arXiv subjects

Anna Mikusheva

Publications and source records attributed to Anna Mikusheva.

9 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Estimation and exclusion restrictions in clustered linear models

We study linear regression models with clustered data, high-dimensional controls, and intricate exclusion restrictions. We propose a correctly centered internal instrument IV estimator that accommodates a broad class of exclusion restrictions and allows within-cluster dependence. The estimator admits a simple leave-out interpretation and is computationally tractable. We derive a central limit theorem for the associated quadratic form and propose a robust variance estimator. We also develop identification-robust inference procedures. Our framework extends dynamic panel methods to general clustered settings. We illustrate the approach in a large-scale fiscal intervention in rural Kenya, where spatial interference generates the exclusion-restriction pattern.

econ.EM↗

arXiv2024

Weak Identification with Many Instruments

Linear instrumental variable regressions are widely used to estimate causal effects. Many instruments arise from the use of ``technical'' instruments and more recently from the empirical strategy of ``judge design''. This paper surveys and summarizes ideas from recent literature on estimation and statistical inferences with many instruments for a single endogenous regressor. We discuss how to assess the strength of the instruments and how to conduct weak identification-robust inference under heteroskedasticity. We establish new results for a jack-knifed version of the Lagrange Multiplier (LM) test statistic. Furthermore, we extend the weak-identification-robust tests to settings with both many exogenous regressors and many instruments. We propose a test that properly partials out many exogenous regressors while preserving the re-centering property of the jack-knife. The proposed tests have correct size and good power properties.

econ.EM↗

arXiv2024

Linear Regression with Weak Exogeneity

This paper studies linear time series regressions with many regressors. Weak exogeneity is the most used identifying assumption in time series. Weak exogeneity requires the structural error to have zero conditional expectation given the present and past regressor values, allowing errors to correlate with future regressor realizations. We show that weak exogeneity in time series regressions with many controls may produce substantial biases and even render the least squares (OLS) estimator inconsistent. The bias arises in settings with many regressors because the normalized OLS design matrix remains asymptotically random and correlates with the regression error when only weak (but not strict) exogeneity holds. This bias's magnitude increases with the number of regressors and their average autocorrelation. To address this issue, we propose an innovative approach to bias correction that yields a new estimator with improved properties relative to OLS. We establish consistency and conditional asymptotic Gaussianity of this new estimator and provide a method for inference.

econ.EM↗

arXiv2023

GMM is Inadmissible Under Weak Identification

We consider estimation in moment condition models and show that under any bound on identification strength, asymptotically admissible (i.e. undominated) estimators in a wide class of estimation problems must be uniformly continuous in the sample moment function. GMM estimators are in general discontinuous in the sample moments, and are thus inadmissible. We show, by contrast, that bagged, or bootstrap aggregated, GMM estimators as well as quasi-Bayes posterior means have superior continuity properties, while results in the literature imply that they are equivalent to GMM when identification is strong. In simulations calibrated to published instrumental variables specifications, we find that these alternatives often outperform GMM.

econ.EM↗

arXiv2021

Inference with Many Weak Instruments

We develop a concept of weak identification in linear IV models in which the number of instruments can grow at the same rate or slower than the sample size. We propose a jackknifed version of the classical weak identification-robust Anderson-Rubin (AR) test statistic. Large-sample inference based on the jackknifed AR is valid under heteroscedasticity and weak identification. The feasible version of this statistic uses a novel variance estimator. The test has uniformly correct size and good power properties. We also develop a pre-test for weak identification that is related to the size property of a Wald test based on the Jackknife Instrumental Variable Estimator (JIVE). This new pre-test is valid under heteroscedasticity and with many instruments.

econ.EM↗

arXiv2021

Optimal Decision Rules for Weak GMM

This paper studies optimal decision rules, including estimators and tests, for weakly identified GMM models. We derive the limit experiment for weakly identified GMM, and propose a theoretically-motivated class of priors which give rise to quasi-Bayes decision rules as a limiting case. Together with results in the previous literature, this establishes desirable properties for the quasi-Bayes approach regardless of model identification status, and we recommend quasi-Bayes for settings where identification is a concern. We further propose weighted average power-optimal identification-robust frequentist tests and confidence sets, and prove a Bernstein-von Mises-type result for the quasi-Bayes posterior under weak identification.

econ.EM↗

arXiv2020

Limit Theorems for Factor Models

The paper establishes the central limit theorems and proposes how to perform valid inference in factor models. We consider a setting where many counties/regions/assets are observed for many time periods, and when estimation of a global parameter includes aggregation of a cross-section of heterogeneous micro-parameters estimated separately for each entity. The central limit theorem applies for quantities involving both cross-sectional and time series aggregation, as well as for quadratic forms in time-aggregated errors. The paper studies the conditions when one can consistently estimate the asymptotic variance, and proposes a bootstrap scheme for cases when one cannot. A small simulation study illustrates performance of the asymptotic and bootstrap procedures. The results are useful for making inferences in two-step estimation procedures related to factor models, as well as in other related contexts. Our treatment avoids structural modeling of cross-sectional dependence but imposes time-series independence.

econ.EM↗

arXiv2019

Factor models with many assets: strong factors, weak factors, and the two-pass procedure

This paper re-examines the problem of estimating risk premia in linear factor pricing models. Typically, the data used in the empirical literature are characterized by weakness of some pricing factors, strong cross-sectional dependence in the errors, and (moderately) high cross-sectional dimensionality. Using an asymptotic framework where the number of assets/portfolios grows with the time span of the data while the risk exposures of weak factors are local-to-zero, we show that the conventional two-pass estimation procedure delivers inconsistent estimates of the risk premia. We propose a new estimation procedure based on sample-splitting instrumental variables regression. The proposed estimator of risk premia is robust to weak included factors and to the presence of strong unaccounted cross-sectional error dependence. We derive the many-asset weak factor asymptotic distribution of the proposed estimator, show how to construct its standard errors, verify its performance in simulations, and revisit some empirical studies.

econ.EM↗

arXiv2014

Conditional Inference with a Functional Nuisance Parameter

This paper shows that the problem of testing hypotheses in moment condition models without any assumptions about identification may be considered as a problem of testing with an infinite-dimensional nuisance parameter. We introduce a sufficient statistic for this nuisance parameter and propose conditional tests. These conditional tests have uniformly correct asymptotic size for a large class of models and test statistics. We apply our approach to construct tests based on quasi-likelihood ratio statistics, which we show are efficient in strongly identified models and perform well relative to existing alternatives in two examples.

math.ST↗