Robust estimation in a nonlinear cointegration model

This paper considers the nonparametric M-estimator in a nonlinear cointegration type model. The local time density argument, which was developed by Phillips and Park (1998) [6] and Wang and Phillips (2009) [9], is applied to establish the asymptotic theory for the nonparametric M-estimator. The weak consistency and the asymptotic distribution of the proposed estimator are established under mild conditions. Meanwhile, the asymptotic distribution of the local least squares estimator and the local least absolute distance estimator can be obtained as applications of our main results. Furthermore, an iterated procedure for obtaining the nonparametric M-estimator and a cross-validation bandwidth selection method are discussed, and some numerical examples are provided to show that the proposed methods perform well in the finite sample case.     

Spline-based sieve maximum likelihood estimation in the partly linear model under monotonicity constraints

We study a spline-based likelihood method for the partly linear model with monotonicity constraints. We use monotone B-splines to approximate the monotone nonparametric function and apply the generalized Rosen algorithm to compute the estimators jointly. We show that the spline estimator of the nonparametric component achieves the possible optimal rate of convergence under the smooth assumption and that the estimator of the regression parameter is asymptotically normal and efficient. Moreover, a spline-based semiparametric likelihood ratio test is established to make inference of the regression parameter. Also an observed profile information method to consistently estimate the standard error of the spline estimator of the regression parameter is proposed. A simulation study is conducted to evaluate the finite sample performance of the proposed method. The method is illustrated by an air pollution study.     

纵向数据非参数混合效应模型的一个局部不变估计

非参数核回归方法近年来已被用于纵向数据的分析(Lin和Carroll,2000)．一个颇具争议性的问题是在非参数核回归中是否需要考虑纵向数据间的相关性．Lin和Carroll (2000)证明了基于独立性(即忽略相关性)的核估计在一类核GEE估计量中是(渐近)最有效的．基于混合效应模型方法作者提出了一个不同的核估计类,它自然而有效地结合了纵向数据的相关结构．估计量达到了与Lin和Carroll的估计量相同的渐近有效性,且在有限样本情形下表现更好．由此方法可以很容易地获得对于总体和个体的非参数曲线估计．所提出的估计量具有较好的统计性质,且实施方便,从而对实际工作者具有较大的吸引力．     

纵向数据下半参数回归模型的统计分析

对于纵向数据下半参数回归模型,基于广义估计方程和一般权函数方法构造了模型中参数分量和非参数分量的估计.在适当的条件下证明了参数估计量具有渐近正态性,并得到了非参数回归函数估计量的最优收敛速度.通过模拟研究说明了所提出的估计量在有限样本下的精确性.     

Sieve M-estimation for semiparametric varying-coefficient partially linear regression model

This article considers a semiparametric varying-coefficient partially linear regression model.The semiparametric varying-coefficient partially linear regression model which is a generalization of the partially linear regression model and varying-coefficient regression model that allows one to explore the possibly nonlinear effect of a certain covariate on the response variable.A sieve M-estimation method is proposed and the asymptotic properties of the proposed estimators are discussed.Our main object is to estimate the nonparametric component and the unknown parameters simultaneously.It is easier to compute and the required computation burden is much less than the existing two-stage estimation method.Furthermore,the sieve M-estimation is robust in the presence of outliers if we choose appropriate ρ( ).Under some mild conditions,the estimators are shown to be strongly consistent;the convergence rate of the estimator for the unknown nonparametric component is obtained and the estimator for the unknown parameter is shown to be asymptotically normally distributed.Numerical experiments are carried out to investigate the performance of the proposed method.     

Marginal quantile regression for varying coefficient models with longitudinal data

In this paper, we investigate the quantile varying coefficient model for longitudinal data, where the unknown nonparametric functions are approximated by polynomial splines and the estimators are obtained by minimizing the quadratic inference function. The theoretical properties of the resulting estimators are established, and they achieve the optimal convergence rate for the nonparametric functions. Since the objective function is non-smooth, an estimation procedure is proposed that uses induced smoothing and we prove that the smoothed estimator is asymptotically equivalent to the original estimator. Moreover, we propose a variable selection procedure based on the regularization method, which can simultaneously estimate and select important nonparametric components and has the asymptotic oracle property. Extensive simulations and a real data analysis show the usefulness of the proposed method.

     

Robust Depth-Weighted Wavelet for Nonparametric Regression Models

In the nonparametric regression models, the original regression estimators including kernel estimator, Fourier series estimator and wavelet estimator are always constructed by the weighted sum of data, and the weights depend only on the distance between the design points and estimation points. As a result these estimators are not robust to the perturbations in data. In order to avoid this problem, a new nonparametric regression model, called the depth-weighted regression model, is introduced and then the depth-weighted wavelet estimation is defined. The new estimation is robust to the perturbations in data, which attains very high breakdown value close to 1/2. On the other hand, some asymptotic behaviours such as asymptotic normality are obtained. Some simulations illustrate that the proposed wavelet estimator is more robust than the original wavelet estimator and, as a price to pay for the robustness, the new method is slightly less efficient than the original method.     

Semiparametric estimation of average treatment effect through a random coefficient dummy endogenous variable model

This paper provides an estimation procedure for average treatment effect through a random coefficient dummy endogenous variable model. A leading example of the model is estimating the effect of a training program on earnings. The model is composed of two equations: an outcome equation and a decision equation. Given the linear restriction in outcome and decision equations, Chen (1999) provided a distribution-free estimation procedure under conditional symmetric error distributions. In this paper we extend Chen’s estimator by relaxing the linear index into a nonparametric function, which greatly reduces the risk of model misspecification. A two-step approach is proposed: the first step uses a nonparametric regression estimator for the decision variable, and the second step uses an instrumental variables approach to estimate average treatment effect in the outcome equation. The proposed estimator is shown to be consistent and asymptotically normally distributed. Furthermore, we investigate the finite performance of our estimator by a Monte Carlo study and also use our estimator to study the return of college education in different periods of China. The estimates seem more reasonable than those of other commonly used estimators.     

Efficient estimation of a varying-coefficient partially linear binary regression model

This article considers a semiparametric varying-coefficient partially linear binary regression model. The semiparametric varying-coefficient partially linear regression binary model which is a generalization of binary regression model and varying-coefficient regression model that allows one to explore the possibly nonlinear effect of a certain covariate on the response variable. A Sieve maximum likelihood estimation method is proposed and the asymptotic properties of the proposed estimators are discussed. One of our main objects is to estimate nonparametric component and the unknowen parameters simultaneously. It is easier to compute, and the required computation burden is much less than that of the existing two-stage estimation method. Under some mild conditions, the estimators are shown to be strongly consistent. The convergence rate of the estimator for the unknown smooth function is obtained, and the estimator for the unknown parameter is shown to be asymptotically efficient and normally distributed. Simulation studies are carried out to investigate the performance of the proposed method.     

Nonparametric estimation for the ruin probability in a Lévy risk model under low-frequency observation

In this paper, we propose a nonparametric estimator for the ruin probability in a spectrally negative Lévy risk model based on low-frequency observation. The estimator is constructed via the Fourier transform of the ruin probability. The convergence rates of the estimator are studied for large sample size. Some simulation results are also given to show the performance of the proposed method when the sample size is finite.     

A two-stage approach to semilinear in-slide models

The semilinear in-slide models (SLIMs) have been shown to be effective methods for normalizing microarray data [J. Fan, P. Tam, G. Vande Woude, Y. Ren, Normalization and analysis of cDNA micro-arrays using within-array replications applied to neuroblastoma cell response to a cytokine, Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (2004) 1135-1140]. Using a backfitting method, [J. Fan, H. Peng, T. Huang, Semilinear high-dimensional model for normalization of microarray data: a theoretical analysis and partial consistency, Journal of American Statistical Association, 471, (2005) 781-798] proposed a profile least squares (PLS) estimation for the parametric and nonparametric components. The general asymptotic properties for their estimator is not developed. In this paper, we consider a new approach, two-stage estimation, which enables us to establish the asymptotic normalities for both of the parametric and nonparametric component estimators. We further propose a plug-in bandwidth selector using the asymptotic normality of the nonparametric component estimator. The proposed method allow for the modeling of the aggregated SLIMs case where we can explicitly show that taking the aggregated information into account can improve both of the parametric and nonparametric component estimator by the proposed two-stage approach. Some simulation studies are conducted to illustrate the finite sample performance of the proposed procedures.     

A Test for Additivity in Nonparametric Regression

A simple consistent test of additivity in a multiple nonparametric regression model is proposed, where data are observed on a lattice. The new test is based on an estimator of the L ²-distance between the (unknown) nonparametric regression function and its best approximation by an additive nonparametric regression model. The corresponding test-statistic is the difference of a classical ANOVA style statistic in a two-way layout with one observation per cell and a variance estimator in a homoscedastic nonparametric regression model. Under the null hypothesis of additivity asymptotic normality is established with a limiting variance which involves only the variance of the error of measurements. The results are extended to models with an approximate lattice structure, a heteroscedastic error structure and the finite sample behaviour of the proposed procedure is investigated by means of a simulation study.     

Efficient statistical inference for partially nonlinear errors-in-variables models

In this paper, we consider the partially nonlinear errors-in-variables models when the non- parametric component is measured with additive error. The profile nonlinear least squares estimator of unknown parameter and the estimator of nonparametric component are constructed, and their asymptotic properties are derived under general assumptions. Finite sample performances of the proposed statistical inference procedures are illustrated by Monte Carlo simulation studies.     

Multiple imputation and other resampling schemes for imputing missing observations

The problem of imputing missing observations under the linear regression model is considered. It is assumed that observations are missing at random and all the observations on the auxiliary or independent variables are available. Estimates of the regression parameters based on singly and multiply imputed values are given. Jackknife as well as bootstrap estimates of the variance of the singly imputed estimator of the regression parameters are given. These estimators are shown to be consistent estimators. The asymptotic distributions of the imputed estimators are also given to obtain interval estimates of the parameters of interest. These interval estimates are then compared with the interval estimates obtained from multiple imputation. It is shown that singly imputed estimators perform at least as good as multiply imputed estimators. A new nonparametric multiply imputed estimator is proposed and shown to perform as good as a multiply imputed estimator under normality. The singly imputed estimator, however, still remains at least as good as a multiply imputed estimator.     

Functional-coefficient partially linear regression model

In this paper, the functional-coefficient partially linear regression (FCPLR) model is proposed by combining nonparametric and functional-coefficient regression (FCR) model. It includes the FCR model and the nonparametric regression (NPR) model as its special cases. It is also a generalization of the partially linear regression (PLR) model obtained by replacing the parameters in the PLR model with some functions of the covariates. The local linear technique and the integrated method are employed to give initial estimators of all functions in the FCPLR model. These initial estimators are asymptotically normal. The initial estimator of the constant part function shares the same bias as the local linear estimator of this function in the univariate nonparametric model, but the variance of the former is bigger than that of the latter. Similarly, initial estimators of every coefficient function share the same bias as the local linear estimates in the univariate FCR model, but the variance of the former is bigger than that of the latter. To decrease the variance of the initial estimates, a one-step back-fitting technique is used to obtain the improved estimators of all functions. The improved estimator of the constant part function has the same asymptotic normality property as the local linear nonparametric regression for univariate data. The improved estimators of the coefficient functions have the same asymptotic normality properties as the local linear estimates in FCR model. The bandwidths and the smoothing variables are selected by a data-driven method. Both simulated and real data examples related to nonlinear time series modeling are used to illustrate the applications of the FCPLR model.     

A Sparse Structured Shrinkage Estimator for Nonparametric Varying-Coefficient Model with an Application in Genomics

Many problems in genomics are related to variable selection where high-dimensional genomic data are treated as covariates. Such genomic covariates often have certain structures and can be represented as vertices of an undirected graph. Biological processes also vary as functions depending upon some biological state, such as time. High-dimensional variable selection where covariates are graph-structured and underlying model is nonparametric presents an important but largely unaddressed statistical challenge. Motivated by the problem of regression-based motif discovery, we consider the problem of variable selection for high-dimensional nonparametric varying-coefficient models and introduce a sparse structured shrinkage (SSS) estimator based on basis function expansions and a novel smoothed penalty function. We present an efficient algorithm for computing the SSS estimator. Results on model selection consistency and estimation bounds are derived. Moreover, finite-sample performances are studied via simulations, and the effects of high-dimensionality and structural information of the covariates are especially highlighted. We apply our method to motif finding problem using a yeast cell-cycle gene expression dataset and word counts in genes' promoter sequences. Our results demonstrate that the proposed method can result in better variable selection and prediction for high-dimensional regression when the underlying model is nonparametric and covariates are structured. Supplemental materials for the article are available online.     

The Multivariate Partially Linear EV Model with B-spline

A multivariate partially linear EV model is considered in this paper. By correcting the attenuation, a modified B-spline least squares estimator for both the parametric and the nonparametric components is proposed. Moreover, we investigate the asymptotical normality of the modified estimator of the parametric components and the convergence rate of the estimator of the nonparametric function.     

Location estimation in nonparametric regression with censored data

Consider the heteroscedastic model Y=m(X)+σ(X)?, where ? and X are independent, Y is subject to right censoring, m(·) is an unknown but smooth location function (like e.g. conditional mean, median, trimmed mean…) and σ(·) an unknown but smooth scale function. In this paper we consider the estimation of m(·) under this model. The estimator we propose is a Nadaraya-Watson type estimator, for which the censored observations are replaced by ‘synthetic’ data points estimated under the above model. The estimator offers an alternative for the completely nonparametric estimator of m(·), which cannot be estimated consistently in a completely nonparametric way, whenever high quantiles of the conditional distribution of Y given X=x are involved.We obtain the asymptotic properties of the proposed estimator of m(x) and study its finite sample behaviour in a simulation study. The method is also applied to a study of quasars in astronomy.     

A Sparse Structured Shrinkage Estimator for Nonparametric Varying-Coefficient Model With an Application in Genomics

Many problems in genomics are related to variable selection where high-dimensional genomic data are treated as covariates. Such genomic covariates often have certain structures and can be represented as vertices of an undirected graph. Biological processes also vary as functions depending upon some biological state, such as time. High-dimensional variable selection where covariates are graph-structured and underlying model is nonparametric presents an important but largely unaddressed statistical challenge. Motivated by the problem of regression-based motif discovery, we consider the problem of variable selection for high-dimensional nonparametric varying-coefficient models and introduce a sparse structured shrinkage (SSS) estimator based on basis function expansions and a novel smoothed penalty function. We present an efficient algorithm for computing the SSS estimator. Results on model selection consistency and estimation bounds are derived. Moreover, finite-sample performances are studied via simulations, and the effects of high-dimensionality and structural information of the covariates are especially highlighted. We apply our method to motif finding problem using a yeast cell-cycle gene expression dataset and word counts in genes’ promoter sequences. Our results demonstrate that the proposed method can result in better variable selection and prediction for high-dimensional regression when the underlying model is nonparametric and covariates are structured. Supplemental materials for the article are available online.