Methods, like Maximum Empirical Likelihood (MEL), that operate within the Empirical Estimating Equations (E3) approach to estimation and inference are challenged by the Empty Set Problem (ESP). We propose to return from E3 back to the Estimating Equations, and to use the Maximum Likelihood...

Criterion choice is such a hard problem in information recovery and in estimation and inference. In the case of inverse problems with noise, can probabilistic laws provide a basis for empirical estimator choice? That is the problem we investigate in this paper. Large Deviations Theory is used to...

In this paper we demonstrate, in a parametric Estimating Equations setting, that the Empirical Likelihood (EL) method is an asymptotic instance of the Bayesian non-parametric Maximum-A-Posteriori approach. The resulting probabilistic interpretation and justifcation of EL rests on Bayesian...

Empirical Likelihood (EL) and other methods that operate within the Empirical Estimating Equations (E3) approach to estimation and inference are challenged by the Empty Set Problem (ESP). ESP concerns the possibility that a model set, which is data-dependent, may be empty for some data sets. To...

What motivates people in rural villages to share? We first elicit a baseline level of sharing using a standard, anonymous dictator game. Then using variants of the dictator game that allow for either revealing the dictator's identity or allowing the dictator to choose the recipient, we attribute...

We conduct field experiments in rural Paraguay to measure the value of reciprocity within social networks in a set of fifteen villages. These experiments involve conducting dictator- type games; different treatments involve manipulating the information and choice that individuals have in the...

Despite the productive efforts of economists, the disequilibrium nature of the economic system and imprecise predictions persist. One reason for this outcome is that traditional econometric models and estimation and inference methods cannot provide the necessary quantitative information for the...