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Two-step M-estimator
Two-step M-estimators deals with M-estimation problems that require preliminary estimation to obtain the parameter of interest. Two-step M-estimation is different from usual M-estimation problem because asymptotic distribution of the second-step estimator generally depends on the first-step estimator. Accounting for this change in asymptotic distribution is important for valid inference. Description The class of two-step M-estimators includes Heckman's sample selection estimator, weighted non-linear least squares, and ordinary least squares with generated regressors.Wooldridge, J.M., Econometric Analysis of Cross Section and Panel Data, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass. To fix ideas, let \^n_ \subseteq R^d be an i.i.d. sample. \Theta and \Gamma are subsets of Euclidean spaces R^p and R^q , respectively. Given a function m(;;;): R^d \times \Theta \times \Gamma\rightarrow R , two-step M-estimator \hat\theta is defined as: :\hat \theta:=\arg\max_\frac\sum_m\bigl(W_,\theta,\hat\gamma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
M-estimation
In statistics, M-estimators are a broad class of extremum estimators for which the objective function is a sample average. Both non-linear least squares and maximum likelihood estimation are special cases of M-estimators. The definition of M-estimators was motivated by robust statistics, which contributed new types of M-estimators. The statistical procedure of evaluating an M-estimator on a data set is called M-estimation. 48 samples of robust M-estimators can be found in a recent review study. More generally, an M-estimator may be defined to be a zero of an estimating function. This estimating function is often the derivative of another statistical function. For example, a maximum-likelihood estimate is the point where the derivative of the likelihood function with respect to the parameter is zero; thus, a maximum-likelihood estimator is a critical point of the score function. In many applications, such M-estimators can be thought of as estimating characteristics of the popula ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maximum Likelihood Estimator
In statistics, maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) is a method of estimating the parameters of an assumed probability distribution, given some observed data. This is achieved by maximizing a likelihood function so that, under the assumed statistical model, the observed data is most probable. The point in the parameter space that maximizes the likelihood function is called the maximum likelihood estimate. The logic of maximum likelihood is both intuitive and flexible, and as such the method has become a dominant means of statistical inference. If the likelihood function is differentiable, the derivative test for finding maxima can be applied. In some cases, the first-order conditions of the likelihood function can be solved analytically; for instance, the ordinary least squares estimator for a linear regression model maximizes the likelihood when all observed outcomes are assumed to have Normal distributions with the same variance. From the perspective of Bayesian inference, MLE ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Estimator
In statistics, an estimator is a rule for calculating an estimate of a given quantity based on observed data: thus the rule (the estimator), the quantity of interest (the estimand) and its result (the estimate) are distinguished. For example, the sample mean is a commonly used estimator of the population mean. There are point and interval estimators. The point estimators yield single-valued results. This is in contrast to an interval estimator, where the result would be a range of plausible values. "Single value" does not necessarily mean "single number", but includes vector valued or function valued estimators. ''Estimation theory'' is concerned with the properties of estimators; that is, with defining properties that can be used to compare different estimators (different rules for creating estimates) for the same quantity, based on the same data. Such properties can be used to determine the best rules to use under given circumstances. However, in robust statistics, statistica ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
M-estimators
In statistics, M-estimators are a broad class of extremum estimators for which the objective function is a sample average. Both non-linear least squares and maximum likelihood estimation are special cases of M-estimators. The definition of M-estimators was motivated by robust statistics, which contributed new types of M-estimators. The statistical procedure of evaluating an M-estimator on a data set is called M-estimation. 48 samples of robust M-estimators can be found in a recent review study. More generally, an M-estimator may be defined to be a zero of an estimating function. This estimating function is often the derivative of another statistical function. For example, a maximum-likelihood estimate is the point where the derivative of the likelihood function with respect to the parameter is zero; thus, a maximum-likelihood estimator is a critical point of the score function. In many applications, such M-estimators can be thought of as estimating characteristics of the popula ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adaptive Estimator
In statistics, an adaptive estimator is an estimator in a parametric or semiparametric model with nuisance parameters such that the presence of these nuisance parameters does not affect efficiency of estimation. Definition Formally, let parameter ''θ'' in a parametric model consists of two parts: the parameter of interest , and the nuisance parameter . Thus . Then we will say that \scriptstyle\hat\nu_n is an adaptive estimator of ''ν'' in the presence of ''η'' if this estimator is regular, and efficient for each of the submodels : \mathcal_\nu(\eta_0) = \big\. Adaptive estimator estimates the parameter of interest equally well regardless whether the value of the nuisance parameter is known or not. The necessary condition for a regular parametric model to have an adaptive estimator is that : I_(\theta) = \operatorname , z_\nu z_\eta' \,= 0 \quad \text\theta, where ''z''''ν'' and ''z''''η'' are components of the score function corresponding to parameters ''ν ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Generalized Least Squares
In statistics, generalized least squares (GLS) is a technique for estimating the unknown parameters in a linear regression model when there is a certain degree of correlation between the residuals in a regression model. In these cases, ordinary least squares and weighted least squares can be statistically inefficient, or even give misleading inferences. GLS was first described by Alexander Aitken in 1936. Method outline In standard linear regression models we observe data \_ on ''n'' statistical units. The response values are placed in a vector \mathbf = \left( y_, \dots, y_ \right)^, and the predictor values are placed in the design matrix \mathbf = \left( \mathbf_^, \dots, \mathbf_^ \right)^, where \mathbf_ = \left( 1, x_, \dots, x_ \right) is a vector of the ''k'' predictor variables (including a constant) for the ''i''th unit. The model forces the conditional mean of \mathbf given \mathbf to be a linear function of \mathbf, and assumes the conditional variance of the err ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Generated Regressor
In least squares estimation problems, sometimes one or more regressors specified in the model are not observable. One way to circumvent this issue is to estimate or generate regressors from observable data. This generated regressor method is also applicable to unobserved instrumental variables In statistics, econometrics, epidemiology and related disciplines, the method of instrumental variables (IV) is used to estimate causal relationships when controlled experiments are not feasible or when a treatment is not successfully delivered to .... Under some regularity conditions, consistency and asymptotic normality of least squares estimator is preserved, but asymptotic variance has a different form in general. Suppose the model of interest is the following: :y_=g(x_,x_,\beta)+u_ where g is a conditional mean function and its form is known up to finite-dimensional parameter β. Here x_ is not observable, but we know that x_=h(w_,\gamma) for some function ''h'' known up to parameter ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Conditional Independence
In probability theory, conditional independence describes situations wherein an observation is irrelevant or redundant when evaluating the certainty of a hypothesis. Conditional independence is usually formulated in terms of conditional probability, as a special case where the probability of the hypothesis given the uninformative observation is equal to the probability without. If A is the hypothesis, and B and C are observations, conditional independence can be stated as an equality: :P(A\mid B,C) = P(A \mid C) where P(A \mid B, C) is the probability of A given both B and C. Since the probability of A given C is the same as the probability of A given both B and C, this equality expresses that B contributes nothing to the certainty of A. In this case, A and B are said to be conditionally independent given C, written symbolically as: (A \perp\!\!\!\perp B \mid C). The concept of conditional independence is essential to graph-based theories of statistical inference, as it establ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Asymptotic Efficiency
In statistics, efficiency is a measure of quality of an estimator, of an experimental design, or of a hypothesis testing procedure. Essentially, a more efficient estimator, needs fewer input data or observations than a less efficient one to achieve the Cramér–Rao bound. An ''efficient estimator'' is characterized by having the smallest possible variance, indicating that there is a small deviance between the estimated value and the "true" value in the L2 norm sense. The relative efficiency of two procedures is the ratio of their efficiencies, although often this concept is used where the comparison is made between a given procedure and a notional "best possible" procedure. The efficiencies and the relative efficiency of two procedures theoretically depend on the sample size available for the given procedure, but it is often possible to use the asymptotic relative efficiency (defined as the limit of the relative efficiencies as the sample size grows) as the principal com ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
First-order Condition
In calculus, a derivative test uses the derivatives of a function to locate the critical points of a function and determine whether each point is a local maximum, a local minimum, or a saddle point. Derivative tests can also give information about the concavity of a function. The usefulness of derivatives to find extrema is proved mathematically by Fermat's theorem of stationary points. First-derivative test The first-derivative test examines a function's monotonic properties (where the function is increasing or decreasing), focusing on a particular point in its domain. If the function "switches" from increasing to decreasing at the point, then the function will achieve a highest value at that point. Similarly, if the function "switches" from decreasing to increasing at the point, then it will achieve a least value at that point. If the function fails to "switch" and remains increasing or remains decreasing, then no highest or least value is achieved. One can examine a functio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heckman Correction
The Heckman correction is a statistical technique to correct bias from non-randomly selected samples or otherwise incidentally truncated dependent variables, a pervasive issue in quantitative social sciences when using observational data. Conceptually, this is achieved by explicitly modelling the individual sampling probability of each observation (the so-called selection equation) together with the conditional expectation of the dependent variable (the so-called outcome equation). The resulting likelihood function is mathematically similar to the tobit model for censored dependent variables, a connection first drawn by James Heckman in 1974. Heckman also developed a two-step control function approach to estimate this model, which avoids the computational burden of having to estimate both equations jointly, albeit at the cost of inefficiency. Heckman received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 2000 for his work in this field. Method Statistical analyses based on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
