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Main Authors: Duan, Jiangtao, Bai, Jushan, Han, Xu
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.06645
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author Duan, Jiangtao
Bai, Jushan
Han, Xu
author_facet Duan, Jiangtao
Bai, Jushan
Han, Xu
contents This paper proposes a quasi-maximum likelihood (QML) estimator for break points in high-dimensional factor models, specifically accounting for multiple structural breaks. We begin by establishing a necessary and sufficient condition to categorize two distinct types of breaks in factor loadings: singular changes and rotational changes. The analysis of the nearly singular subsample covariance matrices of the pseudo-factors plays a key role in our approach. It allows us to demonstrate that the QML estimator precisely identifies the true breakpoint with probability tending to one for singular changes. For rotational changes, we demonstrate that the estimator exhibits stochastically bounded estimation errors, implying break fraction consistency. Furthermore, we introduce an information criterion to estimate the number of breaks, proving that it can detect the true number with probability tending to one. Monte Carlo simulations confirm the strong finite sample performance of our proposed methods. Finally, we provide an empirical example to estimate structural breakpoints in the FRED-MD dataset spanning 1959 to 2024.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2503_06645
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Taxonomy and Estimation of Multiple Breakpoints in High-Dimensional Factor Models
Duan, Jiangtao
Bai, Jushan
Han, Xu
Econometrics
This paper proposes a quasi-maximum likelihood (QML) estimator for break points in high-dimensional factor models, specifically accounting for multiple structural breaks. We begin by establishing a necessary and sufficient condition to categorize two distinct types of breaks in factor loadings: singular changes and rotational changes. The analysis of the nearly singular subsample covariance matrices of the pseudo-factors plays a key role in our approach. It allows us to demonstrate that the QML estimator precisely identifies the true breakpoint with probability tending to one for singular changes. For rotational changes, we demonstrate that the estimator exhibits stochastically bounded estimation errors, implying break fraction consistency. Furthermore, we introduce an information criterion to estimate the number of breaks, proving that it can detect the true number with probability tending to one. Monte Carlo simulations confirm the strong finite sample performance of our proposed methods. Finally, we provide an empirical example to estimate structural breakpoints in the FRED-MD dataset spanning 1959 to 2024.
title Taxonomy and Estimation of Multiple Breakpoints in High-Dimensional Factor Models
topic Econometrics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.06645