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  • Estimating Regression Models with Unknown Break-Point (Kink) Using Stata

    Hi,

    I was trying to estimate the following regression model about divorce rate, which is a simple regression model but with a unknown kinked cost function :

    divrate_st = b0 + b1* F_st + b2*X2 + b3*X3 + ... + epsilon_st
    where F_st = F (w_st, w*) = w_st + (w* - w_st) * I(w_st > w*) = w_st if w_st <= w*
    = w* if w_st > w* ,
    here I( ) is the indicator function which equals 1 is ( ) is satisfied and quals 0 otherwise, w_st is the wait time (cost) in state s at time t to legally divorce.

    This model is no longer linear since the "kink" w* is unknown, therefore I need to estimate w* along with other parameters b0, b1, ....
    For some reasons I don't think the non-linear least squares problem would work well for my model, one of the reasons is that the partial derivatives of the max value with respect to w* are messy. I think if we want to use NLLS, we need to have nice, not messy partial derivatives wrt each parameter.

    A statistician Muggeo (2003) provides an approach to estimate this type of model in the "kink" w* direction. Specifically, he expands

    b * (w* - w_st) * I(w_st > w*) = b* (w* - w) * I(w > w*_r) + c * I(w>w*_r), where w*_r is the r-th candidate value for true w* and we estimate c and iterate to get
    w*_(r+1) = w*_r + c/b until c/b is very small.

    I am wondering if there is anything that has been done in Stata to handle this type of "kink" problem. I am sorry that this probably is confusing and a little too technical, but I will be happy to know whatever information that is related, and any thoughts you have.

    Thank you so much!!

    Jeff Wang




  • #2
    Jeff: two things are likely to raise the probability of eliciting helpful responses. (1) If you are going to cite research, provide full references. (2) change your login name "profwjf" to your real name ("Jeff Wang" I presume) -- it is easy to do: send a message via the "contact us" bar. Both these points are made in the Forum FAQ. Meanwhile, try search hockey stick and see if that provides useful resources.

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