Econometric Methods, ECO341A, Semester I, 2016-17

Homework I (52 points)

Instructor: M.A. Rahman
Deadline: 2:50 pm, August 17, 2016.

Please read the instructions carefully and follow them while writing answers.
Solutions to homework should be written in A4 size loose sheets. If you are not comfortable
writing on white sheets, please ask for biology paper in Tarun Book Store.
Questions should be answered in order as they appear in the homework. Every new question
should begin in a new page. Please number all the pages of your homework solution.
Please leave a margin of one inch from top and one inch from left. Staple the sheets on the
top-left.
Matlab assignments (if any) and written answers should be together and in order.

1. (3 8 = 24 points) Distribution, Moments and MGFs: Write down the pdfs and
derive the mean, variance (through integration) and MGFs of the following distributions.
(a) Logistic distribution
(b) Chi-square distribution
(c) Laplace distribution
(d) Student-t distribution with degrees of freedom
(e) Gamma distribution (Statistical Inference by Casella and Berger (henceforth, CB), page 99)
(f) Beta distribution (CB, page 106)
(g) F(1 , 2 ) distribution. Does the MGF exists?
(h) log-normal distribution. Does the MGF exists?
2. (2 + 4 = 6 points) Suppose X N (0, 2 ), then answer the following,
(a) Find the distribution of Y = |X|.
1

(b) Find the mean and variance of Y.

3. (3 4 = 12 points) Near the end of the nineteenth century Karl Pearson developed the
Pearson family of distributions in which the p.d.f. f (y) satisfies the differential equation
a+y
1 d[f (y)]
=
,
f (y) dy
b + cy + dy 2
subject to the constraint that f (y) 0 and f (y) integrates to unity. If a formal solution to the
differential equation does not satisfy f (y) 0, then the range of values of y is restricted to those
for which f (y) > 0, and f (y) = 0 is assigned when y is outside this range. For appropriate choices
of a,b,c, and d, show that each of the following distributions is a member of the Pearson family
(see Johnson and Kotz 1970a, pp 9-15)
(a) Normal distribution
(b) Beta distribution
(c) Gamma distribution
(d) Student t-distribution.
4. (4 + 2 + 4 = 10 points) Let (X, Y) be random variable with the following pdf,
f(X,Y ) (x, y) =
on R2 ,

2x y

x2 , y2 > 0,

(a) fX (x) =

1
2

1
p

(1 2 )

1
2(12 )

(c) Cov(X,Y) = .

n x 2  y 2
1
(x x )(y y ) oi
x
y
,
+
2
2(1 2 )
x
y
x y

|| 1. Suppose, x = y = 0, x = y = 1, then show the following,


exp

(b) fY |X (y|x) =

h
exp

x2
2


.

h
exp

1 (yx)2
2 (12 )