Empirical Bayes When Estimation Precision Predicts Parameters

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1. Verfasser: Chen, Jiafeng
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2022
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author Chen, Jiafeng
author_facet Chen, Jiafeng
contents Gaussian empirical Bayes methods usually maintain a precision independence assumption: The unknown parameters of interest are independent from the known standard errors of the estimates. This assumption is often theoretically questionable and empirically rejected. This paper proposes to model the conditional distribution of the parameter given the standard errors as a flexibly parametrized location-scale family of distributions, leading to a family of methods that we call CLOSE. The CLOSE framework unifies and generalizes several proposals under precision dependence. We argue that the most flexible member of the CLOSE family is a minimalist and computationally efficient default for accounting for precision dependence. We analyze this method and show that it is competitive in terms of the regret of subsequent decisions rules. Empirically, using CLOSE leads to sizable gains for selecting high-mobility Census tracts.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2212_14444
institution arXiv
publishDate 2022
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Empirical Bayes When Estimation Precision Predicts Parameters
Chen, Jiafeng
Econometrics
Statistics Theory
Methodology
Gaussian empirical Bayes methods usually maintain a precision independence assumption: The unknown parameters of interest are independent from the known standard errors of the estimates. This assumption is often theoretically questionable and empirically rejected. This paper proposes to model the conditional distribution of the parameter given the standard errors as a flexibly parametrized location-scale family of distributions, leading to a family of methods that we call CLOSE. The CLOSE framework unifies and generalizes several proposals under precision dependence. We argue that the most flexible member of the CLOSE family is a minimalist and computationally efficient default for accounting for precision dependence. We analyze this method and show that it is competitive in terms of the regret of subsequent decisions rules. Empirically, using CLOSE leads to sizable gains for selecting high-mobility Census tracts.
title Empirical Bayes When Estimation Precision Predicts Parameters
topic Econometrics
Statistics Theory
Methodology
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2212.14444