The robust F-statistic as a test for weak instruments
Frank Windmeijer
Journal of Econometrics, 2025, vol. 247, issue C
Abstract:
For the linear model with a single endogenous variable, (Montiel Olea and Pflueger 2013) proposed the effective F-statistic as a test for weak instruments in terms of the Nagar bias of the two-stage least squares (2SLS) or limited information maximum likelihood (LIML) estimator relative to a benchmark worst-case bias. We show that their methodology for the 2SLS estimator applies to a class of linear generalized method of moments (GMM) estimators with an associated class of generalized effective F-statistics. The standard robust F-statistic is a member of this class. The associated GMMf estimator, with the extension “f” for first-stage, has the weight matrix based on the first-stage residuals. In the grouped-data IV designs of Andrews (2018) with moderate and high levels of endogeneity and where the robust F-statistic is large but the effective F-statistic is small, the GMMf estimator is shown to behave much better in terms of bias than the 2SLS estimator.
Keywords: Instrumental variables; Weak instruments; Heteroskedasticity; Robust F-statistic; GMM (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C12 C26 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:econom:v:247:y:2025:i:c:s0304407625000053
DOI: 10.1016/j.jeconom.2025.105951
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