This paper proposes consistent estimators for transformation parameters in semiparametric models. The problem is to find the optimal transformation into the space of models with a predetermined regression structure like additive or multiplicative separability. We give results for the estimation of the transformation when the rest of the model is estimated non- or semi-parametrically and fulfills some consistency conditions. We propose two methods for the estimation of the transformation parameter: maximizing a profile likelihood function or minimizing the mean squared distance from independence. First the problem of identification of such models is discussed. We then state asymptotic results for a general class of nonparametric estimators. Finally, we give some particular examples of nonparametric estimators of transformed separable models. The small sample performance is studied in several simulations.
In this paper we study the problem of semiparametric estimation for a class of McKean-Vlasov stochastic differential equations. Our aim is to estimate the drift coefficient of a MV-SDE based on observations of the corresponding particle system. We propose a semiparametric estimation procedure and derive the rates of convergence for the resulting estimator. We further prove that the obtained rates are essentially optimal in the minimax sense.
Consider the semiparametric transformation model $Λ_{θ_o}(Y)=m(X)+ε$, where $θ_o$ is an unknown finite dimensional parameter, the functions $Λ_{θ_o}$ and $m$ are smooth, $ε$ is independent of $X$, and $\esp(ε)=0$. We propose a kernel-type estimator of the density of the error $ε$, and prove its asymptotic normality. The estimated errors, which lie at the basis of this estimator, are obtained from a profile likelihood estimator of $θ_o$ and a nonparametric kernel estimator of $m$. The practical performance of the proposed density estimator is evaluated in a simulation study.
We consider estimation in a class of semiparametric transformation models for right--censored data. These models gained much attention in survival analysis; however, most authors consider only regression models derived from frailty distributions whose hazards are decreasing. This paper considers estimation in a more flexible class of models and proposes conditional rank M-estimators for estimation of the Euclidean component of the model.
We consider the efficient estimation of the semiparametric additive transformation model with current status data. A wide range of survival models and econometric models can be incorporated into this general transformation framework. We apply the B-spline approach to simultaneously estimate the linear regression vector, the nondecreasing transformation function, and a set of nonparametric regression functions. We show that the parametric estimate is semiparametric efficient in the presence of multiple nonparametric nuisance functions. An explicit consistent B-spline estimate of the asymptotic …
Density estimation plays a fundamental role in many areas of statistics and machine learning. Parametric, nonparametric and semiparametric density estimation methods have been proposed in the literature. Semiparametric density models are flexible in incorporating domain knowledge and uncertainty regarding the shape of the density function. Existing literature on semiparametric density models is scattered and lacks a systematic framework. In this paper, we consider a unified framework based on the reproducing kernel Hilbert space for modeling, estimation, computation and theory. We propose gene…
We derive independence tests by means of dependence measures thresholding in a semiparametric context. Precisely, estimates of phi-mutual informations, associated to phi-divergences between a joint distribution and the product distribution of its margins, are derived through the dual representation of phi-divergences. The asymptotic properties of the proposed estimates are established, including consistency, asymptotic distributions and large deviations principle. The obtained tests of independence are compared via their relative asymptotic Bahadur efficiency and numerical simulations. It foll…
We investigate a semiparametric regression model where one gets noisy non linear non invertible functions of the observations. We focus on the application to bearings-only tracking. We first investigate the least squares estimator and prove its consistency and asymptotic normality under mild assumptions. We study the semiparametric likelihood process and prove local asymptotic normality of the model. This allows to define the efficient Fisher information as a lower bound for the asymptotic variance of regular estimators, and to prove that the parametric likelihood estimator is regular and asym…
In this work we present a simple estimation procedure for a general frailty model for analysis of prospective correlated failure times. Earlier work showed this method to perform well in a simulation study. Here we provide rigorous large-sample theory for the proposed estimators of both the regression coefficient vector and the dependence parameter, including consistent variance estimators.
This paper complements the results of Andresen et. al "Critical dimension in profile semiparametric estimation" (2014) on profile estimators in semiparametric models. We present two examples. One that illustrates that the smoothness constraint on the expected value of the contrast functional used to define the profile M-estimator is necessary for the bound derived for the critical ratio of dimension to sample size. A second one to show that in the case that the target dimension is proportional to the full dimension the critical ratio for the Fisher type result stays the same while for the Wilk…
In this paper, we introduce a wavelet-based method for estimating the EDR space in Li's semiparametric regression model for achieving dimension reduction. This method is obtained by using linear wavelet estimators of the density and regression functions that are involved in the covariance matrix of conditional expectation whose spectral analysis gives the EDR directions. Then, consistency of the proposed estimators is proved. A simulation study that allow one to evaluate the performance of the proposal with comparison to existing methods is presented.
In this paper, we consider nonparametric multidimensional finite mixture models and we are interested in the semiparametric estimation of the population weights. Here, the i.i.d. observations are assumed to have at least three components which are independent given the population. We approximate the semiparametric model by projecting the conditional distributions on step functions associated to some partition. Our first main result is that if we refine the partition slowly enough, the associated sequence of maximum likelihood estimators of the weights is asymptotically efficient, and the poste…
There is a difficulty in finding an estimate of variance of the profile likelihood estimator in the joint model of longitudinal and survival data. We solve the difficulty by introducing the ``statistical generalized derivative''. The derivative is used to show the asymptotic normality of the estimator without assuming the second derivative of the density function in the model exists.
We propose a new class of R-estimators for semiparametric VARMA models in which the innovation density plays the role of the nuisance parameter. Our estimators are based on the novel concepts of multivariate center-outward ranks and signs. We show that these concepts, combined with Le Cam's asymptotic theory of statistical experiments, yield a class of semiparametric estimation procedures, which are efficient (at a given reference density), root-$n$ consistent, and asymptotically normal under a broad class of (possibly non elliptical) actual innovation densities. No kernel density estimation i…
Case-cohort design, an outcome-dependent sampling design for censored survival data, is increasingly used in biomedical research. The development of asymptotic theory for a case-cohort design in the current literature primarily relies on counting process stochastic integrals. Such an approach, however, is rather limited and lacks theoretical justification for outcome-dependent weighted methods due to non-predictability. Instead of stochastic integrals, we derive asymptotic properties for case-cohort studies based on a general Z-estimation theory for semiparametric models with bundled parameter…
We review the Bayesian theory of semiparametric inference following Bickel and Kleijn (2012) and Kleijn and Knapik (2013). After an overview of efficiency in parametric and semiparametric estimation problems, we consider the Bernstein-von Mises theorem (see, e.g., Le Cam and Yang (1990)) and generalize it to (LAN) regular and (LAE) irregular semiparametric estimation problems. We formulate a version of the semiparametric Bernstein-von Mises theorem that does not depend on least-favourable submodels, thus bypassing the most restrictive condition in the presentation of Bickel and Kleijn (2012). …
It was shown that when one disposes of a parametric information of the truncation distribution, the semiparametric estimator of the distribution function for truncated data (Wang, 1989) is more efficient than the nonparametric one. On the basis of this estimation method, we derive an estimator for the tail index of Pareto-type distributions that are randomly right-truncated and establish its consistency and asymptotic normality. The finite sample behavior of the proposed estimator is carried out by simulation study. We point out that, in terms of both bias and root of the mean squared error, o…
Analysis of survival data with biased samples caused by left-truncation or length-biased sampling has received extensive interest. Many inference methods have been developed for various survival models. These methods, however, break down when survival data are typically error-contaminated. Although error-prone survival data commonly arise in practice, little work has been available in the literature for handling length-biased data with measurement error. In survival analysis, the transformation model is one of the frequently used models. However, methods of analyzing the transformation model w…
We consider semiparametric transformation models, where after pre-estimation of a parametric transformation of the response the data are modeled by means of nonparametric regression. We suggest subsequent procedures for testing lack-of-fit of the regression function and for significance of covariables, which - in contrast to procedures from the literature - are asymptotically not influenced by the pre-estimation of the transformation. The test statistics are asymptotically pivotal and have the same asymptotic distribution as in regression models without transformation. We show validity of a mu…
In this paper we propose a general series method to estimate a semiparametric partially linear varying coefficient model. We establish the consistency and \sqrtn-normality property of the estimator of the finite-dimensional parameters of the model. We further show that, when the error is conditionally homoskedastic, this estimator is semiparametrically efficient in the sense that the inverse of the asymptotic variance of the estimator of the finite-dimensional parameter reaches the semiparametric efficiency bound of this model. A small-scale simulation is reported to examine the finite sample …
Consider $M$-estimation in a semiparametric model that is characterized by a Euclidean parameter of interest and an infinite-dimensional nuisance parameter. As a general purpose approach to statistical inferences, the bootstrap has found wide applications in semiparametric $M$-estimation and, because of its simplicity, provides an attractive alternative to the inference approach based on the asymptotic distribution theory. The purpose of this paper is to provide theoretical justifications for the use of bootstrap as a semiparametric inferential tool. We show that, under general conditions, the…
In this article, we consider an imputation method to handle missing response values based on semiparametric quantile regression estimation. In the proposed method, the missing response values are generated using the estimated conditional quantile regression function at given values of covariates. We adopt the generalized method of moments for estimation of parameters defined through a general estimation equation. We demonstrate that the proposed estimator, which combines both semiparametric quantile regression imputation and generalized method of moments, has competitive edge against some of t…
A common practice in obtaining a semiparametric efficient estimate is through iteratively maximizing the (penalized) log-likelihood w.r.t. its Euclidean parameter and functional nuisance parameter via Newton-Raphson algorithm. The purpose of this paper is to provide a formula in calculating the minimal number of iterations $k^\ast$ needed to produce an efficient estimate $\hatθ_n^{(k^\ast)}$ from a theoretical point of view. We discover that (a) $k^\ast$ depends on the convergence rates of the initial estimate and nuisance estimate; (b) more than $k^\ast$ iterations, i.e., $k$, will only impro…
Assume a (semi)parametrically efficient estimator is given of the Euclidean parameter in a (semi)parametric model. A submodel is obtained by constraining this model in that a continuously differentiable function of the Euclidean parameter vanishes. We present an explicit method to construct (semi)parametrically efficient estimators of the Euclidean parameter in such equality constrained submodels and prove their efficiency. Our construction is based solely on the original efficient estimator and the constraining function. Only the parametric case of this estimation problem and a nonparametric …
This paper revisits the classical inference results for profile quasi maximum likelihood estimators (profile MLE) in the semiparametric estimation problem. We mainly focus on two prominent theorems: the Wilks phenomenon and Fisher expansion for the profile MLE are stated in a new fashion allowing finite samples and model misspecification. The method of study is also essentially different from the usual analysis of the semiparametric problem based on the notion of the hardest parametric submodel. Instead we derive finite sample deviation bounds for the linear approximation error for the gradien…
There are many interesting and widely used estimators of a functional with finite semiparametric variance bound that depend on nonparametric estimators of nuisance functions. We use cross-fitting (i.e. sample splitting) to construct novel estimators with fast remainder rates. We give cross-fit doubly robust estimators that use separate subsamples to estimate different nuisance functions. We obtain general, precise results for regression spline estimation of average linear functionals of conditional expectations with a finite semiparametric variance bound. We show that a cross-fit doubly robust…
We consider parameter estimation in a regression model corresponding to an iid sequence of censored observations of a finite state modulated renewal process. The model assumes a similar form as in Cox regression except that the baseline intensities are functions of the backwards recurrence time of the process and a time dependent covariate. As a result of this it falls outside the class of multiplicative intensity models. We use kernel estimation to construct estimates of the regression coefficints and the baseline cumulative hazards. We give conditions for consistency and asymptotic normality…
Nonparametric methods have been very popular in the last couple of decades in time series and regression, but no such development has taken place for spatial models. A rather obvious reason for this is the curse of dimensionality. For spatial data on a grid evaluating the conditional mean given its closest neighbors requires a four-dimensional nonparametric regression. In this paper a semiparametric spatial regression approach is proposed to avoid this problem. An estimation procedure based on combining the so-called marginal integration technique with local linear kernel estimation is develop…
We study semiparametric inference in some linear regression models with time-varying coefficients, dependent regressors and dependent errors. This problem, which has been considered recently by Zhang and Wu (2012) under the functional dependence measure, is interesting for parsimony reasons or for testing stability of some coefficients in a linear regression model. In this paper, we propose a different procedure for estimating non time-varying parameters at the rate root n, in the spirit of the method introduced by Robinson (1988) for partially linear models. When the errors in the model are m…
We disucss a statistical estimation problem of an optimal dividend barrier when the surplus process follows a Lévy insurance risk process. The optimal dividend barrier is defined as the level of the barrier that maximizes the expectation of the present value of all dividend payments until ruin. In this paper, an estimatior of the expected present value of all dividend payments is defined based on ``quasi-process'' in which sample paths are generated by shuffling increments of a sample path of the Lévy insurance risk process. The consistency of the optimal dividend barrier estimator is shown. M…
The bootstrap variance estimate is widely used in semiparametric inferences. However, its theoretical validity is a well known open problem. In this paper, we provide a {\em first} theoretical study on the bootstrap moment estimates in semiparametric models. Specifically, we establish the bootstrap moment consistency of the Euclidean parameter which immediately implies the consistency of $t$-type bootstrap confidence set. It is worth pointing out that the only additional cost to achieve the bootstrap moment consistency in contrast with the distribution consistency is to simply strengthen the $…
In this paper, we mainly discuss the cure model with survival data. Different from the usual survival data with right-censoring, we incorporate the features of left-truncation and measurement error in covariates. Generally speaking, left-truncation causes a biased sample in survival analysis; measurement error in covariates may incur a tremendous bias if we do not deal with it properly. To deal with these challenges, we propose a flexible way to analyze left-truncated survival data and correct measurement error in covariates. The theoretical results are also established in this paper.
Consider semiparametric models that display local asymptotic exponentiality (Ibragimov and Has'minskii (1981)), an asymptotic property of the likelihood associated with discontinuities of densities. Our interest goes to estimation of the location of such discontinuities while other aspects of the density form a nuisance parameter. It is shown that under certain conditions on model and prior, the posterior distribution displays Bernstein-von Mises-type asymptotic behaviour, with exponential distributions as the limiting sequence. In contrast to regular settings, the maximum likelihood estimator…
In this paper we consider a heteroscedastic transformation model, where the transformation belongs to a parametric family of monotone transformations, the regression and variance function are modelled nonparametrically and the error is independent of the multidimensional covariates. In this model, we first consider the estimation of the unknown components of the model, namely the transformation parameter, regression and variance function and the distribution of the error. We show the asymptotic normality of the proposed estimators. Second, we propose tests for the validity of the model, and es…
This paper presents a model selection technique of estimation in semiparametric regression models of the type Y_i=β^{\prime}\underbarX_i+f(T_i)+W_i, i=1,...,n. The parametric and nonparametric components are estimated simultaneously by this procedure. Estimation is based on a collection of finite-dimensional models, using a penalized least squares criterion for selection. We show that by tailoring the penalty terms developed for nonparametric regression to semiparametric models, we can consistently estimate the subset of nonzero coefficients of the linear part. Moreover, the selected estimator…
This article examines density estimation by combining a parametric approach with a nonparametric factor. The plug-in parametric estimator is seen as a crude estimator of the true density and is adjusted by a nonparametric factor. The nonparametric factor is derived by a criterion called local L_2-fitting. A class of estimators that have multiplicative adjustment is provided, including estimators proposed by several authors as special cases, and the asymptotic theories are developed. Theoretical comparison reveals that the estimators in this class are better than, or at least competitive with, …
Consider a semiparametric model with a Euclidean parameter and an infinite-dimensional parameter, to be called a Banach parameter. Assume: (a) There exists an efficient estimator of the Euclidean parameter. (b) When the value of the Euclidean parameter is known, there exists an estimator of the Banach parameter, which depends on this value and is efficient within this restricted model. Substituting the efficient estimator of the Euclidean parameter for the value of this parameter in the estimator of the Banach parameter, one obtains an efficient estimator of the Banach parameter for the full s…
Consider a quite arbitrary (semi)parametric model with a Euclidean parameter of interest and assume that an asymptotically (semi)parametrically efficient estimator of it is given. If the parameter of interest is known to lie on a general surface (image of a continuously differentiable vector valued function), we have a submodel in which this constrained Euclidean parameter may be rewritten in terms of a lower-dimensional Euclidean parameter of interest. An estimator of this underlying parameter is constructed based on the original estimator, and it is shown to be (semi)parametrically efficient…
We propose a new method for the analysis of competing risks data with long term survivors. The proposed method enables us to estimate the overall survival probability and cure fraction simultaneously. We formulate the effect of covariates on cumulative incidence functions using linear transformation models. Estimating equations based on counting process are developed to estimate regression coefficients. The asymptotic properties of the estimators are studied using martingale theory. An extensive Monte Carlo simulation study is carried out to assess the finite sample performance of the proposed…
The research described herewith is to re-visit the classical doubly robust estimation of average treatment effect by conducting a systematic study on the comparisons, in the sense of asymptotic efficiency, among all possible combinations of the estimated propensity score and outcome regression. To this end, we consider all nine combinations under, respectively, parametric, nonparametric and semiparametric structures. The comparisons provide useful information on when and how to efficiently utilize the model structures in practice. Further, when there is model-misspecification, either propensit…
This paper provides a semiparametric model of estimating states of the volatility defined as the squared diffusion coefficient of a stochastic differential equation. Without assuming any functional form of the volatility function, we consider the volatility state as an unobservable state in a state space model and estimate it by filtering. By using the estimates, we can draw the information on what kind of functions the volatility has behind the observable state of the process. We also prove the consistency of the model in the sense that estimated states converges to the true ones as the obser…
Quantitative studies in many fields involve the analysis of multivariate data of diverse types, including measurements that we may consider binary, ordinal and continuous. One approach to the analysis of such mixed data is to use a copula model, in which the associations among the variables are parameterized separately from their univariate marginal distributions. The purpose of this article is to provide a method of semiparametric inference for copula models via the construction of what we call a marginal set likelihood function for the association parameters. The proposed method of inference…
The complexity of semiparametric models poses new challenges to statistical inference and model selection that frequently arise from real applications. In this work, we propose new estimation and variable selection procedures for the semiparametric varying-coefficient partially linear model. We first study quantile regression estimates for the nonparametric varying-coefficient functions and the parametric regression coefficients. To achieve nice efficiency properties, we further develop a semiparametric composite quantile regression procedure. We establish the asymptotic normality of proposed …
There exist a number of tests for assessing the nonparametric heteroscedastic location-scale assumption. Here we consider a goodness-of-fit test for the more general hypothesis of the validity of this model under a parametric functional transformation on the response variable. Specifically we consider testing for independence between the regressors and the errors in a model where the transformed response is just a location/scale shift of the error. Our criteria use the familiar factorization property of the joint characteristic function of the covariates under independence. The difficulty is t…
We consider efficient estimation of the Euclidean parameters in a generalized partially linear additive models for longitudinal/clustered data when multiple covariates need to be modeled nonparametrically, and propose an estimation procedure based on a spline approximation of the nonparametric part of the model and the generalized estimating equations (GEE). Although the model in consideration is natural and useful in many practical applications, the literature on this model is very limited because of challenges in dealing with dependent data for nonparametric additive models. We show that the…
A Bernstein-von Mises theorem is derived for general semiparametric functionals. The result is applied to a variety of semiparametric problems in i.i.d. and non-i.i.d. situations. In particular, new tools are developed to handle semiparametric bias, in particular for nonlinear functionals and in cases where regularity is possibly low. Examples include the squared $L^2$-norm in Gaussian white noise, nonlinear functionals in density estimation, as well as functionals in autoregressive models. For density estimation, a systematic study of BvM results for two important classes of priors is provide…
A class of R-estimators based on the concepts of multivariate signed ranks and the optimal rank-based tests developed in Hallin and Paindaveine [Ann. Statist. 34 (2006)] is proposed for the estimation of the shape matrix of an elliptical distribution. These R-estimators are root-n consistent under any radial density g, without any moment assumptions, and semiparametrically efficient at some prespecified density f. When based on normal scores, they are uniformly more efficient than the traditional normal-theory estimator based on empirical covariance matrices (the asymptotic normality of which,…
This paper is devoted to the parametric estimation of a shift together with the nonparametric estimation of a regression function in a semiparametric regression model. We implement a very efficient and easy to handle Robbins-Monro procedure. On the one hand, we propose a stochastic algorithm similar to that of Robbins-Monro in order to estimate the shift parameter. A preliminary evaluation of the regression function is not necessary to estimate the shift parameter. On the other hand, we make use of a recursive Nadaraya-Watson estimator for the estimation of the regression function. This kernel…
This paper considers the efficient estimation of copula-based semiparametric strictly stationary Markov models. These models are characterized by nonparametric invariant (one-dimensional marginal) distributions and parametric bivariate copula functions where the copulas capture temporal dependence and tail dependence of the processes. The Markov processes generated via tail dependent copulas may look highly persistent and are useful for financial and economic applications. We first show that Markov processes generated via Clayton, Gumbel and Student's $t$ copulas and their survival copulas are…
We consider the problem of simultaneous variable selection and estimation in additive, partially linear models for longitudinal/clustered data. We propose an estimation procedure via polynomial splines to estimate the nonparametric components and apply proper penalty functions to achieve sparsity in the linear part. Under reasonable conditions, we obtain the asymptotic normality of the estimators for the linear components and the consistency of the estimators for the nonparametric components. We further demonstrate that, with proper choice of the regularization parameter, the penalized estimat…
Regularly varying space-time processes have proved useful to study extremal dependence in space-time data. We propose a semiparametric estimation procedure based on a closed form expression of the extremogram to estimate parametric models of extremal dependence functions. We establish the asymptotic properties of the resulting parameter estimates and propose subsampling procedures to obtain asymptotically correct confidence intervals. A simulation study shows that the proposed procedure works well for moderate sample sizes and is robust to small departures from the underlying model. Finally, w…
This paper deals with a situation when one is interested in the dependence structure of a multidimensional response variable in the presence of a multivariate covariate. It is assumed that the covariate affects only the marginal distributions through regression models while the dependence structure, which is described by a copula, is unaffected. A parametric estimation of the copula function is considered with focus on the maximum pseudo-likelihood method. It is proved that under some appropriate regularity assumptions the estimator calculated from the residuals is asymptotically equivalent to…
This paper considers a wide family of semiparametric repeated measures regression models, in which the main interest is on estimating population-level quantities such as mean, variance, probabilities etc. Examples of our framework include generalized linear models for clustered/longitudinal data, among many others. We derive plug-in kernel-based estimators of the population level quantities and derive their asymptotic distribution. An example involving estimation of the survival function of hemoglobin measures in the Kenya hemoglobin study data is presented to demonstrate our methodology.
In many semiparametric models that are parameterized by two types of parameters---a Euclidean parameter of interest and an infinite-dimensional nuisance parameter---the two parameters are bundled together, that is, the nuisance parameter is an unknown function that contains the parameter of interest as part of its argument. For example, in a linear regression model for censored survival data, the unspecified error distribution function involves the regression coefficients. Motivated by developing an efficient estimating method for the regression parameters, we propose a general sieve M-theorem…
We provide a semi-parametric analysis for the proportional likelihood ratio model, proposed by Luo & Tsai (2012). We study the tangent spaces for both the parameter of interest and the nuisance parameter, and obtain an explicit expression for the efficient score function. We propose a family of Z-estimators based on the score functions, including an approximated efficient estimator. Using inverse probability weighting, the proposed estimators can also be applied to different missing-data mechanisms, such as right censored data and non-random sampling. A simulation study that illustrates the fi…
We consider estimation in a particular semiparametric regression model for the mean of a counting process with ``panel count'' data. The basic model assumption is that the conditional mean function of the counting process is of the form $E\{\mathbb{N}(t)|Z\}=\exp(β_0^TZ)Λ_0(t)$ where $Z$ is a vector of covariates and $Λ_0$ is the baseline mean function. The ``panel count'' observation scheme involves observation of the counting process $\mathbb{N}$ for an individual at a random number $K$ of random time points; both the number and the locations of these time points may differ across individual…
