IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/tin/wpaper/20110122.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Sparse and Robust Factor Modelling

Author

Listed:
  • Christophe Croux

    (K.U. Leuven, Belgium)

  • Peter Exterkate

    (Erasmus University Rotterdam)

Abstract

Factor construction methods are widely used to summarize a large panel of variables by means of a relatively small number of representative factors. We propose a novel factor construction procedure that enjoys the properties of robustness to outliers and of sparsity; that is, having relatively few nonzero factor loadings. Compared to more traditional factor construction methods, we find that this procedure leads to better interpretable factors and to a favorable forecasting performance, both in a Monte Carlo experiment and in two empirical applications to large data sets, one from macroeconomics and one from microeconomics.

Suggested Citation

  • Christophe Croux & Peter Exterkate, 2011. "Sparse and Robust Factor Modelling," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 11-122/4, Tinbergen Institute.
    • Handle: RePEc:tin:wpaper:20110122
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://papers.tinbergen.nl/11122.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Giorgio Fagiolo & Mauro Napoletano & Andrea Roventini, 2008. "Are output growth-rate distributions fat-tailed? some evidence from OECD countries," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 23(5), pages 639-669.
    2. Exterkate, Peter & Groenen, Patrick J.F. & Heij, Christiaan & van Dijk, Dick, 2016. "Nonlinear forecasting with many predictors using kernel ridge regression," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 736-753.
    3. Marta Banbura & Domenico Giannone & Lucrezia Reichlin, 2010. "Large Bayesian vector auto regressions," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(1), pages 71-92.
    4. Friedman, Jerome H. & Hastie, Trevor & Tibshirani, Rob, 2010. "Regularization Paths for Generalized Linear Models via Coordinate Descent," Journal of Statistical Software, Foundation for Open Access Statistics, vol. 33(i01).
    5. Bai, Jushan & Ng, Serena, 2008. "Forecasting economic time series using targeted predictors," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 146(2), pages 304-317, October.
    6. Ludvigson, Sydney C. & Ng, Serena, 2007. "The empirical risk-return relation: A factor analysis approach," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(1), pages 171-222, January.
    7. Andrea Carriero & George Kapetanios & Massimiliano Marcellino, 2011. "Forecasting large datasets with Bayesian reduced rank multivariate models," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(5), pages 735-761, August.
    8. Pace, R Kelley & Gilley, Otis W, 1997. "Using the Spatial Configuration of the Data to Improve Estimation," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 14(3), pages 333-340, May.
    9. Marta Banbura & Domenico Giannone & Lucrezia Reichlin, 2010. "Large Bayesian vector auto regressions," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(1), pages 71-92.
    10. Harrison, David Jr. & Rubinfeld, Daniel L., 1978. "Hedonic housing prices and the demand for clean air," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 5(1), pages 81-102, March.
    11. Sydney C. Ludvigson & Serena Ng, 2009. "Macro Factors in Bond Risk Premia," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(12), pages 5027-5067, December.
    12. Pison, Greet & Rousseeuw, Peter J. & Filzmoser, Peter & Croux, Christophe, 2003. "Robust factor analysis," Journal of Multivariate Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 84(1), pages 145-172, January.
    13. Wang, Hansheng & Li, Guodong & Jiang, Guohua, 2007. "Robust Regression Shrinkage and Consistent Variable Selection Through the LAD-Lasso," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 25, pages 347-355, July.
    14. Stock, James H & Watson, Mark W, 2002. "Macroeconomic Forecasting Using Diffusion Indexes," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 20(2), pages 147-162, April.
    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. Carlos Cesar Trucios-Maza & João H. G Mazzeu & Luis K. Hotta & Pedro L. Valls Pereira & Marc Hallin, 2019. "On the robustness of the general dynamic factor model with infinite-dimensional space: identification, estimation, and forecasting," Working Papers ECARES 2019-32, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    2. Thomas Despois & Catherine Doz, 2021. "Identifying and interpreting the factors in factor models via sparsity: Different approaches," Working Papers halshs-02235543, HAL.
    3. Kristensen Johannes Tang, 2014. "Factor-based forecasting in the presence of outliers: Are factors better selected and estimated by the median than by the mean?," Studies in Nonlinear Dynamics & Econometrics, De Gruyter, vol. 18(3), pages 309-338, May.
    4. Smeekes, Stephan & Wijler, Etienne, 2018. "Macroeconomic forecasting using penalized regression methods," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 408-430.
    5. Johannes Tang Kristensen, 2013. "Diffusion Indexes with Sparse Loadings," CREATES Research Papers 2013-22, Department of Economics and Business Economics, Aarhus University.
    6. Thomas Despois & Catherine Doz, 2021. "Identifying and interpreting the factors in factor models via sparsity: Different approaches," PSE Working Papers halshs-02235543, HAL.
    7. Thomas Despois & Catherine Doz, 2022. "Identifying and interpreting the factors in factor models via sparsity : Different approaches," Working Papers halshs-03626503, HAL.
    8. Thomas Despois & Catherine Doz, 2022. "Identifying and interpreting the factors in factor models via sparsity : Different approaches," PSE Working Papers halshs-03626503, HAL.

    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. Exterkate, Peter & Groenen, Patrick J.F. & Heij, Christiaan & van Dijk, Dick, 2016. "Nonlinear forecasting with many predictors using kernel ridge regression," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 736-753.
    2. Yoshiki Nakajima & Naoya Sueishi, 2022. "Forecasting the Japanese macroeconomy using high-dimensional data," The Japanese Economic Review, Springer, vol. 73(2), pages 299-324, April.
    3. Smeekes, Stephan & Wijler, Etienne, 2018. "Macroeconomic forecasting using penalized regression methods," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 408-430.
    4. Paolo Andreini & Donato Ceci, 2019. "A Horse Race in High Dimensional Space," CEIS Research Paper 452, Tor Vergata University, CEIS, revised 14 Feb 2019.
    5. Trucíos, Carlos & Mazzeu, João H.G. & Hotta, Luiz K. & Valls Pereira, Pedro L. & Hallin, Marc, 2021. "Robustness and the general dynamic factor model with infinite-dimensional space: Identification, estimation, and forecasting," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 1520-1534.
    6. Marco Lombardi & Chiara Osbat & Bernd Schnatz, 2012. "Global commodity cycles and linkages: a FAVAR approach," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 43(2), pages 651-670, October.
    7. Andrea Carriero & Francesco Corsello & Massimiliano Marcellino, 2022. "The global component of inflation volatility," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 37(4), pages 700-721, June.
    8. Ralf Brüggemann & Christian Kascha, 2017. "Directed Graphs and Variable Selection in Large Vector Autoregressive Models," Working Paper Series of the Department of Economics, University of Konstanz 2017-06, Department of Economics, University of Konstanz.
    9. Gianluca Cubadda, 2024. "VAR models with an index structure: A survey with new results," Papers 2412.11278, arXiv.org.
    10. Gregor Bäurle & Elizabeth Steiner & Gabriel Züllig, 2021. "Forecasting the production side of GDP," Journal of Forecasting, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 40(3), pages 458-480, April.
    11. Carlos Cesar Trucios-Maza & João H. G Mazzeu & Luis K. Hotta & Pedro L. Valls Pereira & Marc Hallin, 2019. "On the robustness of the general dynamic factor model with infinite-dimensional space: identification, estimation, and forecasting," Working Papers ECARES 2019-32, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    12. Karlsson, Sune, 2013. "Forecasting with Bayesian Vector Autoregression," Handbook of Economic Forecasting, in: G. Elliott & C. Granger & A. Timmermann (ed.), Handbook of Economic Forecasting, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 791-897, Elsevier.
    13. Koop, Gary & Korobilis, Dimitris & Pettenuzzo, Davide, 2019. "Bayesian compressed vector autoregressions," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 210(1), pages 135-154.
    14. Peter Exterkate, 2012. "Model Selection in Kernel Ridge Regression," CREATES Research Papers 2012-10, Department of Economics and Business Economics, Aarhus University.
    15. Denis Shibitov & Mariam Mamedli, 2021. "Forecasting Russian Cpi With Data Vintages And Machine Learning Techniques," Bank of Russia Working Paper Series wps70, Bank of Russia.
    16. Dias, Gustavo Fruet & Kapetanios, George, 2018. "Estimation and forecasting in vector autoregressive moving average models for rich datasets," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 202(1), pages 75-91.
    17. Chevallier, Julien, 2011. "Macroeconomics, finance, commodities: Interactions with carbon markets in a data-rich model," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 557-567.
    18. Carriero, Andrea & Mumtaz, Haroon & Theophilopoulou, Angeliki, 2015. "Macroeconomic information, structural change, and the prediction of fiscal aggregates," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 325-348.
    19. Luciani, Matteo, 2014. "Forecasting with approximate dynamic factor models: The role of non-pervasive shocks," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 20-29.
    20. Inske Pirschel & Maik H. Wolters, 2018. "Forecasting with large datasets: compressing information before, during or after the estimation?," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 55(2), pages 573-596, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    dimension reduction; forecasting; outliers; regularization;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C38 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Classification Methdos; Cluster Analysis; Principal Components; Factor Analysis
    • C51 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling - - - Model Construction and Estimation
    • C53 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling - - - Forecasting and Prediction Models; Simulation Methods

    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:tin:wpaper:20110122. 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: Tinbergen Office +31 (0)10-4088900 (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/tinbenl.html .

    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.