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Hauptverfasser: Correia, Sergio, Guimarães, Paulo, Zylkin, Thomas
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2019
Schlagworte:
Online-Zugang:https://arxiv.org/abs/1903.01633
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author Correia, Sergio
Guimarães, Paulo
Zylkin, Thomas
author_facet Correia, Sergio
Guimarães, Paulo
Zylkin, Thomas
contents A fundamental problem with nonlinear models is that maximum likelihood estimates are not guaranteed to exist. Though nonexistence is a well known problem in the binary response model literature, it presents significant challenges for other models and is not as well understood in more general settings. These challenges are only magnified for models that feature many fixed effects and other high-dimensional parameters. We address the current ambiguity surrounding this topic by studying the conditions that govern the existence of estimates for (pseudo-)maximum likelihood estimators used to estimate a wide class of generalized linear models (GLMs). We show that some, but not all, of these GLM estimators can still deliver consistent estimates of at least some of the linear parameters when these conditions fail to hold. We also demonstrate how to verify these conditions in models with high-dimensional parameters, such as panel data models with multiple levels of fixed effects. Applying our methods to a gravity model with heterogeneous free trade agreement effects, we show that failing to detect nonexistence can produce misleading numerical estimates.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_1903_01633
institution arXiv
publishDate 2019
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Verifying the existence of maximum likelihood estimates for generalized linear models
Correia, Sergio
Guimarães, Paulo
Zylkin, Thomas
Econometrics
A fundamental problem with nonlinear models is that maximum likelihood estimates are not guaranteed to exist. Though nonexistence is a well known problem in the binary response model literature, it presents significant challenges for other models and is not as well understood in more general settings. These challenges are only magnified for models that feature many fixed effects and other high-dimensional parameters. We address the current ambiguity surrounding this topic by studying the conditions that govern the existence of estimates for (pseudo-)maximum likelihood estimators used to estimate a wide class of generalized linear models (GLMs). We show that some, but not all, of these GLM estimators can still deliver consistent estimates of at least some of the linear parameters when these conditions fail to hold. We also demonstrate how to verify these conditions in models with high-dimensional parameters, such as panel data models with multiple levels of fixed effects. Applying our methods to a gravity model with heterogeneous free trade agreement effects, we show that failing to detect nonexistence can produce misleading numerical estimates.
title Verifying the existence of maximum likelihood estimates for generalized linear models
topic Econometrics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/1903.01633