IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wpa/wuwpco/0303003.html

Solving Finite Mixture Models in Parallel

Author

Listed:
  • Christopher Ferrall

    (Queen's University)

Abstract

Many economic models are completed by finding a parameter vector that optimizes a function f, a task that only be accomplished by iterating from a starting vector. Use of a generic iterative optimizer to carry out this task can waste enormous amounts of computation when applied to a class of problems defined here as finite mixture models. The finite mixture class is large and important in economics and eliminating wasted computations requires only limited changes to standard code. Further, the approach described here greatly increases gains from parallel execution and opens possibilities for re-writing objective functions to make further efficiency gains.

Suggested Citation

  • Christopher Ferrall, 2003. "Solving Finite Mixture Models in Parallel," Computational Economics 0303003, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:wpa:wuwpco:0303003
    Note: Type of Document - PDF; prepared on MikTeX; pages: 47; figures: included/
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://econwpa.ub.uni-muenchen.de/econ-wp/comp/papers/0303/0303003.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Nagurney, Anna, 1996. "Parallel computation," Handbook of Computational Economics, in: H. M. Amman & D. A. Kendrick & J. Rust (ed.), Handbook of Computational Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 7, pages 335-404, Elsevier.
    2. Daniel McFadden & Kenneth Train, 2000. "Mixed MNL models for discrete response," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 15(5), pages 447-470.
    3. José-Víctor Ríos-Rull, 1997. "Computation of equilibria in heterogeneous agent models," Staff Report 231, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
    4. Hans M. Amman & David A. Kendrick, . "Computational Economics," Online economics textbooks, SUNY-Oswego, Department of Economics, number comp1, December.
    5. Marimon, Ramon & Scott, Andrew (ed.), 1999. "Computational Methods for the Study of Dynamic Economies," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198294979.
    6. Louis Anthony Cox Jr. & Weihsueh A. Chiu & David M. Hassenzahl & Daniel M. Kammen, 2000. "Response," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 20(3), pages 295-296, June.
    7. Peter Arcidiacono & John Bailey Jones, 2003. "Finite Mixture Distributions, Sequential Likelihood and the EM Algorithm," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 71(3), pages 933-946, May.
    8. Jurgen A. Doornik & David F. Hendry & Neil Shephard, "undated". "Computationally-intensive Econometrics using a Distributed Matrix-programming Language," Economics Papers 2001-W22, Economics Group, Nuffield College, University of Oxford.
    9. Victor Aguirregabiria & Pedro Mira, 2002. "Swapping the Nested Fixed Point Algorithm: A Class of Estimators for Discrete Markov Decision Models," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 70(4), pages 1519-1543, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ferrall, Christopher, 2002. "Estimation and Inference in Social Experiments," Queen's Economics Department Working Papers 273435, Queen's University - Department of Economics.
    2. Morozov, Sergei & Mathur, Sudhanshu, 2009. "Massively parallel computation using graphics processors with application to optimal experimentation in dynamic control," MPRA Paper 30298, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 04 Apr 2011.
    3. Sergei Morozov & Sudhanshu Mathur, 2012. "Massively Parallel Computation Using Graphics Processors with Application to Optimal Experimentation in Dynamic Control," Computational Economics, Springer;Society for Computational Economics, vol. 40(2), pages 151-182, August.
    4. Jurgen A. Doornik & Neil Shephard & David F. Hendry, 2004. "Parallel Computation in Econometrics: A Simplified Approach," Economics Papers 2004-W16, Economics Group, Nuffield College, University of Oxford.
    5. Mathur, Sudhanshu & Morozov, Sergei, 2009. "Massively Parallel Computation Using Graphics Processors with Application to Optimal Experimentation in Dynamic Control," MPRA Paper 16721, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Aguirregabiria, Victor & Mira, Pedro, 2010. "Dynamic discrete choice structural models: A survey," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 156(1), pages 38-67, May.
    2. Christopher Ferrall, 2005. "Solving Finite Mixture Models: Efficient Computation in Economics Under Serial and Parallel Execution," Computational Economics, Springer;Society for Computational Economics, vol. 25(4), pages 343-379, June.
    3. Meredith Fowlie, 2010. "Emissions Trading, Electricity Restructuring, and Investment in Pollution Abatement," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(3), pages 837-869, June.
    4. Matthew Gentzkow, 2006. "Valuing New Goods in a Model with Complementarities: Online Newspapers," NBER Working Papers 12562, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Amit Gandhi & Jeremy T. Fox, 2009. "Identifying Heterogeneity in Economic Choice and Selection Models Using Mixtures," 2009 Meeting Papers 165, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    6. Rebecca Hellerstein, 2005. "A Decomposition of the Sources of Incomplete Cross-Border Transmission," 2005 Meeting Papers 805, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    7. Aruoba, S. Boragan & Fernandez-Villaverde, Jesus & Rubio-Ramirez, Juan F., 2006. "Comparing solution methods for dynamic equilibrium economies," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 30(12), pages 2477-2508, December.
    8. Wiktor Budziński, 2015. "The effects of non-constant marginal utility of cost for public goods valuation," Ekonomia journal, Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw, vol. 43.
    9. Krucien, Nicolas & Ryan, Mandy & Hermens, Frouke, 2017. "Visual attention in multi-attributes choices: What can eye-tracking tell us?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 251-267.
    10. Stephen J. Redding & David E. Weinstein, 2016. "A unified approach to estimating demand and welfare," CEP Discussion Papers dp1445, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    11. Henning, Christian H.C.A. & Zarnekow, Nana & Petri, Svetlana & Albrecht, Ernst & Hedtrich, Johannes, 2013. "Public Evaluation and Political Acceptance of Sustainable Land Use Polices: A populist democracy policy failure?," 2013 Annual Meeting, August 4-6, 2013, Washington, D.C. 150494, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    12. León-Ciliotta, Gianmarco & Miguel, Edward, 2013. "Transportation Choices and the Value of Statistical Life," Department of Economics, Working Paper Series qt2466n61j, Department of Economics, Institute for Business and Economic Research, UC Berkeley.
    13. Manuel Arellano & Stéphane Bonhomme, 2017. "Nonlinear Panel Data Methods for Dynamic Heterogeneous Agent Models," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 9(1), pages 471-496, September.
    14. Zakharenko, Roman, 2007. "Migration, Learning, and Development," MPRA Paper 6262, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Victor Aguirregabiria & Cesar Alonso-Borrego, 2014. "Labor Contracts And Flexibility: Evidence From A Labor Market Reform In Spain," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 52(2), pages 930-957, April.
    16. Zsolt Sándor & Michel Wedel, 2002. "Profile Construction in Experimental Choice Designs for Mixed Logit Models," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 21(4), pages 455-475, February.
    17. Thibaut Lamadon & Elena Manresa & Stephane Bonhomme, 2016. "Discretizing Unobserved Heterogeneity," 2016 Meeting Papers 1536, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    18. Matthew Wiswall & Basit Zafar, 2018. "Preference for the Workplace, Investment in Human Capital, and Gender," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 133(1), pages 457-507.
    19. Lapo Filistrucchi, 2005. "The Impact of Internet on the Market for Daily Newspapers in Italy," Economics Working Papers ECO2005/12, European University Institute.
    20. Gianmarco León & Edward Miguel, 2017. "Risky Transportation Choices and the Value of a Statistical Life," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 9(1), pages 202-228, January.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • C61 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Mathematical Methods; Programming Models; Mathematical and Simulation Modeling - - - Optimization Techniques; Programming Models; Dynamic Analysis
    • C63 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Mathematical Methods; Programming Models; Mathematical and Simulation Modeling - - - Computational Techniques
    • D58 - Microeconomics - - General Equilibrium and Disequilibrium - - - Computable and Other Applied General Equilibrium Models

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wpa:wuwpco:0303003. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: EconWPA The email address of this maintainer does not seem to be valid anymore. Please ask EconWPA to update the entry or send us the correct address (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://econwpa.ub.uni-muenchen.de .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.