Optimal Estimation of Discrete Choice Demand Models with Consumer and Product Data

We propose a conformant likelihood estimator with exogeneity restrictions (CLEER) for random coefficients discrete choice demand models that is applicable in a broad range of data settings. It combines the likelihoods of two mixed logit estimators--one for consumer level data, and one for product level data--with product level exogeneity restrictions. Our estimator is both efficient and conformant: its rates of convergence will be the fastest possible given the variation available in the data. The researcher does not need to pre-test or adjust the estimator and the inference procedure is valid across a wide variety of scenarios. Moreover, it can be tractably applied to large datasets. We illustrate the features of our estimator by comparing it to alternatives in the literature