Solving dynamic discrete choice models using smoothing and sieve methods

Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskriftTidsskriftartikelForskningfagfællebedømt

We propose to combine smoothing, simulations and sieve approximations to solve for either the integrated or expected value function in a general class of dynamic discrete choice (DDC) models. We use importance sampling to approximate the Bellman operators defining the two functions. The random Bellman operators, and therefore also the corresponding solutions, are generally non-smooth which is undesirable. To circumvent this issue, we introduce smoothed versions of the random Bellman operators and solve for the corresponding smoothed value functions using sieve methods. We also show that one can avoid using sieves by generalizing and adapting the “self-approximating” method of Rust (1997b) to our setting. We provide an asymptotic theory for both approximate solution methods and show that they converge with N-rate, where N is number of Monte Carlo draws, towards Gaussian processes. We examine their performance in practice through a set of numerical experiments and find that both methods perform well with the sieve method being particularly attractive in terms of computational speed and accuracy.

OriginalsprogEngelsk
TidsskriftJournal of Econometrics
Vol/bind223
Udgave nummer2
Sider (fra-til)328-360
ISSN0304-4076
DOI
StatusUdgivet - 2021

Bibliografisk note

Funding Information:
We would like to thank Mike Keane, John Rust, Victor Aguirregabiria, Lars Nesheim, Aureo de Paula and many other people for helpful comments and suggestions. Kristensen gratefully acknowledges financial support from the ERC (through starting Grant No. 312474 and advanced Grant No. GEM 740369 ). Schjerning gratefully acknowledges the financial support from the Independent Research Fund Denmark (Grant No. DFF 4182-00052 ) and the URBAN research project financed by the Innovation Fund Denmark .

Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Elsevier B.V.

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