Quantile regression in functional linear semiparametric model

This paper proposes nonparametric estimation methods for functional linear semiparametric quantile regression, where the conditional quantile of the scalar responses is modelled by both scalar and functional covariates and an additional unknown nonparametric function term. The slope function is estimated using the functional principal component basis and the nonparametric function is approximated by a piecewise polynomial function. The asymptotic distribution of the estimators of slope parameters is derived and the global convergence rate of the quantile estimator of unknown slope function is established under suitable norm. The asymptotic distribution of the estimator of the unknown nonparametric function is also established. Simulation studies are conducted to investigate the finite-sample performance of the proposed estimators. The proposed methodology is demonstrated by analysing a real data from ADHD-200 sample.     

Model selection and model averaging for semiparametric partially linear models with missing data

We study model selection and model averaging in semiparametric partially linear models with missing responses. An imputation method is used to estimate the linear regression coefficients and the nonparametric function. We show that the corresponding estimators of the linear regression coefficients are asymptotically normal. Then a focused information criterion and frequentist model average estimators are proposed and their theoretical properties are established. Simulation studies are performed to demonstrate the superiority of the proposed methods over the existing strategies in terms of mean squared error and coverage probability. Finally, the approach is applied to a real data case.     

Partially linear single-index model with missing responses at random

This paper considers semiparametric partially linear single-index model with missing responses at random. Imputation approach is developed to estimate the regression coefficients, single-index coefficients and the nonparametric function, respectively. The imputation estimators for the regression coefficients and single-index coefficients are obtained by a stepwise approach. These estimators are shown to be asymptotically normal, and the estimator for the nonparametric function is proved to be asymptotically normal at any fixed point. The bandwidth problem is also considered in this paper, a delete-one cross validation method is used to select the optimal bandwidth. A simulation study is conducted to evaluate the proposed methods.     

Inferences for a Partially Varying Coefficient Model With Endogenous Regressors

In this article, we propose a new class of semiparametric instrumental variable models with partially varying coefficients, in which the structural function has a partially linear form and the impact of endogenous structural variables can vary over different levels of some exogenous variables. We propose a three-step estimation procedure to estimate both functional and constant coefficients. The consistency and asymptotic normality of these proposed estimators are established. Moreover, a generalized F-test is developed to test whether the functional coefficients are of particular parametric forms with some underlying economic intuitions, and furthermore, the limiting distribution of the proposed generalized F-test statistic under the null hypothesis is established. Finally, we illustrate the finite sample performance of our approach with simulations and two real data examples in economics.     

NEW EFFICIENT ESTIMATION AND VARIABLE SELECTION METHODS FOR SEMIPARAMETRIC VARYING-COEFFICIENT PARTIALLY LINEAR MODELS

The complexity of semiparametric models poses new challenges to statistical inference and model selection that frequently arise from real applications. In this work, we propose new estimation and variable selection procedures for the semiparametric varying-coefficient partially linear model. We first study quantile regression estimates for the nonparametric varying-coefficient functions and the parametric regression coefficients. To achieve nice efficiency properties, we further develop a semiparametric composite quantile regression procedure. We establish the asymptotic normality of proposed estimators for both the parametric and nonparametric parts and show that the estimators achieve the best convergence rate. Moreover, we show that the proposed method is much more efficient than the least-squares-based method for many non-normal errors and that it only loses a small amount of efficiency for normal errors. In addition, it is shown that the loss in efficiency is at most 11.1% for estimating varying coefficient functions and is no greater than 13.6% for estimating parametric components. To achieve sparsity with high-dimensional covariates, we propose adaptive penalization methods for variable selection in the semiparametric varying-coefficient partially linear model and prove that the methods possess the oracle property. Extensive Monte Carlo simulation studies are conducted to examine the finite-sample performance of the proposed procedures. Finally, we apply the new methods to analyze the plasma beta-carotene level data.     

Restricted Ridge Estimators of the Parameters in Semiparametric Regression Model

In this article, we introduce a ridge estimator for the vector of parameters β in a semiparametric model when additional linear restrictions on the parameter vector are assumed to hold. We also obtain the semiparametric restricted ridge estimator for the parametric component in the semiparametric regression model. The ideas in this article are illustrated with a data set consisting of housing prices and through a comparison of the performances of the proposed and related estimators via a Monte Carlo simulation.     

Robust estimation and wavelet thresholding in partially linear models

This paper is concerned with a semiparametric partially linear regression model with unknown regression coefficients, an unknown nonparametric function for the non-linear component, and unobservable Gaussian distributed random errors. We present a wavelet thresholding based estimation procedure to estimate the components of the partial linear model by establishing a connection between an l ₁-penalty based wavelet estimator of the nonparametric component and Huber’s M-estimation of a standard linear model with outliers. Some general results on the large sample properties of the estimates of both the parametric and the nonparametric part of the model are established. Simulations are used to illustrate the general results and to compare the proposed methodology with other methods available in the recent literature.     

A Mixed Model Approach for Geoadditive Hazard Regression

Abstract.  Mixed model based approaches for semiparametric regression have gained much interest in recent years, both in theory and application. They provide a unified and modular framework for penalized likelihood and closely related empirical Bayes inference. In this article, we develop mixed model methodology for a broad class of Cox-type hazard regression models where the usual linear predictor is generalized to a geoadditive predictor incorporating non-parametric terms for the (log-)baseline hazard rate, time-varying coefficients and non-linear effects of continuous covariates, a spatial component, and additional cluster-specific frailties. Non-linear and time-varying effects are modelled through penalized splines, while spatial components are treated as correlated random effects following either a Markov random field or a stationary Gaussian random field prior. Generalizing existing mixed model methodology, inference is derived using penalized likelihood for regression coefficients and (approximate) marginal likelihood for smoothing parameters. In a simulation we study the performance of the proposed method, in particular comparing it with its fully Bayesian counterpart using Markov chain Monte Carlo methodology, and complement the results by some asymptotic considerations. As an application, we analyse leukaemia survival data from northwest England.     

Quantile regression estimation of partially linear additive models

In this paper, we consider the estimation of partially linear additive quantile regression models where the conditional quantile function comprises a linear parametric component and a nonparametric additive component. We propose a two-step estimation approach: in the first step, we approximate the conditional quantile function using a series estimation method. In the second step, the nonparametric additive component is recovered using either a local polynomial estimator or a weighted Nadaraya–Watson estimator. Both consistency and asymptotic normality of the proposed estimators are established. Particularly, we show that the first-stage estimator for the finite-dimensional parameters attains the semiparametric efficiency bound under homoskedasticity, and that the second-stage estimators for the nonparametric additive component have an oracle efficiency property. Monte Carlo experiments are conducted to assess the finite sample performance of the proposed estimators. An application to a real data set is also illustrated.     

Estimation for semi-functional linear regression

This paper studies estimation in semi-functional linear regression. A general formulation is used to treat mean regression, median regression, quantile regression and robust mean regression in one setting. The linear slope function is estimated by the functional principal component basis and the nonparametric component is approximated by a B-spline function. The global convergence rates of the estimators of unknown slope function and nonparametric component are established under suitable norm. The convergence rate of the mean-squared prediction error for the proposed estimators is also established. Finite sample properties of our procedures are studied through Monte Carlo simulations. A real data example about Berkeley growth data is used to illustrate our proposed methodology.     

Semiparametric mixture of additive regression models

In this article, we propose a semiparametric mixture of additive regression models, in which the regression functions are additive and non parametric while the mixing proportions and variances are constant. Compared with the mixture of linear regression models, the proposed methodology is more flexible in modeling the non linear relationship between the response and covariate. A two-step procedure based on the spline-backfitted kernel method is derived for computation. Moreover, we establish the asymptotic normality of the resultant estimators and examine their good performance through a numerical example.     

Semiparametric partially linear varying coefficient models with panel count data

This paper studies semiparametric regression analysis of panel count data, which arise naturally when recurrent events are considered. Such data frequently occur in medical follow-up studies and reliability experiments, for example. To explore the nonlinear interactions between covariates, we propose a class of partially linear models with possibly varying coefficients for the mean function of the counting processes with panel count data. The functional coefficients are estimated by B-spline function approximations. The estimation procedures are based on maximum pseudo-likelihood and likelihood approaches and they are easy to implement. The asymptotic properties of the resulting estimators are established, and their finite-sample performance is assessed by Monte Carlo simulation studies. We also demonstrate the value of the proposed method by the analysis of a cancer data set, where the new modeling approach provides more comprehensive information than the usual proportional mean model.     

Analysis of transformation models with right-truncated data

In many applications, statistical data are frequently observed subject to a retrospective sampling criterion resulting in right-truncated data. In this article, a general class of semiparametric transformation models that include proportional hazards model and proportional odds model as special cases is studied for the analysis of right-truncated data. We proposed two estimators for regression coefficients. The first estimator is based on martingale estimating equations. The second estimator is based on the conditional likelihood function given the truncation times. The asymptotic properties of both estimators are derived. The finite sample performance is examined through a simulation study.     

Semiparametric Estimation of Stochastic Production Frontier Models

This article extends the linear stochastic frontier model proposed by Aigner, Lovell, and Schmidt to a semiparametric frontier model in which the functional form of the production frontier is unspecified and the distributions of the composite error terms are of known form. Pseudolikelihood estimators of the parameters characterizing the two error terms of the model are constructed based on kernel estimation of the conditional mean function. The Monte Carlo results show that the proposed estimators perform well in finite samples. An empirical application is presented. Extensions to a partially linear frontier function and to more flexible one-sided error distributions than the half-normal are discussed     

Semiparametric Analysis of Isotonic Errors-in-Variables Regression Models with Missing Response

This article is concerned with the estimation problem in the semiparametric isotonic regression model when the covariates are measured with additive errors and the response is missing at random. An inverse marginal probability weighted imputation approach is developed to estimate the regression parameters and a least-square approach under monotone constraint is employed to estimate the functional component. We show that the proposed estimator of the regression parameter is root-n consistent and asymptotically normal and the isotonic estimator of the functional component, at a fixed point, is cubic root-n consistent. A simulation study is conducted to examine the finite-sample properties of the proposed estimators. A data set is used to demonstrate the proposed approach.     

Partially Adaptive Estimation of the Censored Regression Model

Data censoring causes ordinary least squares estimates of linear models to be biased and inconsistent. Tobit, semiparametric, and partially adaptive estimators have been considered as possible solutions. This paper proposes several new partially adaptive estimators that cover a wide range of distributional characteristics. A simulation study is used to investigate the estimators’ relative efficiency in these settings. The partially adaptive censored regression estimators have little efficiency loss for censored normal errors and may outperform Tobit and semiparametric estimators considered for non-normal distributions. An empirical example of out-of-pocket expenditures for a health insurance plan provides an example, which supports these results.     

Replicated measurement error model under exact linear restrictions

We consider a replicated ultrastructural measurement error regression model where predictor variables are observed with error. It is assumed that some prior information regarding the regression coefficients is available in the form of exact linear restrictions. Three classes of estimators of regression coefficients are proposed. These estimators are shown to be consistent as well as satisfying the given restrictions. The asymptotic properties of unrestricted as well as restricted estimators are studied without imposing any distributional assumption on any random component of the model. A Monte Carlo simulations study is performed to assess the effect of sample size, replicates and non-normality on the estimators.     

Semiparametric Estimators for Limited Dependent Variable (LDV) Models with Endogenous Regressors

This article reviews semiparametric estimators for limited dependent variable (LDV) models with endogenous regressors, where nonlinearity and nonseparability pose difficulties. We first introduce six main approaches in the linear equation system literature to handle endogenous regressors with linear projections: (i) ‘substitution’ replacing the endogenous regressors with their projected versions on the system exogenous regressors x, (ii) instrumental variable estimator (IVE) based on E{(error) × x} = 0, (iii) ‘model-projection’ turning the original model into a model in terms of only x-projected variables, (iv) ‘system reduced form (RF)’ finding RF parameters first and then the structural form (SF) parameters, (v) ‘artificial instrumental regressor’ using instruments as artificial regressors with zero coefficients, and (vi) ‘control function’ adding an extra term as a regressor to control for the endogeneity source. We then check if these approaches are applicable to LDV models using conditional mean/quantiles instead of linear projection. The six approaches provide a convenient forum on which semiparametric estimators in the literature can be categorized, although there are a few exceptions. The pros and cons of the approaches are discussed, and a small-scale simulation study is provided for some reviewed estimators.     

Empirical Likelihood Inferences for Semiparametric Varying-Coefficient Partially Linear Models with Longitudinal Data

In this article, empirical likelihood inferences for semiparametric varying-coefficient partially linear models with longitudinal data are investigated. We propose a groupwise empirical likelihood procedure to handle the inter-series dependence of the longitudinal data. By using residual-adjustment, an empirical likelihood ratio function for the nonparametric component is constructed, and a nonparametric version Wilks' phenomenons is proved. Compared with methods based on normal approximations, the empirical likelihood does not require consistent estimators for the asymptotic variance and bias. A simulation study is undertaken to assess the finite sample performance of the proposed confidence regions.     

Liu-type estimator in semiparametric partially linear additive models

Partially linear additive model is useful in statistical modelling as a multivariate nonparametric fitting technique. This paper considers statistical inference for the semiparametric model in the presence of multicollinearity. Based on the profile least-squares (PL) approach and Liu estimation method, we propose a PL Liu estimator for the parametric component. When some additional linear restrictions on the parametric component are available, the corresponding restricted Liu estimator for the parametric component is constructed. The properties of the proposed estimators are derived. Some simulations are conducted to assess the performance of the proposed procedures and the results are satisfactory. Finally, a real data example is analysed.