We propose a smoothed least squares estimator of the parameters of a threshold regression model. Our model generalizes that considered in Hansen (2000) to allow the thresholding to depend on a linear index of observed regressors, thus allowing discrete variables to enter. We also do not assume...

After a comprehensive review of the therapeutic advantage of all drugs reimbursed by the French Public Health Insurance, a large number of drugs were removed from the list of reimbursable drugs, among them mucolytics and expectorants (ATC Class R05C) in March 2006. The aim of this study is to...

This paper tests the hypothesis that democratisation is conducive to less environmental depletion due to human activity. Using Interrupted Time Series (ITS) design for a panel of 47 transition countries and two indexes of pollution, CO2 emissions and PM10 concentrations, I find that democracies...

We propose a segmented discrete-time model for the analysis of event history data in demographic research. Through a unified regression framework, the model provides estimates of the effects of explanatory variables and jointly accommodates flexibly non-proportional differences via segmented...

Many clustering methods require that the number of clusters believed present in a given data set be specified a priori, and a number of methods for estimating the number of clusters have been developed. However, the selection of the number of clusters is well recognized as a difficult and open...