On tests of symmetry,marginal homogeneity and quasi-symmetry in two-way contingency tables based on minimum φ-divergence estimator with constraints

The restricted minimum φ-divergence estimator, [Pardo, J.A., Pardo, L. and Zografos, K., 2002, Minimum φ-divergence estimators with constraints in multinomial populations. Journal of Statistical Planning and Inference, 104, 221–237], is employed to obtain estimates of the cell frequencies of an I×I contingency table under hypotheses of symmetry, marginal homogeneity or quasi-symmetry. The associated φ-divergence statistics are distributed asymptotically as chi-squared distributions under the null hypothesis. The new estimators and test statistics contain, as particular cases, the classical estimators and test statistics previously presented in the literature for the cited problems. A simulation study is presented, for the symmetry problem, to choose the best function φ₂ for estimation and the best function φ₁ for testing.     

Consumers’ credit card repayment decisions: The role of higher anchors and future repayment concern

We investigated two aspects of credit card repayment decisions: the extent to which the anchoring effect of minimum repayment information may be mitigated by information on alternative anchors, specifically repayments that would repay the balance in two years (Study 1) or nine months (Study 2); and the role of future repayment concern. In two experiments, three realistic credit card statements were presented with different outstanding balances. Participants, who were randomly allocated to one of four information conditions depending on supplementary information provided on the statements, stated how much they would repay that month. They were then asked about concerns they would have about repayment difficulties if they had a fixed consumer loan over three years. In Study 1 the alternative two-year repayment anchor had a negative effect on percent repayment, whereas in Study 2 the nine-month repayment anchor had a significant positive effect, especially for those with higher future repayment concern. Also, in both studies, future repayment concern had a direct inverse effect on repayment decisions which partially mediated the effect of disposable income. It is concluded that the addition to credit card statements of a table of cost and duration information for a range of repayment amounts may usefully support repayment decisions.     

Probability Generating Function Based Jeffrey's Divergence for Statistical Inference

Statistical inference procedures based on transforms such as characteristic function and probability generating function have been examined by many researchers because they are much simpler than probability density functions. Here, a probability generating function based Jeffrey's divergence measure is proposed for parameter estimation and goodness-of-fit test. Being a member of the M-estimators, the proposed estimator is consistent. Also, the proposed goodness-of-fit test has good statistical power. The proposed divergence measure shows improved performance over existing probability generating function based measures. Real data examples are given to illustrate the proposed parameter estimation method and goodness-of-fit test.     

Estimating a sensitive proportion through randomized response procedures based on auxiliary information

Randomized response techniques are widely employed in surveys dealing with sensitive questions to ensure interviewee anonymity and reduce nonrespondents rates and biased responses. Since Warner’s (J Am Stat Assoc 60:63–69, 1965) pioneering work, many ingenious devices have been suggested to increase respondent’s privacy protection and to better estimate the proportion of people, π _A , bearing a sensitive attribute. In spite of the massive use of auxiliary information in the estimation of non-sensitive parameters, very few attempts have been made to improve randomization strategy performance when auxiliary variables are available. Moving from Zaizai’s (Model Assist Stat Appl 1:125–130, 2006) recent work, in this paper we provide a class of estimators for π _A , for a generic randomization scheme, when the mean of a supplementary non-sensitive variable is known. The minimum attainable variance bound of the class is obtained and the best estimator is also identified. We prove that the best estimator acts as a regression-type estimator which is at least as efficient as the corresponding estimator evaluated without allowing for the auxiliary variable. The general results are then applied to Warner and Simmons’ model.     

Two-step estimation for inhomogeneous spatial point processes

Summary.  The paper is concerned with parameter estimation for inhomogeneous spatial point processes with a regression model for the intensity function and tractable second-order properties ( K -function). Regression parameters are estimated by using a Poisson likelihood score estimating function and in the second step minimum contrast estimation is applied for the residual clustering parameters. Asymptotic normality of parameter estimates is established under certain mixing conditions and we exemplify how the results may be applied in ecological studies of rainforests.     

Can the minimum living standard guarantee scheme enable the poor to escape the poverty trap in rural China?

The rural Minimum Living Standard Guarantee (Dibao) Scheme is the most important social assistance programme in rural China. However, how the rural Dibao programme affects household expenditures and whether it can enable the poor to escape the poverty trap are questions that remain largely unexplored. This study used data from the 2012 Rural Household Survey in China to investigate the impact of the rural Dibao programme on household expenditures. We found that the programme significantly improved the well‐being of low‐income households. Particularly, the programme significantly increased household expenditures on housing, education and health; furthermore, the impact was greater for households with educated household heads. However, the programme did not significantly affect household expenditures on food, transportation or farming inputs. The results imply that participation in the rural Dibao programme induces household investment in human capital, which could help to break the inter‐generational transmission of poverty and raise long‐run welfare.     

Designs for estimating the difference between two responses

In this paper the problem of designing experiments for estimating the difference between responses at two arbitrary points in the region of interest is considered. Under the average mean squared error criterion the design moment conditions have been worked out. The results have been applied to the class of central composite designs.     

Construction of minimum aberration blocked two-level regular factorial designs

ABSTRACT

In this article, we consider the construction of minimum aberration 2^{n ? k}: 2^p designs with respect to some existing combined wordlength patterns, where a 2^{n ? k}: 2^p design is a blocked two-level design with n treatment factors, 2^p blocks, and N = 2^q runs with q = n ? k. Two methods are proposed for two situations: n ? 2^{q ? p} ? 1 and n > N/2. These methods enable us to obtain some new minimum aberration 2^{n ? k}: 2^p designs from existing minimum aberration unblocked and blocked designs. Examples are included to illustrate the theory.     

The elasticity of labor demand and the minimum wage

We show that, contrary to widespread belief, low-pay workers do not generally prefer that the minimum wage rate be increased until the labor demand is unitary elastic. Rather, there exists a critical value of elasticity of labor demand so that increases in the minimum wage rate make low-pay workers better off for higher elasticities, but worse off for lower elasticities. This critical value decreases with unemployment benefits and increases with workers’ risk aversion. We also show that in some countries the benefits for long-term unemployed are so low that workers would probably prefer that the minimum wage rate be decreased. I thank the anonymous referees for helpful suggestions.