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on Discrete Choice Models |
| By: | Arthur Lewbel (Boston College); Lars Nesheim (CeMMAP) |
| Abstract: | We propose a demand model where consumers simultaneously choose a few different goods from a large menu of available goods, and choose how much to consume of each good. The model nests multinomial discrete choice and continuous demand systems as special cases. Goods can be substitutes or complements. Random coefficients are employed to capture the wide variation in the composition of consumption baskets. Non-negativity constraints produce corners that account for different consumers purchasing different numbers of types of goods. We show semiparametric identification of the model. We apply the model to the demand for fruit in the United Kingdom. We estimate the model’s parameters using UK scanner data for 2008 from the Kantar World Panel. Using our parameter estimates, we estimate a matrix of demand elasticities for 27 categories of fruit and analyze a range of tax and policy change scenarios. |
| Keywords: | sparse demand, discrete choice, continuous choice, complements, complementarity, substitutes, demand estimation, scanner data, fruit, quadratic utility |
| JEL: | C13 C34 D12 L40 L66 |
| Date: | 2019–11–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:boc:bocoec:1005&r=all |
| By: | Mustapha Ridaoui (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne); Michel Grabisch (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne, PSE - Paris School of Economics); Christophe Labreuche (Thales Research and Technology [Palaiseau] - THALES) |
| Abstract: | Models in Multicriteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) can be analyzed by means of an importance index and an interaction index for every group of criteria. We consider first discrete models in MCDA, without further restriction, which amounts to considering multichoice games, that is, cooperative games with several levels of participation. We propose and axiomatize two interaction indices for multichoice games: the signed interaction index and the absolute interaction index. In a second part, we consider the continuous case, supposing that the continuous model is obtained from a discrete one by means of the Choquet integral. We show that, as in the case of classical games, the interaction index defined for continuous aggre-gation functions coincides with the (signed) interaction index, up to a normalizing coefficient. |
| Keywords: | Choquet inte- gral,multicriteria decision analysis,interaction,multichoice game |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:pseptp:halshs-02380901&r=all |
| By: | Rub\'en Loaiza-Maya; Michael Stanley Smith; David J. Nott; Peter J. Danaher |
| Abstract: | Models with a large number of latent variables are often used to fully utilize the information in big or complex data. However, they can be difficult to estimate using standard approaches, and variational inference methods are a popular alternative. Key to the success of these is the selection of an approximation to the target density that is accurate, tractable and fast to calibrate using optimization methods. Mean field or structured Gaussian approximations are common, but these can be inaccurate and slow to calibrate when there are many latent variables. Instead, we propose a family of tractable variational approximations that are more accurate and faster to calibrate for this case. The approximation is a parsimonious copula model for the parameter posterior, combined with the exact conditional posterior of the latent variables. We derive a simplified expression for the re-parameterization gradient of the variational lower bound, which is the main ingredient of efficient optimization algorithms used to implement variational estimation. We illustrate using two substantive econometric examples. The first is a nonlinear state space model for U.S. inflation. The second is a random coefficients tobit model applied to a rich marketing dataset with one million sales observations from a panel of 10,000 individuals. In both cases, we show that our approximating family is faster to calibrate than either mean field or structured Gaussian approximations, and that the gains in posterior estimation accuracy are considerable. |
| Date: | 2020–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2005.07430&r=all |
| By: | David Guerrero (AME-SPLOTT - Systèmes Productifs, Logistique, Organisation des Transports et Travail - UNIV GUSTAVE EIFFEL - Université Gustave Eiffel) |
| Abstract: | This work examines the main determinants of hinterland evolution through a literature review. It explores the possibilities and challenges for inter-regional comparisons, and suggests a tentative common framework. The chapter mainly deals with European issues, though complementing them by integrating studies done on other regions. The literature review covers mainly the last two decades, during which containerization have reached maturity in most world regions. The chapter is organized as follows. The first section introduces some historical elements to understand the specificity of European hinterlands, mostly shaped during the 16th-18th century. The next section presents the current situation of European ports compared with the rest of the world. The third section reviews current determinants of hinterland expansion and shrinkage in various regional contexts. The conclusion discusses the need for pushing further the elaboration of a common framework notwithstanding challenges for inter-regional comparison. |
| Keywords: | CONTAINERIZATION,HINTERLAND,PORT,EUROPE |
| Date: | 2020–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-02551947&r=all |
| By: | Awa Sanou; Lenis O. Liverpool-Tasie; Caputo Vincenzia; John Kerr |
| Abstract: | Key Findings -Maize traders respond to attributes their buyers care about and will pay a price premium for. -Wholesalers who sell to buyers (other large traders, large feed mills, food companies) who know or care about aflatoxin exhibit the highest mean WTP for aflatoxin safe certification. -Traders who sell to consumers consistently have a low WTP for aflatoxin certification; consistent with the fact that they don’t know about aflatoxins. -Traders selling to consumers exhibit the highest WTP for low moisture content, an attribute they are familiar with, but it is an incomplete measure of aflatoxin contamination. -Nigerian traders trust reputable domestic organizations over foreign ones for aflatoxin certification. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Consumer/Household Economics, Demand and Price Analysis, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, International Development |
| Date: | 2019–05–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:miffpb:303608&r=all |
| By: | Nguyen, Ha Trong; Mitrou, Francis; Taylor, Catherine L.; Zubrick, Stephen R. |
| Abstract: | This paper presents robust evidence that retirement causally improves overall life satisfaction which is subsequently explained by improvements in satisfaction with one’s financial situation, free time, health, and participation in local community activities. Furthermore, while the positive wellbeing impact of retirement is sizable initially, it fades after the first 3 years. We find that the improvements in financial satisfaction upon retirement are only observed for low-income individuals. However, the wellbeing impact of retirement does not differ by gender, educational, occupational, economic or marital backgrounds. We also explore several potential explanations for our findings. This paper employs a fixed effect instrumental variable model, which exploits the discontinuity in the eligibility ages for state pension to construct an instrument for retirement, and 18 waves of high-quality Australian panel data. The results also suggest that failing to adequately account for the endogeneity of retirement would result in a downward-biased estimate of a positive wellbeing impact of retirement. |
| Keywords: | Retirement,Wellbeing,Life Satisfaction,Instrumental Variable,Age Threshold,Australia |
| JEL: | I31 J14 J26 H55 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:536&r=all |
| By: | Ruijun Bu; Kaddour Hadri; Dennis Kristensen |
| Abstract: | We propose a new semiparametric approach for modelling nonlinear univariate diffusions, where the observed process is a nonparametric transformation of an underlying parametric diffusion (UPD). This modelling strategy yields a general class of semiparametric Markov diffusion models with parametric dynamic copulas and nonparametric marginal distributions. We provide primitive conditions for the identification of the UPD parameters together with the unknown transformations from discrete samples. Likelihood-based estimators of both parametric and nonparametric components are developed and we analyze the asymptotic properties of these. Kernel-based drift and diffusion estimators are also proposed and shown to be normally distributed in large samples. A simulation study investigates the finite sample performance of our estimators in the context of modelling US short-term interest rates. We also present a simple application of the proposed method for modelling the CBOE volatility index data. |
| Date: | 2020–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2005.03513&r=all |
| By: | Shujie Ma; Liangjun Su; Yichong Zhang |
| Abstract: | This paper proposes a logistic undirected network formation model which allows for assortative matching on observed individual characteristics and the presence of edge-wise fixed effects. We model the coefficients of observed characteristics to have a latent community structure and the edge-wise fixed effects to be of low rank. We propose a multi-step estimation procedure involving nuclear norm regularization, sample splitting, iterative logistic regression and spectral clustering to detect the latent communities. We show that the latent communities can be exactly recovered when the expected degree of the network is of order log n or higher, where n is the number of nodes in the network. The finite sample performance of the new estimation and inference methods is illustrated through both simulated and real datasets. |
| Date: | 2020–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2005.03226&r=all |