IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/arx/papers/2602.03469.html

Unbiased Estimation of Central Moments in Unbalanced Two- and Three-Level Models

Author

Listed:
  • Dan Ben-Moshe
  • David Genesove

Abstract

This paper derives closed-form unbiased estimators of central moments in multilevel random-effects models with unbalanced group sizes. In a two-level model, we provide unbiased estimators for the second, third, and fourth central moments under both group-level and observation-level averaging. In a three-level model, we provide unbiased estimators for the second and third central moments.

Suggested Citation

  • Dan Ben-Moshe & David Genesove, 2026. "Unbiased Estimation of Central Moments in Unbalanced Two- and Three-Level Models," Papers 2602.03469, arXiv.org, revised Mar 2026.
    • Handle: RePEc:arx:papers:2602.03469
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://arxiv.org/pdf/2602.03469
    File Function: Latest version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dan Ben-Moshe & David Genesove, 2025. "Assignment at the Frontier: Identifying the Frontier Structural Function and Bounding Mean Deviations," Papers 2504.19832, arXiv.org, revised Apr 2026.
    2. Dan Ben-Moshe & David Genesove, 2022. "Regulation and Frontier Housing Supply," Papers 2208.01969, arXiv.org, revised Feb 2026.
    3. Bottazzi, Giulio & Secchi, Angelo, 2003. "Why are distributions of firm growth rates tent-shaped?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 80(3), pages 415-420, September.
    4. Xavier Gabaix, 2011. "The Granular Origins of Aggregate Fluctuations," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 79(3), pages 733-772, May.
    5. Menezes, C & Geiss, C & Tressler, J, 1980. "Increasing Downside Risk," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 70(5), pages 921-932, December.
    6. Ping Wu & Li Xing Zhu, 2010. "An Orthogonality‐Based Estimation of Moments for Linear Mixed Models," Scandinavian Journal of Statistics, Danish Society for Theoretical Statistics;Finnish Statistical Society;Norwegian Statistical Association;Swedish Statistical Association, vol. 37(2), pages 253-263, June.
    7. Kimball, Miles S, 1990. "Precautionary Saving in the Small and in the Large," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 58(1), pages 53-73, January.
    8. Fatih Guvenen & Serdar Ozkan & Jae Song, 2014. "The Nature of Countercyclical Income Risk," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 122(3), pages 621-660.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Castaño-Martínez, A. & Pigueiras, G. & Ramos, C.D. & Sordo, M.A., 2025. "Ordering higher risks in Yaari's dual theory," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    2. Mayrhofer, Thomas & Schmitz, Hendrik, 2025. "Prudence and prevention – empirical evidence," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 257(C).
    3. repec:dau:papers:123456789/11094 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Michel M. Denuit & Louis Eeckhoudt, 2010. "A General Index of Absolute Risk Attitude," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 56(4), pages 712-715, April.
    5. Denuit, Michel M. & Eeckhoudt, Louis & Schlesinger, Harris, 2013. "When Ross meets Bell: The linex utility function," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(2), pages 177-182.
    6. Keenan, Donald C. & Snow, Arthur, 2022. "Reversibly greater downside risk aversion by a prudence-based measure," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 210(C).
    7. Chiu, W. Henry, 2019. "Comparative statics in an ordinal theory of choice under risk," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 113-123.
    8. Courbage, Christophe & Rey, Béatrice, 2012. "Priority setting in health care and higher order degree change in risk," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 484-489.
    9. Bonilla, Claudio A. & Vergara, Marcos, 2013. "Credit rationing or entrepreneurial risk aversion? A comment," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 120(2), pages 329-331.
    10. Richard Peter, 2024. "The economics of self-protection," The Geneva Risk and Insurance Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association for the Study of Insurance Economics (The Geneva Association), vol. 49(1), pages 6-35, March.
    11. Jindapon, Paan, 2013. "Do risk lovers invest in self-protection?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 121(2), pages 290-293.
    12. Han Bleichrodt & Christophe Courbage & Béatrice Rey, 2019. "The value of a statistical life under changes in ambiguity," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 58(1), pages 1-15, February.
    13. Modica, Salvatore & Scarsini, Marco, 2005. "A note on comparative downside risk aversion," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 122(2), pages 267-271, June.
    14. Keenan, Donald C. & Snow, Arthur, 2010. "Greater prudence and greater downside risk aversion," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 145(5), pages 2018-2026, September.
    15. Dionne, Georges & Li, Jingyuan, 2011. "The impact of prudence on optimal prevention revisited," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 113(2), pages 147-149.
    16. Rick Harbaugh, 2005. "Prospect Theory or Skill Signaling?," Working Papers 2005-06, Indiana University, Kelley School of Business, Department of Business Economics and Public Policy.
    17. David Crainich & Louis Eeckhoudt & Alain Trannoy, 2013. "Even (Mixed) Risk Lovers Are Prudent," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(4), pages 1529-1535, June.
    18. Michel Denuit & Liqun Liu, 2014. "Decreasing higher-order absolute risk aversion and higher-degree stochastic dominance," Theory and Decision, Springer, vol. 76(2), pages 287-295, February.
    19. Mundt, Philipp & Alfarano, Simone & Milaković, Mishael, 2020. "Exploiting ergodicity in forecasts of corporate profitability," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    20. Jean‐Pascal Gayant & Nicolas Le Pape, 2017. "Increasing Downside or Outer Risk? The Challenge of Measuring Competitive Imbalance in Closed and Open Leagues," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 83(3), pages 774-795, January.
    21. Christoph Heinzel & Richard Peter, 2023. "Precaution with multiple instruments: The importance of substitution effects," Post-Print hal-04356291, HAL.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:arx:papers:2602.03469. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: arXiv administrators (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://arxiv.org/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.