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I need to use exogenous variables for my time series forecasting.

And I found that I can include my exogenous variables into my ARIMA model using exogenous option.

I want to know how this option works.

Statsmodels docoument(https://www.statsmodels.org/stable/generated/statsmodels.tsa.arima_model.ARIMA.html) says

" If exogenous variables are given, then the model that is fit is

$ϕ(L)(y_t−X_tβ)=θ(L)ϵ_t$

where ϕ and θ are polynomials in the lag operator, L. This is the regression model with ARMA errors, or ARMAX model. "

I cannot understand what this formula means.

I googled it and found what lag operator is.

But I still don't understand what the above formula implies.

I'm a undergraduate and took regression course.

Could you explain above formula in terms of regression?

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  • $\begingroup$ Hi: can you get a hold of andew harvey's "econometric analysis of time series". if so, he gives the econometric perspective on arima models with exogenous variables which I think is quite enlightening. note that it's not an easy book but worth the effort. $\endgroup$
    – mlofton
    Nov 14, 2019 at 12:59
  • $\begingroup$ Note that the statsmodel documentation calls this both "regression model with ARMA errors" and "ARMAX model". These are different models, and as described here this is a regression with ARMA errors, as explained below in the answer by @CloseToC. The line about ARMAX is an error in the statsmodel documentation. $\endgroup$
    – Chris Haug
    Nov 14, 2019 at 15:26
  • $\begingroup$ $$\phi(L) y_t = \phi(L) X_t \beta + \theta(L) \epsilon_t$$ I thought ARMAX refers to any ARMA model with exogenous variables, e.g.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/… $\endgroup$
    – Josef
    Nov 14, 2019 at 19:59
  • $\begingroup$ That's also what I thought. Also: Hyndman says (robjhyndman.com/hyndsight/arimax) there is little between the two variants of ARMA + X in terms of forecasting, but regression with ARMA error as implemented in statsmodels has a much better interpretation $\endgroup$
    – CloseToC
    Nov 15, 2019 at 9:52
  • $\begingroup$ @CloseToC That's correct. The fact that the interpretation (and parameters) is different is precisely why calling it "an ARMAX model" is an error in the documentation. I mentioned it because if the OP decided that they wanted to get more information about "what the formula means" and looked up "ARMAX model", they would get a completely different and incorrect answer. $\endgroup$
    – Chris Haug
    Nov 15, 2019 at 15:42

1 Answer 1

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The ARMA(p,q) model has $p$ lags of the dependent variable and an error term that is a moving average of $q$ lags. In standard regression notation the model is:

$$y_t = \phi_1 y_{t-1} + ... + \phi_p y_{t-p} + \epsilon_t - \theta_1 \epsilon_{t-1} -...-\theta_q \epsilon_{t-q}$$

With the backshift/lag operator $L$ notation, you can write eg $y_{t-2}$ as as $L(L(y_t)) = L^2 y_{t} $and so you can write the model as $$(1 - \phi_1 L - .... - \phi_p L^p) y_t = (1 - \theta_1 L - ... - \theta_q L^q)\epsilon_t$$. You can make this more compact by replacing the polynomials of the lag operator: $$\phi(L) y_t = \theta(L) \epsilon_t$$

So what is $$\phi(L) (y_t - X_t \beta) = \theta(L) \epsilon_t$$?

It's $$y_t - X_t \beta - \phi_1 (y_{t-1} - X_{t-1}\beta) - ... - \phi_p (y_{t-p} - X_{t-p}\beta) = \epsilon_t - \theta_1 \epsilon_{t-1} -...-\theta_q \epsilon_{t-q}$$ or $$y_t = X_t \beta + \phi_1 (y_{t-1} - X_{t-1}\beta) + ... +\phi_p (y_{t-p} - X_{t-p}\beta) + \epsilon_t - \theta_1 \epsilon_{t-1} -...-\theta_q \epsilon_{t-q}$$

Finally, if you define the regression residual as $u_t = y_t - X_t \beta$ you can write this as in an easy to interpret way as:

$$y_t = X_t \beta + \phi_1 u_t + ... +\phi_p u_{t-p} + \epsilon_t - \theta_1 \epsilon_{t-1} -...-\theta_q \epsilon_{t-q} = X_t \beta + n_t$$

And that's simply regression with an ARMA error $n_t$ as the statsmodel documentation says.

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