TY - JOUR AU - Haan,Wouter J. Den AU - Levin,Andrew TI - Inferences from Parametric and Non-Parametric Covariance Matrix Estimation Procedures JF - National Bureau of Economic Research Technical Working Paper Series VL - No. 195 PY - 1996 Y2 - May 1996 UR - http://www.nber.org/papers/t0195 L1 - http://www.nber.org/papers/t0195.pdf N1 - Author contact info: Andrew T.. Levin Federal Reserve Board Mail Stop 77 20th and C Street, NW Washington, DC 20551 Tel: 202-452-3541 Fax: 202-452-2301 E-Mail: andrew.levin@frb.gov AB - In this paper, we propose a parametric spectral estimation procedure for constructing heteroskedasticity and autocorrelation consistent (HAC) covariance matrices. We establish the consistency of this procedure under very general conditions similar to those considered in previous research, and we demonstrate that the parametric estimator converges at a faster rate than the kernel-based estimators proposed by Andrews and Monahan (1992) and Newey and West (1994). In finite samples, our Monte Carlo experiments indicate that the parametric estimator matches, and in some cases greatly exceeds, the performance of the prewhitened kernel estimator proposed by Andrews and Monahan (1992). These simulation experiments illustrate several important limitations of non-parametric HAC estimation procedures, and highlight the advantages of explicitly modeling the temporal properties of the error terms. Wouter J. den Haan Andrew Levin Depa ER -