Likelihood-based and Bayesian methods for Tweedie compound Poisson linear mixed models

The Tweedie compound Poisson distribution is a subclass of the exponential dispersion family with a power variance function, in which the value of the power index lies in the interval (1,2). It is well known that the Tweedie compound Poisson density function is not analytically tractable, and numerical procedures that allow the density to be accurately and fast evaluated did not appear until fairly recently. Unsurprisingly, there has been little statistical literature devoted to full maximum likelihood inference for Tweedie compound Poisson mixed models. To date, the focus has been on estimation methods in the quasi-likelihood framework. Further, Tweedie compound Poisson mixed models involve an unknown variance function, which has a significant impact on hypothesis tests and predictive uncertainty measures. The estimation of the unknown variance function is thus of independent interest in many applications. However, quasi-likelihood-based methods are not well suited to this task. This paper presents several likelihood-based inferential methods for the Tweedie compound Poisson mixed model that enable estimation of the variance function from the data. These algorithms include the likelihood approximation method, in which both the integral over the random effects and the compound Poisson density function are evaluated numerically; and the latent variable approach, in which maximum likelihood estimation is carried out via the Monte Carlo EM algorithm, without the need for approximating the density function. In addition, we derive the corresponding Markov Chain Monte Carlo algorithm for a Bayesian formulation of the mixed model. We demonstrate the use of the various methods through a numerical example, and conduct an array of simulation studies to evaluate the statistical properties of the proposed estimators.     

农村居民消费增长比平稳更重要

 本文将消费习惯引入Lucas (1987)模型,采用农村五等份收入户的人均消费数据进行数值模拟,结果发现: 消费增长比消费平稳更重要,且收入等级越高,这种相对重要性就越突出。相对风险规避系数一定时,两类福利成本之比随习惯强度变化的轨迹呈倒U型; 习惯强度一定时,两类福利成本之比随相对风险规避系数的增大而递减。相对于其他等级的收入户,促进消费增长的经济政策为高收入户带来相对较多的福利,而平抑消费波动的经济政策能为低收入户带来较多的福利。因此,政府在促进农村居民消费增长的同时,也应重视消费波动给低收入群体造成的福利成本。     

Model-based confidence bands for survival functions

This paper focuses on a novel method of developing one-sample confidence bands for survival functions from right censored data. The approach is model-based, relying on a parametric model for the conditional expectation of the censoring indicator given the observed minimum, and derives its strength from easy access to a good-fitting model among a plethora of choices available for binary response data. The substantive methodological contribution is in exploiting a semiparametric estimator of the survival function to produce improved simultaneous confidence bands. To obtain critical values for computing the confidence bands, a two-stage bootstrap approach that combines the classical bootstrap with the more recent model-based regeneration of censoring indicators is proposed and a justification of its asymptotic validity is also provided. Several different confidence bands are studied using the proposed approach. Numerical studies, including robustness of the proposed bands to misspecification, are carried out to check efficacy. The method is illustrated using two lung cancer data sets.     

A note on statistical method for genotype calling of high-throughput single-nucleotide polymorphism arrays

We study the genotype calling algorithms for the high-throughput single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) arrays. Building upon the novel SNP-robust multi-chip average preprocessing approach and the state-of-the-art corrected robust linear model with Mahalanobis distance (CRLMM) approach for genotype calling, we propose a simple modification to better model and combine the information across multiple SNPs with empirical Bayes modeling, which could often significantly improve the genotype calling of CRLMM. Through applications to the HapMap Trio data set and a non-HapMap test set of high quality SNP chips, we illustrate the competitive performance of the proposed method.     

机构投资者异质性的上市公司股利政策研究

 本文从现金股利政策的角度来研究机构投资者的投资行为和参与上市公司治理的情况。首先回顾了该方面的相关文献,以信号理论为基础,分析机构投资者与现金股利政策可能存在的关系;接着对机构投资者的基本特征以及我国机构投资者和上市公司现金股利政策的概况及特点进行了总结;最后本文以 2007至2010 年的机构投资者持股数据与上市公司现金股利政策数据进行统计分析、回归分析,实证检验了机构投资者异质性与上市公司股利政策之间的关系。     

Reducing bias of the maximum-likelihood estimation for the truncated Pareto distribution

The Pareto distribution is an important distribution in statistics, which has been widely used in finance, physics, hydrology, geology, astronomy, and so on. Even though the parameter estimation for the Pareto distribution has been well established in the literature, the estimation problem for the truncated Pareto distribution becomes complex. This article investigates the bias and mean-squared error of the maximum-likelihood estimation for the truncated Pareto distribution, and some useful results are obtained.     

Model averaging for M-estimation

M-estimation is a widely used technique for robust statistical inference. In this paper, we study model selection and model averaging for M-estimation to simultaneously improve the coverage probability of confidence intervals of the parameters of interest and reduce the impact of heavy-tailed errors or outliers in the response. Under general conditions, we develop robust versions of the focused information criterion and a frequentist model average estimator for M-estimation, and we examine their theoretical properties. In addition, we carry out extensive simulation studies as well as two real examples to assess the performance of our new procedure, and find that the proposed method produces satisfactory results.     

A Multivariate Synthetic Control Chart for Monitoring the Process Mean Vector of Skewed Populations Using Weighted Standard Deviations

This article proposes a multivariate synthetic control chart for skewed populations based on the weighted standard deviation method. The proposed chart incorporates the weighted standard deviation method into the standard multivariate synthetic control chart. The standard multivariate synthetic chart consists of the Hotelling's T ² chart and the conforming run length chart. The weighted standard deviation method adjusts the variance–covariance matrix of the quality characteristics and approximates the probability density function using several multivariate normal distributions. The proposed chart reduces to the standard multivariate synthetic chart when the underlying distribution is symmetric. In general, the simulation results show that the proposed chart performs better than the existing multivariate charts for skewed populations and the standard T ² chart, in terms of false alarm rates as well as moderate and large mean shift detection rates based on the various degrees of skewnesses.