Estimating Regression Models in Which the Dependent Variable Is Based on Estimates

Jeffrey B. Lewis and Drew A. Linzer

Political Analysis, 2005, vol. 13, issue 4, 345-364

Abstract: Researchers often use as dependent variables quantities estimated from auxiliary data sets. Estimated dependent variable (EDV) models arise, for example, in studies where counties or states are the units of analysis and the dependent variable is an estimated mean, proportion, or regression coefficient. Scholars fitting EDV models have generally recognized that variation in the sampling variance of the observations on the dependent variable will induce heteroscedasticity. We show that the most common approach to this problem, weighted least squares, will usually lead to inefficient estimates and underestimated standard errors. In many cases, OLS with White's or Efron heteroscedastic consistent standard errors yields better results. We also suggest two simple alternative FGLS approaches that are more efficient and yield consistent standard error estimates. Finally, we apply the various alternative estimators to a replication of Cohen's (2004) cross-national study of presidential approval.

Date: 2005
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (204)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/ ... type/journal_article link to article abstract page (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cup:polals:v:13:y:2005:i:04:p:345-364_00

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Political Analysis from Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press, UPH, Shaftesbury Road, Cambridge CB2 8BS UK.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Kirk Stebbing ().