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Triple the Gamma—A Unifying Shrinkage Prior for Variance and Variable Selection in Sparse State Space and TVP Models

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  • Annalisa Cadonna

    (Department of Finance, Accounting and Statistics, WU Vienna University of Economics and Business, 1020 Vienna, Austria)

  • Sylvia Frühwirth-Schnatter

    (Department of Finance, Accounting and Statistics, WU Vienna University of Economics and Business, 1020 Vienna, Austria)

  • Peter Knaus

    (Department of Finance, Accounting and Statistics, WU Vienna University of Economics and Business, 1020 Vienna, Austria)

Abstract

Time-varying parameter (TVP) models are very flexible in capturing gradual changes in the effect of explanatory variables on the outcome variable. However, in particular when the number of explanatory variables is large, there is a known risk of overfitting and poor predictive performance, since the effect of some explanatory variables is constant over time. We propose a new prior for variance shrinkage in TVP models, called triple gamma. The triple gamma prior encompasses a number of priors that have been suggested previously, such as the Bayesian Lasso, the double gamma prior and the Horseshoe prior. We present the desirable properties of such a prior and its relationship to Bayesian Model Averaging for variance selection. The features of the triple gamma prior are then illustrated in the context of time varying parameter vector autoregressive models, both for simulated dataset and for a series of macroeconomics variables in the Euro Area.

Suggested Citation

  • Annalisa Cadonna & Sylvia Frühwirth-Schnatter & Peter Knaus, 2020. "Triple the Gamma—A Unifying Shrinkage Prior for Variance and Variable Selection in Sparse State Space and TVP Models," Econometrics, MDPI, vol. 8(2), pages 1-36, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jecnmx:v:8:y:2020:i:2:p:20-:d:360596
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Peter Knaus & Sylvia Fruhwirth-Schnatter, 2023. "The Dynamic Triple Gamma Prior as a Shrinkage Process Prior for Time-Varying Parameter Models," Papers 2312.10487, arXiv.org.
    2. Martin Gachter & Elias Hasler & Florian Huber, 2023. "A tale of two tails: 130 years of growth-at-risk," Papers 2302.08920, arXiv.org.
    3. Kaito Shimamura & Shuichi Kawano, 2021. "Bayesian sparse convex clustering via global-local shrinkage priors," Computational Statistics, Springer, vol. 36(4), pages 2671-2699, December.
    4. Sylvia Fruhwirth-Schnatter, 2023. "Generalized Cumulative Shrinkage Process Priors with Applications to Sparse Bayesian Factor Analysis," Papers 2303.00473, arXiv.org.
    5. Niko Hauzenberger, 2020. "Flexible Mixture Priors for Large Time-varying Parameter Models," Papers 2006.10088, arXiv.org, revised Nov 2020.
    6. Yu Bai & Andrea Carriero & Todd E. Clark & Massimiliano Marcellino, 2022. "Macroeconomic forecasting in a multi‐country context," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 37(6), pages 1230-1255, September.
    7. Hauzenberger, Niko & Pfarrhofer, Michael & Stelzer, Anna, 2021. "On the effectiveness of the European Central Bank’s conventional and unconventional policies under uncertainty," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 191(C), pages 822-845.
    8. Sylvia Fruhwirth-Schnatter & Peter Knaus, 2022. "Sparse Bayesian State-Space and Time-Varying Parameter Models," Papers 2207.12147, arXiv.org.
    9. Marco Berrettini & Giuliano Galimberti & Saverio Ranciati, 2023. "Semiparametric finite mixture of regression models with Bayesian P-splines," Advances in Data Analysis and Classification, Springer;German Classification Society - Gesellschaft für Klassifikation (GfKl);Japanese Classification Society (JCS);Classification and Data Analysis Group of the Italian Statistical Society (CLADAG);International Federation of Classification Societies (IFCS), vol. 17(3), pages 745-775, September.

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