This paper proposes a new method for estimating random coefficients logit models using aggregate data. The method is applicable for models with discrete-type heterogeneity in consumer tastes when additional data on the total sales for each consumer type are available. The type-level data do not...

This paper investigates the presence of habit formation in household consumption, using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. We develop an econometric model of internal habit formation of the multiplicative specification. The restrictions of the model allow for classical measurement...

We propose two simple bias reduction procedures that apply to estimators in a general static simultaneous equation model and which are valid under reatively weak distributional assumptions for the errors. Standard jackknife estimators, as applied to 2SLS, may not reduce the bias of the exogenous...

The dominant practice in economics is to choose the mathematical specification of model relations on the basis of convenience, without much theoretical support. This paper discusses how quantitative model specifications can, in some cases, be given a more formal scientific underpinning in the...

Inspired by the recent literature on aggregation theory, this paper introduces HITS, a semiparametric model of consumer demand that allows for diversity in tastes. The strong variation of budget shares observed across income strata can arise from two economic factors: the individual income...

In this paper, we consider expectations of the form E[log(y)|x] = a'log(x) as a good starting point for a more general analysis. We show why this naturally leads to the following flexible functional form E[y|x]= f(h(x)), where all functions are estimated by cubic splines. One of the main goals...

In this paper, we focus on the building of an invariant distribution function associated to a non-stationary sample. After discussing some specific problems encountered by non-stationarity inside samples like the "spurious" long memory effect, we build a sequence of stationary processes...

In this paper we discuss different aspects of long mzmory behavior and specify what kinds of parametric models follow them. We discuss the confusion which can arise when empirical autocorrelation function of a short memory process decreases in an hyperbolic way.