Estimating with percentile grouped and truncated date from a scale parameter distribution

Data which is grouped and truncated is considered. We are given numbers n₁<…<n_k=n and we observe X_ni ),i=1,…k, and the tottal number of observations available (N> n_k is unknown. If the underlying distribution has one unknown parameter θ which enters as a scale parameter, we examine the form of the equations for both conditional, unconditional and modified maximum likelihood estimators of θ and N and examine when these estimators will be finite, and unique. We also develop expressions for asymptotic bias and search for modified estimators which minimize the maximum asymptotic bias. These results are specialized tG the zxponential distribution. Methods of computing the solutions to the likelihood equatims are also discussed.     

Half-sample variance estimation

This paper studies an alternative to the jackknife variance estimator, the half-sample variance estimator. Both theoretical and Monte Carlo comparisons between the half-sample variance estimator and the jackknife variance estimator indicate that the former is better in some situations.     

Peculiar bias properties of the ols estimator when applied to a dynamic model with autocorrelated disturbances

This study reveals that contrary to the conventional wisdom among econometricians, the bias of the OLS estimator can be quite small when the estimator is applied to a geometrically distributed lag model, y_t<ce:glyph name="dbnd6"/> α + βx _t+ λy _t-₁. + u_t, with autocorrelated disturbances, be they AR(1), MA(1), MA(2), AR(2), and ARMA(1,1). This happens when λ is large and x_tis smoothly trended (e.g., a real GNP series). In fact, the bias of the OLS estimator becomes zero at one parameter combination, and the OLS estimator performs well over a wide range around this parameter combination. By decomposing the disturbance term into two parts, the paper also explains why OLS shows such an unexpected property. These findings have both pedagogical and practical significance.     

Admissible minimum bias estimation of response surfaces

The minimum bias estimator was introduced as an alternative to the least squares estimator for approximating response functions by low-order polynomials. Here we show how to obtain an admissible estimator with smaller squared bias.     

Asymptotic robustness of least median of squares for autoregressions with additive outliers

This paper considers the robustness properties in the time series context of the least median of squares (LMS) estimator. The influence function of the LMS estimator is derived under additive outlier contamination. This influence function is redescending and bounded for fixed values of the AR parameters. The gross-error sensitivity, however, is an unbounded function of the AR parameters. In order to asses the global robustness behavior of the LMS estimator, we consider several notions of breakdown. The breakdown points of the LMS estimator depend on the value of the underlying AR parameter. Generally, the breakdown point is below one half for high values of the AR parameter. The bias curves of the LMS estimator reveal, however, that the magnitude of outliers has to be considerable in order to cause breakdown.     

Equality of two blues and ridge-type estimates

Equality is shown of the g-inverse and Moore-Penrose inverse representation of the BLUE in the general linear model. The proof is based on a matrix identity which allows also to establish a functional relationship between the BLUE and Ridge-type estimates.     

Age-period-cohort analysis: an illustration of the problems in assessing interaction in one observation per cell data

This paper discusses the specific problems of age-period-cohort (A-P-C) analysis within the general framework of interaction assessment for two-way cross-classified data with one observation per cell. The A-P-C multiple classification model containing the effects of age groups (rows), periods of observation (columns), and birth cohorts (diagonals of the two-way table) is characterized as one of a special class of models involving interaction terms assumed to have very specific forms. The so-called A-P-C identification problem, which results from the use of a particular interaction structure for detecting cohort effects, is shown to manifest itself in the form of an exact linear dependency among the columns of the design matrix. The precise relationship holding among these columns is derived, as is an explicit formula for the bias in the parameter estimates resulting from an incorrect specification of an assumed restriction on the parameters required to solve the normal equations. Current methods for modeling A-P-C data are critically reviewed, an illustrative numerical example is presented, and one potentially promising analysis strategy is discussed. However, gien the large number of possible sources for error in A-P-C analyses, it is strongly recommended that the results of such analyses be interpreted with a great deal of caution.     

Maximum likelihood estimation for the generalized poisson distribution

The generalized Poisson distribution;containing two

parameters and studied by many researchers; describes the distribution of busy periods under a queueing system and has very interesting properties; The probabilities for successive classes depend upon the previous occurrences; The problem of admissible maximum likelihood estimators for for the parameters Is discussed and a necessary and sufficient condition is derived for which unique admissible maximum likelihood estimators exist; The first; order terms in the biases; variances and the covariance of these maximum likelihood estimators are obtained.     

Estimation of location extremes within general families of scale mixtures

In this paper, we study the estimation of the minimum and maximum location parameters, respectively, representing the minimum guaranteed lifetime of series and parallel systems of components, within a general class of scale mixtures. The conditional or underlying distribution has only the primary restriction of being a location-scale family with positive support. The mixing distribution is also quite general in that we only assume that it has positive support and finite second moment. For demonstrative purposes several special cases are highlighted such as the gamma, inverse-Gaussian, and discrete mixture. Various estimators, including bootstrap bias corrected estimators, are compared with respect to both mean-squared-error and Pitman's measure of closeness.     

ALL-BIAS DESIGNS FOR POLYNOMIAL SPLINE REGRESSION MODELS

Polynomial spline regression models of low degree have proved useful in modeling responses from designed experiments in science and engineering when simple polynomial models are inadequate. Where there is uncertainty in the number and location of the knots, or breakpoints, of the spline, then designs that minimize the systematic errors resulting from model misspecification may be appropriate. This paper gives a method for constructing such all‐bias designs for a single variable spline when the distinct knots in the assumed and true models come from some specified set. A class of designs is defined in terms of the inter‐knot intervals and sufficient conditions are obtained for a design within this class to be all‐bias under linear, quadratic and cubic spline models. An example of the construction of all‐bias designs is given.