using a one-factor asset pricing model and a stochastic volatility model with jumps.