A method of small-area estimation with a utility function is developed. The utility characterises a policy planned to be implemented in each area, based on the area's estimate of a key quantity. It is shown by simulations that the commonly applied composite and empirical Bayes estimators are...

We show on an application to small-area statistics that efficient estimation is not always conducive to good policy decisions, because the established inferential procedures have no capacity to incorporate the priorities and preferences of the policy makers and the related consequences of...

A method of small-area estimation with a utility function is developed. The utility characterises a policy planned to be implemented in each area, based on the area’s estimate of a key quantity. It is shown that the commonly applied empirical Bayes and composite estimators are inefficient for...

A class of composite estimators of small area quantities that exploit spatial (distancerelated) similarity is derived. It is based on a distribution-free model for the areas, but the estimators are aimed to have optimal design-based properties. Composition is applied also to estimate some of the...