样本选择参数分位回归模型及其在工资分布分解中的应用

在工资差距分解问题中,研究者经常会遇到样本选择偏差问题,直接忽略会导致最终估计结果产生严重偏差,同时在众多工资差距分解方法中,相比于均值分解,分布分解方法更受研究者青睐。针对参数分位回归,本文首次提出可加形式与非可加形式的样本选择参数分位回归（SSPQR）模型,并基于这两类样本选择参数分位回归模型给出修正样本选择偏差后的参数分位回归工资差距分布分解方法。运用上述方法及已有的工资分布分解方法,借助CHNS2015年度城镇数据,本文研究了我国城镇男女工资差距及差距分解问题,得出以下结论：①男女工资差距主要来源是性别歧视问题;②经过样本选择偏差修正后,实际的工资差距更大,歧视问题更严重;③男女工资差距程度在不同分位点上结果不同,换句话说,我们不能简单地仅从平均水平来判断工资差距程度;④与其他已有方法计算结果比较发现,SSPQR计算的工资差距程度更大。     

Semiparametric Spatial Autoregressive Models With Endogenous Regressors: With an Application to Crime Data

This study considers semiparametric spatial autoregressive models that allow for endogenous regressors, as well as the heterogenous effects of these regressors across spatial units. For the model estimation, we propose a semiparametric series generalized method of moments estimator. We establish that the proposed estimator is both consistent and asymptotically normal. As an empirical illustration, we apply the proposed model and method to Tokyo crime data to estimate how the existence of a neighborhood police substation (NPS) affects the household burglary rate. The results indicate that the presence of an NPS helps reduce household burglaries, and that the effects of some variables are heterogenous with respect to residential distribution patterns. Furthermore, we show that using a model that does not adjust for the endogeneity of NPS does not allow us to observe the significant relationship between NPS and the household burglary rate. Supplementary materials for this article are available online.     

Partial Identification of Economic Mobility: With an Application to the United States

Abstract

The economic mobility of individuals and households is of fundamental interest. While many measures of economic mobility exist, reliance on transition matrices remains pervasive due to simplicity and ease of interpretation. However, estimation of transition matrices is complicated by the well-acknowledged problem of measurement error in self-reported and even administrative data. Existing methods of addressing measurement error are complex, rely on numerous strong assumptions, and often require data from more than two periods. In this article, we investigate what can be learned about economic mobility as measured via transition matrices while formally accounting for measurement error in a reasonably transparent manner. To do so, we develop a nonparametric partial identification approach to bound transition probabilities under various assumptions on the measurement error and mobility processes. This approach is applied to panel data from the United States to explore short-run mobility before and after the Great Recession.     

Multiple Regression Model Averaging and the Focused Information Criterion With an Application to Portfolio Choice

ABSTRACT

We consider multiple regression (MR) model averaging using the focused information criterion (FIC). Our approach is motivated by the problem of implementing a mean-variance portfolio choice rule. The usual approach is to estimate parameters ignoring the intention to use them in portfolio choice. We develop an estimation method that focuses on the trading rule of interest. Asymptotic distributions of submodel estimators in the MR case are derived using a localization framework. The localization is of both regression coefficients and error covariances. Distributions of submodel estimators are used for model selection with the FIC. This allows comparison of submodels using the risk of portfolio rule estimators. FIC model averaging estimators are then characterized. This extension further improves risk properties. We show in simulations that applying these methods in the portfolio choice case results in improved estimates compared with several competitors. An application to futures data shows superior performance as well.     

Tests for Unit-Root versus Threshold Specification With an Application to the Purchasing Power Parity Relationship

We consider modeling the real exchange rate by a stationary three-regime self-exciting threshold autoregressive (SETAR) model with possibly a unit root in the middle regime. This representation is consistent with purchasing power parity in the presence of trading costs. Our main contribution is to provide statistical tools for testing unit root versus a SETAR. First, we show that a SETAR with a unit root in the middle regime is stationary and mixing under reasonable assumptions. Second, we derive analytically the asymptotic distribution of our unit-root test under the null. Using monthly real exchange rate data, our test rejects the null of unit-root against a threshold process for five European series.     

Nonparametric Nonlinear Cotrending Analysis,With an Application to Interest and Inflation in the United States

Given the assumption that the components of a vector time series are stationary around nonlinear deterministic time trends, nonlinear cotrending is the phenomenon that one or more linear combinations of the time series are stationary around a linear trend or a constant; hence, the series have common nonlinear deterministic time trends. In this article, I develop nonparametric tests for nonlinear cotrending, and I derive nonparametric estimators of the cotrending vectors. I apply this approach to the federal funds rate and the consumer price index inflation rate in the United States, using monthly data, to analyze the price puzzle.     

Nonparametric Estimation of Multiplicative Counting Process Intensity Functions with an Application to the Beijing SARS Epidemic

The local polynomial methods and martingale estimating equations are used to develop closed form estimators of the intensity function and its derivatives for multiplicative counting process models. The consistency and asymptotic normality of the estimators are established. The estimator generalizes that proposed by Ramlau-Hansen (1983 Ramlau-Hansen , H. ( 1983 ). Smoothing counting process intensities by means of kernel function . Ann. Statist. 11 ( 2 ): 453 – 466 . [Google Scholar]) with a smaller bias than the Ramlau-Hansen intensity estimator. The derivative estimators give smoother estimates than the Ramlau-Hansen derivative estimators. The proposed estimators are applied to analyze the infection rate and its derivatives of the 2003 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) epidemic in Beijing, China.     

Local Linear GMM Estimation of Functional Coefficient IV Models With an Application to Estimating the Rate of Return to Schooling

We consider the local linear generalized method of moment (GMM) estimation of functional coefficient models with a mix of discrete and continuous data and in the presence of endogenous regressors. We establish the asymptotic normality of the estimator and derive the optimal instrumental variable that minimizes the asymptotic variance-covariance matrix among the class of all local linear GMM estimators. Data-dependent bandwidth sequences are also allowed for. We propose a nonparametric test for the constancy of the functional coefficients, study its asymptotic properties under the null hypothesis as well as a sequence of local alternatives and global alternatives, and propose a bootstrap version for it. Simulations are conducted to evaluate both the estimator and test. Applications to the 1985 Australian Longitudinal Survey data indicate a clear rejection of the null hypothesis of the constant rate of return to education, and that the returns to education obtained in earlier studies tend to be overestimated for all the work experience.     

Direct and Indirect Effects Based on Difference-in-Differences With an Application to Political Preferences Following the Vietnam Draft Lottery

Abstract

We propose a difference-in-differences approach for disentangling a total treatment effect within specific subpopulations into a direct effect and an indirect effect operating through a binary mediating variable. Random treatment assignment along with specific common trend and effect homogeneity assumptions identify the direct effects on the always and never takers, whose mediator is not affected by the treatment, as well as the direct and indirect effects on the compliers, whose mediator reacts to the treatment. In our empirical application, we analyze the impact of the Vietnam draft lottery on political preferences. The results suggest that a high draft risk due to the draft lottery outcome leads to an increase in mild preferences for the Republican Party, but has no effect on strong preferences for either party or on specific political attitudes. The increase in Republican support is mostly driven by the direct effect not operating through the mediator that is military service.     

Bayesian Analysis of Poisson Regression with Lognormal Unobserved Heterogeneity: With an Application to the Patent-R&D Relationship

This article considers explicit and detailed theoretical and empirical Bayesian analysis of the well-known Poisson regression model for count data with unobserved individual effects based on the lognormal, rather than the popular negative binomial distribution. Although the negative binomial distribution leads to analytical expressions for the likelihood function, a Poisson-lognormal model is closer to the concept of regression with normally distributed innovations, and accounts for excess zeros as well. Such models have been considered widely in the literature (Winkelmann, 2008 Winkelmann , R. ( 2008 ). Econometric Analysis of Count Data. , 5th ed. Berlin : Springer . [Google Scholar]). The article also provides the necessary theoretical results regarding the posterior distribution of the model. Given that the likelihood function involves integrals with respect to the latent variables, numerical methods organized around Gibbs sampling with data augmentation are proposed for likelihood analysis of the model. The methods are applied to the patent-R&D relationship of 70 US pharmaceutical and biomedical companies, and it is found that it performs better than Poisson regression or negative binomial regression models.