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Solving Dynamic Discrete Choice Models Using Smoothing and Sieve Methods

Dennis Kristensen, Patrick K. Mogensen, Jong Myun Moon, Bertel Schjerning

arXiv 10 Apr 2019 · Econometrics · publishedJournal of Econometrics (2020) · 3 citations (OpenAlex)

arXiv:1904.05232 · PDF · DOI · OpenAlex · Extracted main text

Abstract

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 a smoothed version of the random Bellman operator and solve for the corresponding smoothed value function using sieve methods. We show that one can avoid using sieves by generalizing and adapting the `self-approximating' method of Rust (1997) to our setting. We provide an asymptotic theory for the approximate solutions and show that they converge with root-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.

Citation extraction

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Most heavily cited references

The works this paper leans on most, across its whole bibliography — not restricted to papers in our corpus. Ranked by composite intensity, which combines how often a work is mentioned, how many sections mention it, and how much of that falls in the main text rather than the appendix.

ReferenceIntensityMentionsSectionsMain text
1Rust, J (1997) Using randomization to break the curse of dimensionality1.000146100%
2Pal, J. and J. Stachurski (2013) Fitted value function iteration with probability one contractions1.000104100%
3Rust, J (1987) Optimal replacement of gmc bus engines: An empirical model of harold zurcher1.00063100%
4Arcidiacono, P., P. Bayer, F. A. Bugni, and J. James (2013) Approximating high-dimensional dynamic models: Sieve value function iteration0.84333100%
5Rust, J (1988) Maximum likelihood estimation of discrete control processes0.81142100%
6Munos, R. and C. Szepesvari (2008) Finite-time bounds for fitted value iteration0.73732100%
7van der Vaart, A. W. and J. A. Wellner (1996) Weak Convergence and Empirical Processes0.6444250%
8Keane, M. and K. I. Wolpin (1994) The solution and estimation of discrete choice dynamic programming models by simulation and interpolation: Monte carlo evidence0.51121100%
9Bowman, A., P. Hall, and T. Prvan (1998) Bandwidth selection for the smoothing of distribution functions0.40511100%
10Brumm, J. and S. Scheidegger (2017) Using adaptive sparse grids to solve high-dimensional dynamic models0.40511100%

Showing the top 10 of 34 scored citations.

Cited by, within the corpus

arXiv econ.EM papers that cite this one, ranked by how heavily they lean on it.

Citing paperIntensityMentionsSections
1Continuous permanent unobserved heterogeneity in dynamic discrete choice models0.95074
2An Empirical Risk Minimization Approach for Offline Inverse RL and Dynamic Discrete Choice Model0.73732
3Semiparametric Bayesian Estimation of Dynamic Discrete Choice Models0.40511
4Efficient Estimation of Structural Models via Sieves0.40511
5Faster estimation of dynamic discrete choice models using index invertibility0.40511
6A Lecture Note on Offline RL and IRL Part II: Foundations of Inverse Reinforcement Learning and Dynamic Discrete Choice Models0.40511