This paper introduces a straightforward sieve-based approach for estimating and conducting inference on regression parameters in panel data models with interactive fixed effects. The method's key assumption is that factor loadings can be decomposed into an unknown smooth function of individual characteristics plus an idiosyncratic error term. Our estimator offers advantages over existing approaches by taking a simple partial least squares form, eliminating the need for iterative procedures or preliminary factor estimation. In deriving the asymptotic properties, we discover that the limiting distribution exhibits a discontinuity that depends on how well our basis functions explain the factor loadings, as measured by the variance of the error factor loadings. This finding reveals that conventional ``plug-in'' methods using the estimated asymptotic covariance can produce excessively conservative coverage probabilities. We demonstrate that uniformly valid non-conservative inference can be achieved through the cross-sectional bootstrap method. Monte Carlo simulations confirm the estimator's strong performance in terms of mean squared error and good coverage results for the bootstrap procedure. We demonstrate the practical relevance of our methodology by analyzing growth rate determinants across OECD countries.
Factor structures or interactive effects are convenient devices to incorporate latent variables in panel data models. We consider fixed effect estimation of nonlinear panel single-index models with factor structures in the unobservables, which include logit, probit, ordered probit and Poisson specifications. We establish that fixed effect estimators of model parameters and average partial effects have normal distributions when the two dimensions of the panel grow large, but might suffer of incidental parameter bias. We show how models with factor structures can also be applied to capture impor…
This paper considers the maximum likelihood estimation of panel data models with interactive effects. Motivated by applications in economics and other social sciences, a notable feature of the model is that the explanatory variables are correlated with the unobserved effects. The usual within-group estimator is inconsistent. Existing methods for consistent estimation are either designed for panel data with short time periods or are less efficient. The maximum likelihood estimator has desirable properties and is easy to implement, as illustrated by the Monte Carlo simulations. This paper develo…
This paper considers a nuclear norm penalized estimator for panel data models with interactive effects. The low-rank interactive effects can be an approximate model and the rank of the best approximation unknown and grow with sample size. The estimator is solution of a well-structured convex optimization problem and can be solved in polynomial-time. We derive rates of convergence, study the low-rank properties of the estimator, estimation of the rank and of annihilator matrices when the number of time periods grows with the sample size. Two-stage estimators can be asymptotically normal. None o…
The purpose of this article is to develop the dimension reduction techniques in panel data analysis when the number of individuals and indicators is large. We use Principal Component Analysis (PCA) method to represent large number of indicators by minority common factors in the factor models. We propose the Dynamic Mixed Double Factor Model (DMDFM for short) to re ect cross section and time series correlation with interactive factor structure. DMDFM not only reduce the dimension of indicators but also consider the time series and cross section mixed effect. Different from other models, mixed f…
This paper develops a new toolbox for multiple structural break detection in panel data models with interactive effects. The toolbox includes tests for the presence of structural breaks, a break date estimator, and a break date confidence interval. The new toolbox is applied to a large panel of US banks for a period characterized by massive quantitative easing programs aimed at lessening the impact of the global financial crisis and the COVID--19 pandemic. The question we ask is: Have these programs been successful in spurring bank lending in the US economy? The short answer turns out to be: `…
Threshold Regression for Fixed-T Panel Data with Interactive Fixed Effects
Free University of Bozen-Bolzanno（博尔扎诺自由大学）；Brunel University of London（伦敦布鲁内尔大学）；University of Birmingham（伯明翰大学）；Lund University（隆德大学）；Deakin University（迪肯大学）
In this paper, we investigate binary response models for heterogeneous panel data with interactive fixed effects by allowing both the cross-sectional dimension and the temporal dimension to diverge. From a practical point of view, the proposed framework can be applied to predict the probability of corporate failure, conduct credit rating analysis, etc. Theoretically and methodologically, we establish a link between a maximum likelihood estimation and a least squares approach, provide a simple information criterion to detect the number of factors, and achieve the asymptotic distributions accord…
We consider the construction of confidence intervals for treatment effects estimated using panel models with interactive fixed effects. We first use the factor-based matrix completion technique proposed by Bai and Ng (2021) to estimate the treatment effects, and then use bootstrap method to construct confidence intervals of the treatment effects for treated units at each post-treatment period. Our construction of confidence intervals requires neither specific distributional assumptions on the error terms nor large number of post-treatment periods. We also establish the validity of the proposed…
This paper studies the estimation of linear panel data models with interactive fixed effects, where one dimension of the panel, typically time, may be fixed. To this end, a novel transformation is introduced that reduces the model to a lower dimension, and, in doing so, relieves the model of incidental parameters in the cross-section. The central result of this paper demonstrates that transforming the model and then applying the principal component (PC) estimator of \cite{bai_panel_2009} delivers $\sqrt{n}$ consistent estimates of regression slope coefficients with $T$ fixed. Moreover, these e…
In this paper we study methods for estimating causal effects in settings with panel data, where some units are exposed to a treatment during some periods and the goal is estimating counterfactual (untreated) outcomes for the treated unit/period combinations. We propose a class of matrix completion estimators that uses the observed elements of the matrix of control outcomes corresponding to untreated unit/periods to impute the "missing" elements of the control outcome matrix, corresponding to treated units/periods. This leads to a matrix that well-approximates the original (incomplete) matrix, …
IV Estimation of Heterogeneous Spatial Dynamic Panel Models with Interactive Effects
University of Macau（澳门大学）；Huazhong University of Science and Technology（华中科技大学）；Brunel University London（布鲁内尔伦敦大学）；University of York（约克大学）；Tohoku University（东北大学）
In this paper, a statistical model for panel data with unobservable grouped factor structures which are correlated with the regressors and the group membership can be unknown. The factor loadings are assumed to be in different subspaces and the subspace clustering for factor loadings are considered. A method called least squares subspace clustering estimate (LSSC) is proposed to estimate the model parameters by minimizing the least-square criterion and to perform the subspace clustering simultaneously. The consistency of the proposed subspace clustering is proved and the asymptotic properties …
We propose a clustering procedure to group K populations into subgroups with the same dependence structure. The method is adapted to paired population and can be used with panel data. It relies on the differences between orthogonal projection coefficients of the K density copulas estimated from the K populations. Each cluster is then constituted by populations having significantly similar dependence structures. A recent test statistic from Ngounou-Bakam and Pommeret (2022) is used to construct automatically such clusters. The procedure is data driven and depends on the asymptotic level of the …
Dealing with structural breaks is an important step in most, if not all, empirical economic research. This is particularly true in panel data comprised of many cross-sectional units, such as individuals, firms or countries, which are all affected by major events. The COVID-19 pandemic has affected most sectors of the global economy, and there is by now plenty of evidence to support this. The impact on stock markets is, however, still unclear. The fact that most markets seem to have partly recovered while the pandemic is still ongoing suggests that the relationship between stock returns and COV…
This paper provides a method to construct simultaneous confidence bands for quantile functions and quantile effects in nonlinear network and panel models with unobserved two-way effects, strictly exogenous covariates, and possibly discrete outcome variables. The method is based upon projection of simultaneous confidence bands for distribution functions constructed from fixed effects distribution regression estimators. These fixed effects estimators are debiased to deal with the incidental parameter problem. Under asymptotic sequences where both dimensions of the data set grow at the same rate,…
We study linear panel regression models in which the unobserved error term is an unknown smooth function of two-way unobserved fixed effects. In standard additive or interactive fixed effect models the individual specific and time specific effects are assumed to enter with a known functional form (additive or multiplicative). In this paper, we allow for this functional form to be more general and unknown. We discuss two different estimation approaches that allow consistent estimation of the regression parameters in this setting as the number of individuals and the number of time periods grow t…
This paper develops a consistent series-based specification test for semiparametric panel data models with fixed effects. The test statistic resembles the Lagrange Multiplier (LM) test statistic in parametric models and is based on a quadratic form in the restricted model residuals. The use of series methods facilitates both estimation of the null model and computation of the test statistic. The asymptotic distribution of the test statistic is standard normal, so that appropriate critical values can easily be computed. The projection property of series estimators allows me to develop a degrees…
This paper studies large $N$ and large $T$ conditional quantile panel data models with interactive fixed effects. We propose a nuclear norm penalized estimator of the coefficients on the covariates and the low-rank matrix formed by the fixed effects. The estimator solves a convex minimization problem, not requiring pre-estimation of the (number of the) fixed effects. It also allows the number of covariates to grow slowly with $N$ and $T$. We derive an error bound on the estimator that holds uniformly in quantile level. The order of the bound implies uniform consistency of the estimator and is …
Economists are blessed with a wealth of data for analysis, but more often than not, values in some entries of the data matrix are missing. Various methods have been proposed to handle missing observations in a few variables. We exploit the factor structure in panel data of large dimensions. Our \textsc{tall-project} algorithm first estimates the factors from a \textsc{tall} block in which data for all rows are observed, and projections of variable specific length are then used to estimate the factor loadings. A missing value is imputed as the estimated common component which we show is consist…
This paper considers identifying and estimating the Average Treatment Effect on the Treated (ATT) when untreated potential outcomes are generated by an interactive fixed effects model. That is, in addition to time-period and individual fixed effects, we consider the case where there is an unobserved time invariant variable whose effect on untreated potential outcomes may change over time and which can therefore cause outcomes (in the absence of participating in the treatment) to follow different paths for the treated group relative to the untreated group. The models that we consider in this pa…
