Labor Market Dynamics: A Hidden Markov Approach


Book Description

This paper proposes a hidden state Markov model (HMM) that incorporates workers’ unobserved labor market attachment into the analysis of labor market dynamics. Unlike previous literature, which typically assumes that a worker’s observed labor force status follows a first-order Markov process, the proposed HMM allows workers with the same labor force status to have different history-dependent transition probabilities. I show that the estimated HMM generates labor market transition probabilities that match those observed in the data, while the first-order Markov model (FOM) and its many-state extensions cannot. Even compared with the extended FOM, the HMM improves the fit of the empirical transition probabilities by a factor of 30. I apply the HMM to (1) calculate the long-run consequences of separation from stable employment, (2) study evolutions of employment stability across different demographic groups over the past several decades, (3) compare the dynamics of labor market flows during the Great Recession to those during the 1981 recession, and (4) highlight the importance of looking beyond distributions of current labor force status.




Are Labor Market Indicators Telling the Truth? Role of Measurement Error in the U.S. Current Population Survey


Book Description

Labor market indicators are critical for policymakers, but measurement error in labor force survey data is known to be substantial. In this paper, I quantify the implications of classification errors in the U.S. Current Population Survey (CPS), in which respondents misreport their true labor force status. Once I correct for measurement error using a latent variable approach, the unemployment rate is on average 0.8 percentage points (ppts) higher than the official unemployment rate, with a maximum of 2.0 ppts higher between 1996 and 2018. This paper further quantifies the contributions to business-cycle fluctuations in the unemployment rate from job separation, job finding, and participation. Correcting for misclassification changes previous studies' results about the contributions of these transition probabilities: job separation accounts for more of the unemployment fluctuations, while participation accounts for fewer. The methodology I propose can be applied to any other labor force survey in which labor force status is observed for three periods.




Advanced Methods for Modeling Markets


Book Description

This volume presents advanced techniques to modeling markets, with a wide spectrum of topics, including advanced individual demand models, time series analysis, state space models, spatial models, structural models, mediation, models that specify competition and diffusion models. It is intended as a follow-on and companion to Modeling Markets (2015), in which the authors presented the basics of modeling markets along the classical steps of the model building process: specification, data collection, estimation, validation and implementation. This volume builds on the concepts presented in Modeling Markets with an emphasis on advanced methods that are used to specify, estimate and validate marketing models, including structural equation models, partial least squares, mixture models, and hidden Markov models, as well as generalized methods of moments, Bayesian analysis, non/semi-parametric estimation and endogeneity issues. Specific attention is given to big data. The market environment is changing rapidly and constantly. Models that provide information about the sensitivity of market behavior to marketing activities such as advertising, pricing, promotions and distribution are now routinely used by managers for the identification of changes in marketing programs that can improve brand performance. In today’s environment of information overload, the challenge is to make sense of the data that is being provided globally, in real time, from thousands of sources. Although marketing models are now widely accepted, the quality of the marketing decisions is critically dependent upon the quality of the models on which those decisions are based. This volume provides an authoritative and comprehensive review, with each chapter including: · an introduction to the method/methodology · a numerical example/application in marketing · references to other marketing applications · suggestions about software. Featuring contributions from top authors in the field, this volume will explore current and future aspects of modeling markets, providing relevant and timely research and techniques to scientists, researchers, students, academics and practitioners in marketing, management and economics.




Sequence Analysis and Related Approaches


Book Description

This open access book provides innovative methods and original applications of sequence analysis (SA) and related methods for analysing longitudinal data describing life trajectories such as professional careers, family paths, the succession of health statuses, or the time use. The applications as well as the methodological contributions proposed in this book pay special attention to the combined use of SA and other methods for longitudinal data such as event history analysis, Markov modelling, and sequence network. The methodological contributions in this book include among others original propositions for measuring the precarity of work trajectories, Markov-based methods for clustering sequences, fuzzy and monothetic clustering of sequences, network-based SA, joint use of SA and hidden Markov models, and of SA and survival models. The applications cover the comparison of gendered occupational trajectories in Germany, the study of the changes in women market participation in Denmark, the study of typical day of dual-earner couples in Italy, of mobility patterns in Togo, of internet addiction in Switzerland, and of the quality of employment career after a first unemployment spell. As such this book provides a wealth of information for social scientists interested in quantitative life course analysis, and all those working in sociology, demography, economics, health, psychology, social policy, and statistics.; Provides new perspectives and methods for sequence analysis Focusses on the link between sequence analysis and other methods for longitudinal data, especially event history analysis and Markov models Stresses the complementarity of sequence analysis and other models for longitudinal data Applications of sequence analysis in a whole range of different domains This work was published by Saint Philip Street Press pursuant to a Creative Commons license permitting commercial use. All rights not granted by the work's license are retained by the author or authors.




Economic Dynamics in Discrete Time


Book Description

A unified, comprehensive, and up-to-date introduction to the analytical and numerical tools for solving dynamic economic problems. This book offers a unified, comprehensive, and up-to-date treatment of analytical and numerical tools for solving dynamic economic problems. The focus is on introducing recursive methods—an important part of every economist's set of tools—and readers will learn to apply recursive methods to a variety of dynamic economic problems. The book is notable for its combination of theoretical foundations and numerical methods. Each topic is first described in theoretical terms, with explicit definitions and rigorous proofs; numerical methods and computer codes to implement these methods follow. Drawing on the latest research, the book covers such cutting-edge topics as asset price bubbles, recursive utility, robust control, policy analysis in dynamic New Keynesian models with the zero lower bound on interest rates, and Bayesian estimation of dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) models. The book first introduces the theory of dynamical systems and numerical methods for solving dynamical systems, and then discusses the theory and applications of dynamic optimization. The book goes on to treat equilibrium analysis, covering a variety of core macroeconomic models, and such additional topics as recursive utility (increasingly used in finance and macroeconomics), dynamic games, and recursive contracts. The book introduces Dynare, a widely used software platform for handling a range of economic models; readers will learn to use Dynare for numerically solving DSGE models and performing Bayesian estimation of DSGE models. Mathematical appendixes present all the necessary mathematical concepts and results. Matlab codes used to solve examples are indexed and downloadable from the book's website. A solutions manual for students is available for sale from the MIT Press; a downloadable instructor's manual is available to qualified instructors.




History Of Marketing Science, The (Second Edition)


Book Description

The field of marketing science has evolved significantly in the last 70 years. Throughout its rich history, developments in this field have always been anchored on marketing phenomena that drew on economics, statistics, operations research, and related disciplines. This book reviews the accomplishments of notable marketing scientists in several research areas. It emphasizes both the role and the importance that pioneers in marketing science have had in the rapid development of this field and honors those contributions.This second edition of the book offers updates of the former chapters and six new chapters on emerging areas of marketing science including machine learning, field experimentation methods, and internet marketing. Combined with older areas of research like endogeneity, services, and market segmentation, this book provides a road map for the development of 22 areas of marketing science, which not only is useful from a historical perspective but also identifies important gaps in the literature which can provide an impetus for future research. As such, it provides an important resource for the main consumers of the academic marketing research literature: doctoral students, faculty, and marketing science practitioners in consulting firms and companies.




Hidden Markov Models for Time Series


Book Description

Hidden Markov Models for Time Series: An Introduction Using R, Second Edition illustrates the great flexibility of hidden Markov models (HMMs) as general-purpose models for time series data. The book provides a broad understanding of the models and their uses. After presenting the basic model formulation, the book covers estimation, forecasting, decoding, prediction, model selection, and Bayesian inference for HMMs. Through examples and applications, the authors describe how to extend and generalize the basic model so that it can be applied in a rich variety of situations. The book demonstrates how HMMs can be applied to a wide range of types of time series: continuous-valued, circular, multivariate, binary, bounded and unbounded counts, and categorical observations. It also discusses how to employ the freely available computing environment R to carry out the computations. Features Presents an accessible overview of HMMs Explores a variety of applications in ecology, finance, epidemiology, climatology, and sociology Includes numerous theoretical and programming exercises Provides most of the analysed data sets online New to the second edition A total of five chapters on extensions, including HMMs for longitudinal data, hidden semi-Markov models and models with continuous-valued state process New case studies on animal movement, rainfall occurrence and capture-recapture data




Modeling Markets


Book Description

This book is about how models can be developed to represent demand and supply on markets, where the emphasis is on demand models. Its primary focus is on models that can be used by managers to support marketing decisions. Modeling Markets presents a comprehensive overview of the tools and methodologies that managers can use in decision making. It has long been known that even simple models outperform judgments in predicting outcomes in a wide variety of contexts. More complex models potentially provide insights about structural relations not available from casual observations. In this book, the authors present a wealth of insights developed at the forefront of the field, covering all key aspects of specification, estimation, validation and use of models. The most current insights and innovations in quantitative marketing are presented, including in-depth discussion of Bayesian estimation methods. Throughout the book, the authors provide examples and illustrations. This book will be of interest to researchers, analysts, managers and students who want to understand, develop or use models of marketing phenomena.




Handbook of Mixture Analysis


Book Description

Mixture models have been around for over 150 years, and they are found in many branches of statistical modelling, as a versatile and multifaceted tool. They can be applied to a wide range of data: univariate or multivariate, continuous or categorical, cross-sectional, time series, networks, and much more. Mixture analysis is a very active research topic in statistics and machine learning, with new developments in methodology and applications taking place all the time. The Handbook of Mixture Analysis is a very timely publication, presenting a broad overview of the methods and applications of this important field of research. It covers a wide array of topics, including the EM algorithm, Bayesian mixture models, model-based clustering, high-dimensional data, hidden Markov models, and applications in finance, genomics, and astronomy. Features: Provides a comprehensive overview of the methods and applications of mixture modelling and analysis Divided into three parts: Foundations and Methods; Mixture Modelling and Extensions; and Selected Applications Contains many worked examples using real data, together with computational implementation, to illustrate the methods described Includes contributions from the leading researchers in the field The Handbook of Mixture Analysis is targeted at graduate students and young researchers new to the field. It will also be an important reference for anyone working in this field, whether they are developing new methodology, or applying the models to real scientific problems.




The Job Ladder


Book Description

This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO licence. It is free to read at Oxford Scholarship Online and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations. Based on studies of a range of countries in the Global South, this book examines heterogeneity within informal work by applying a common conceptual framework and empirical methodology. The country studies use panel data to study the dynamics of worker transitions between formal and heterogeneous informal work and present a comparative perspective across developing countries in Asia, Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, and North Africa and the Middle East. Each study provides a nuanced view of informality, dividing workers into six work statuses: formal wage-employees, upper-tier informal wage-employees, lower-tier informal wage employees, formal self-employed, and upper-tier informal self-employed. Based on this common conceptual framework, the country studies examine the distribution of workers across each of these work statuses, and document transition patterns across different formality and work statuses. The panel data analysed in each country study provide a basis for making statements about labour market transitions that are not warranted when using comparable cross-sections. The studies also examine the individual- and household-level characteristics associated with workers in each work status. Using these characteristics, each study constructs a 'job ladder' that ranks each work status, and then examines the characteristics of workers that are associated with transitions up (and down) the job ladder.