Estimation of the Moment Generating Function

A number of statistical problems use the moment generating function (mgf) for purposes other than determining the moments of a distribution. If the distribution is not completely specified, then the mgf must be estimated from available data. The empirical mgf makes no assumptions concerning the underlying distribution except for the existence of the mgf. In contrast to the nonparametric approach provided by the empirical mgf, alternative estimators can be formed based on an assumed parametric model. Comparison of these approaches is considered for two parametric models; the normal and a one parameter gamma. Comparison criteria are efficiency and empirical confidence interval coverage. In general the parametric estimators outperform the empirical mgf when the model is correct. The comparisons are extended to underlying models which are two component mixtures from the distributional family assumed by the parametric estimators. Under the mixture models the superiority of the parametric estimator depends upon the model, value of the argument of the mgf, and the comparison criterion. The empirical mgf is the better estimator in some cases.     

Parameter Estimation for the Discrete Stable Family

The discrete stable family constitutes an interesting two-parameter model of distributions on the non-negative integers with a Paretian tail. The practical use of the discrete stable distribution is inhibited by the lack of an explicit expression for its probability function. Moreover, the distribution does not possess moments of any order. Therefore, the usual tools—such as the maximum-likelihood method or even the moment method—are not feasible for parameter estimation. However, the probability generating function of the discrete stable distribution is available in a simple form. Hence, we initially explore the application of some existing estimation procedures based on the empirical probability generating function. Subsequently, we propose a new estimation method by minimizing a suitable weighted L ²-distance between the empirical and the theoretical probability generating functions. In addition, we provide a goodness-of-fit statistic based on the same distance.     

Moment density estimation for positive random variables

An unknown moment-determinate cumulative distribution function or its density function can be recovered from corresponding moments and estimated from the empirical moments. This method of estimating an unknown density is natural in certain inverse estimation models like multiplicative censoring or biased sampling when the moments of unobserved distribution can be estimated via the transformed moments of the observed distribution. In this paper, we introduce a new nonparametric estimator of a probability density function defined on the positive real line, motivated by the above. Some fundamental properties of proposed estimator are studied. The comparison with traditional kernel density estimator is discussed.     

On statistical transform methods and their efficiency

General conditions for the asymptotic efficiency of certain new inference procedures based on empirical transform functions are developed. A number of important processes, such as the empirical characteristic function, the empirical moment generating function, and the empirical moments, are considered as special cases.     

Parameter estimates and tests of fit for infinite mixther distrirutions

Al though mixtures form a rich class of probability models, they often present difficulties for statistical inference. Likelihood functions are sometimes unbounded at certain values of the parameters, and densities often have no closed form. These features complicate hoth maximum-likelihood estimation and tests of fit based on the empirical distribution function. New inferential methods using sample characteristic functions (Cfs) and moment generating functions (MGFs) seem well-suited to mixtures. since these transforms often take simple form/ This paper reports a simulation study of the properties of estimators and tests of fit based on CFs, MGFs, and sample moments when applied to three specific families of thick tailed mixture distributios.     

Estimating expected sojourn times for a markov renewal process

We consider the estimation of the expected sojourn time in a Markov renewal process under the data condition that only the counts of the exits from the states are available for fixed intervals of time. For analytical and illustrative purposes we concentrate on the two-state process case. We present least squares and method of moments estimators and compare their statistical properties both analytically and empirically. We also present modified estimators with improved properties based upon an overlapping interval sampling strategy. The major results indicate that the least squares estimator is biased in general with the bias depending on the size of the sampling interval and the first two moments of the sojourn time distribution function. The bias becomes negligible as the size of the sampling interval increases. Analytical and empirical results indicate that the method of moments estimator is less sensitive to the size of the sampling interval and has slightly better mean squared error properties than the least squares estimator.     

A method of moments estimator of tail dependence in meta-elliptical models

A meta-elliptical model is a distribution function whose copula is that of an elliptical distribution. The tail dependence function in such a bivariate model has a parametric representation with two parameters: a tail parameter and a correlation parameter. The correlation parameter can be estimated by robust methods based on the whole sample. Using the estimated correlation parameter as plug-in estimator, we then estimate the tail parameter applying a modification of the method of moments approach proposed in the paper by Einmahl et al. (2008). We show that such an estimator is consistent and asymptotically normal. Further, we derive the joint limit distribution of the estimators of the two parameters. We illustrate the small sample behavior of the estimator of the tail parameter by a simulation study and on real data, and we compare its performance to that of the competitive estimators.     

Estimation of the error distribution in a varying coefficient regression model

This paper deals with the estimation of the error distribution function in a varying coefficient regression model. We propose two estimators and study their asymptotic properties by obtaining uniform stochastic expansions. The first estimator is a residual-based empirical distribution function. We study this estimator when the varying coefficients are estimated by under-smoothed local quadratic smoothers. Our second estimator which exploits the fact that the error distribution has mean zero is a weighted residual-based empirical distribution whose weights are chosen to achieve the mean zero property using empirical likelihood methods. The second estimator improves on the first estimator. Bootstrap confidence bands based on the two estimators are also discussed.     

Minimum-distance methods based on quadratic distances for transforms

A class of minimum-distance methods based on empirical transforms is considered. This class includes the minimum-chi-squared method, the K-L method for empirical characteristic functions, and the analogous method for empirical moment generating functions. Asymptotic properties of the minimum-distance estimators and goodness-of-fit test statistics are derived. A general analogue of the Rao-Robson statistic is formulated.     

A Proposal for a New Bound for Discrete Distributions

In this work we re-examine some classical bounds for non negative integer-valued random variables by means of information theoretic or maxentropic techniques using fractional moments as constraints. The proposed new bound, no more analytically expressible in terms of moments or moment generating function (mgf), is built by mixing classical bounds and the Maximum Entropy (ME) approximant of the underlying distribution; such a new bound is able to exploit optimally all the information content provided by the sequence of given moments or by the mgf. Particular care will be devoted to obtain fractional moments from the available information given in terms of integer moments and/or moment generating function. Numerical examples show clearly that the bound improvement involving the ME approximant based on fractional moments is not trivial.     

A LINEAR MODEL WITH ERRORS LACKING A VARIANCE1

The problem discussed is that of estimating β= (β¹, …, β_k) in the model Y=βX +ε when X has a specified multivariate distribution and the error ε does not necessarily have a finite second moment, for example, ε symmetric stable. We construct a moment estimator based on the empirical characteristic function and establish asymptotic unbiassedness and normality. Most of the paper is concerned with the case when X is normal. Forms of the suggested estimator are given in (2.5), (4.6) and (5.5).     

On the asymptotic non‐equivalence of efficient‐GMM and MEL estimators in models with missing data

The generalized method of moments (GMM) and empirical likelihood (EL) are popular methods for combining sample and auxiliary information. These methods are used in very diverse fields of research, where competing theories often suggest variables satisfying different moment conditions. Results in the literature have shown that the efficient‐GMM (GMM_E) and maximum empirical likelihood (MEL) estimators have the same asymptotic distribution to order n^?1/2 and that both estimators are asymptotically semiparametric efficient. In this paper, we demonstrate that when data are missing at random from the sample, the utilization of some well‐known missing‐data handling approaches proposed in the literature can yield GMM_E and MEL estimators with nonidentical properties; in particular, it is shown that the GMM_E estimator is semiparametric efficient under all the missing‐data handling approaches considered but that the MEL estimator is not always efficient. A thorough examination of the reason for the nonequivalence of the two estimators is presented. A particularly strong feature of our analysis is that we do not assume smoothness in the underlying moment conditions. Our results are thus relevant to situations involving nonsmooth estimating functions, including quantile and rank regressions, robust estimation, the estimation of receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves, and so on.     

Empirical likelihood methods for discretely observed Gaussian moving averages

This paper is concerned with parametric estimation, model specification and autocorrelation diagnosis for stationary moving averages driven by a Wiener process. By incorporating the analysis of the spectral densities of the discretely observed trajectory, empirical likelihood methods based on moment conditions are developed to the dependent sequences in this paper for estimation and test. Theoretical properties of the empirical likelihood estimator for parameters are provided. Empirical likelihood ratio tests for model specification of the moving averages are proposed by means of the bootstrap strategy. Simulation and empirical case studies are carried out to confirm the effectiveness of the proposed estimation and test.     

Moment estimators for the beta-binomial distribution

A new moment estimator of the dispersion parameter of the beta-binomial distribution is proposed. It is derived by the method of moments which is constrained to satisfy the unbiasedness of the estimating equation. It gives a better performance than those of the usual moment estimators and the stabilized moment estimator proposed by Tamura & Young. The bias of the estimator is smaller than that of the maximum likelihood estimate in a wide range of parameter space.     

A bivariate distribution with gamma and beta marginals with application to drought data

The first known bivariate distribution with gamma and beta marginals is introduced. Various representations are derived for its joint probability density function (pdf), joint cumulative distribution function (cdf), product moments, conditional pdfs, conditional cdfs, conditional moments, joint moment generating function, joint characteristic function and entropies. The method of maximum likelihood and the method of moments are used to derive the associated estimation procedures as well as the Fisher information matrix, variance–covariance matrix and the profile likelihood confidence intervals. An application to drought data from Nebraska is provided. Some other applications are also discussed. Finally, an extension of the bivariate distribution to the multivariate case is proposed.     

Mapping disease and mortality rates using empirical Bayes estimators

"Methods for estimating regional mortality and disease rates, with a view to mapping disease, are discussed. A new empirical Bayes estimator, with parameters simply estimated by moments, is proposed and compared with iterative alternatives suggested by Clayton and Kaldor." The author develops a local shrinkage estimator in which a crude disease rate is shrunk toward a local, neighborhood rate. The estimators are compared using simulations and an empirical example based on infant mortality data for Auckland, New Zealand.     

Iterative regularisation in nonparametric instrumental regression

This paper considers the nonparametric regression model with an additive error that is correlated with the explanatory variables. Motivated by empirical studies in epidemiology and economics, it also supposes that valid instrumental variables are observed. However, the estimation of a nonparametric regression function by instrumental variables is an ill-posed linear inverse problem with an unknown but estimable operator. We provide a new estimator of the regression function that is based on projection onto finite dimensional spaces and that includes an iterative regularisation method (the Landweber–Fridman method). The optimal number of iterations and the convergence of the mean square error of the resulting estimator are derived under both strong and weak source conditions. A Monte Carlo exercise shows the impact of some parameters on the estimator and concludes on the reasonable finite sample performance of the new estimator.     

Local generalized method of moments estimation based on kernel weights: an application to panel data

This paper presents and applies a local generalized method of moments (LGMM) estimator for regression functions. The method is an extension of previous results obtained by Gozalo and Linton. The LGMM estimation procedure can be applied to estimate a mean regression function and its derivatives at an interior point x , without making explicit assumptions about its functional form. The method has been applied to estimate dynamic models based on panel data.     

Developing a Liu estimator for the negative binomial regression model: method and application

This paper introduces a new shrinkage estimator for the negative binomial regression model that is a generalization of the estimator proposed for the linear regression model by Liu [A new class of biased estimate in linear regression, Comm. Stat. Theor. Meth. 22 (1993), pp. 393–402]. This shrinkage estimator is proposed in order to solve the problem of an inflated mean squared error of the classical maximum likelihood (ML) method in the presence of multicollinearity. Furthermore, the paper presents some methods of estimating the shrinkage parameter. By means of Monte Carlo simulations, it is shown that if the Liu estimator is applied with these shrinkage parameters, it always outperforms ML. The benefit of the new estimation method is also illustrated in an empirical application. Finally, based on the results from the simulation study and the empirical application, a recommendation regarding which estimator of the shrinkage parameter that should be used is given.     

A Kolmogorov–Smirnov type test for skew normal distributions based on the empirical moment generating function

In this paper tests of hypothesis are constructed for the family of skew normal distributions. The proposed tests utilize the fact that the moment generating function of the skew normal variable satisfies a simple differential equation. The empirical counterpart of this equation, involving the empirical moment generating function, yields simple consistent test statistics. Finite-sample results as well as results from real data are provided for the proposed procedures.