Many problems in statistics and econometrics offer themselves naturally tothe use of optimization heuristics. Standard methods applied to highlycomplex problems often produce approximate results, of unknown quality,based on heavy assumptions. Optimization heuristic methods providepowerful results to many complex problems. combined with relativelysimple implementation.∗ Offers a self–contained introduction to optimization heuristics in econometrics and statistics∗ Features many examples of optimization heuristic methods applied to real problems∗ Includes detailed coverage of the threshold accepting heuristic∗ Provides suggestions for further readingSplit into three parts, the book opens with a general introduction tooptimization in statistics and econometrics, followed by detailed discussionof a relatively new and very powerful optimization heuristic, thresholdaccepting. The final part consists of many applications of the methodsdescribed earlier, encompassing experimental design, model selection,aggregation of tiime series, and censored quantile regression models.Those researching and working in econometrics, statistics and operationsresearch are given the tools to apply optimization heuristic methods in theirwork. Postgraduate students of statistics and econometrics will find thebook provides a good introduction to optimization heuristic methods.