This thesis is divided into two parts. In the first part we describe a new Monte Carlo algorithm for the consistent and unbiased estimation of multidimensional integrals and the efficient sampling from multidimensional densities. The algorithm is inspired by the classical splitting method and can be applied to general static simulation models. We provide examples from rare-event probability estimation, counting, optimization, and sampling, demonstrating that the proposed method can outperform existing Markov chain sampling methods in terms of convergence speed and accuracy. In the second part we present a new adaptive kernel density estimator based on linear diffusion processes. The proposed estimator builds on existing ideas for adaptive smoothing by incorporating information from a pilot density estimate. In addition, we propose a new plug-in bandwidth selection method that is free from the arbitrary normal reference rules used by existing methods. We present simulation examples in which the proposed approach outperforms existing methods in terms of accuracy and reliability.

針對金融時序資料變異數不齊一的性質，隨機波動模型除了提供於ARCH族外的另一選擇；且由於其設定隱含波動本身亦為一個隨機波動函數，藉由設定隨時間改變且自我相關的條件變異數，使得隨機波動模型較ARCH族來得有彈性且符合實際。傳統上處理隨機波動模型的參數估計往往需要面對到複雜的多維積分，此問題可藉由貝氏分析裡的馬可夫鏈蒙地卡羅法解決。本文主要的探討標的，即在於利用馬可夫鏈蒙地卡羅法估計美元/新台幣匯率隨機波動模型參數。除原始模型之外，模型的擴充分為三部分：其一為隱含波動的二階自我回歸模型；其二則為藉由基本模型的修改，檢測匯率市場上的槓桿效果；最後，我們嘗試藉由加入scale mixture的方式以驗證金融時序資料中常見的厚尾分配。