Some uses of simulation in econometrics

Simulation methods are now widely used in econometrics. The range of uses c overs both the estimation of parameters in and the use of models. In this p aper we discuss how simulation methods can be used to investigate some issu es that have proven extremely difficult to handle analytically. Specificall y, we consider how to measure the business cycle characteristics associated with macroeconomic models and how to estimate the parameters of a popular latent variables model. (C) 1999 IMACS/Elsevier Science B.V. All rights res erved.