arXiv subjects

Thomas Glinnan

Publications and source records attributed to Thomas Glinnan.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Design-Based Inference for Time-Series GMM

This paper studies inference for time-series GMM when uncertainty comes from shock assignment within a realized historical episode. Rather than treating the data as one random draw from a population of hypothetical economies, the framework conditions on the historical environment and considers alternative realizations of shocks and instruments. For locally correctly specified GMM estimators, the centered moment has design long-run variance $\Omega_R$, which determines the sandwich covariance for the finite-history estimand. Conventional HAC estimators instead converge to $\Omega_R^+=\Omega_R+\Omega_\mu$, where $\Omega_\mu\succeq0$ is the long-run variance of the centered mean-moment path. HAC inference is therefore conservative for scalar functions of the finite-history estimand. Projection adjustment using predetermined covariates can reduce this HAC variance limit in Loewner order and, under an additional long-run orthogonality condition, yields a tighter conservative bound on the corresponding asymptotic covariance. Monte Carlo evidence shows when the distinction is quantitatively important. In a monetary-policy application, standard-error reductions from rich macro covariates provide a diagnostic for economically meaningful predictable variation in the mean-moment path.

econ.EM↗

arXiv2026

Quasi-Bayesian Hierarchical Models

We develop the Quasi-Bayesian Hierarchical Model (QBHM) for grouped GMM settings. The framework combines Bayesian hierarchical modelling with Laplace-type estimation: it preserves each group-specific objective function, while introducing a pooling term for economically comparable parameters. When the number of studies is fixed, the QBHM estimator-the quasi-posterior mean-has the same asymptotic distribution as GMM when estimating strongly identified study parameters. For weakly identified studies, we analyze the asymptotic properties of the method via a weak-GMM limit experiment: an asymptotic approximation in which the sample-moment criterion remains a random function over the weak parameter space, and the upper-level pooling relation induces a family of priors over weak values. In this experiment, the weak-limit QBHM rule is a Bayes rule under squared loss for the hierarchy-induced weak-limit prior, which provides a decision-theoretic justification for our procedure. We also extend our results to mixed within-study blocks, allowing a single study to contain both strongly and weakly identified parameters. Pooling can also reduce the pointwise asymptotic mean squared error (MSE) relative to unpooled estimation when the bias--variance tradeoff is favorable. Gaussian likelihood, nonlinear weak-GMM, and weak-IV calculations show when this happens, while simulations and a microenterprise application illustrate the method.

econ.EM↗

arXiv2025

Bounds on inequality with incomplete data

We study inequality measures when outcomes are observed only in intervals, as in historical tabulations, privacy-protected grouped data, and modern surveys. We develop a nonparametric framework for sharp identification and inference with grouped and interval-valued data, covering brackets and overlapping intervals. For a class of inequality indices, sharp bounds are attained by discrete distributions with finite support, reducing the problem to optimization; linear-fractional indices, including the Gini and quantile ratios, yield linear or quadratic programs. Plug-in bound endpoints have a $\sqrt{n}$ asymptotic distribution, using an $m$-out-of-$n$ bootstrap. Applications to wealth and historical income data compare identified sets with imputation-based estimates.

econ.EM↗