IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/arx/papers/2605.01923.html

Estimation and Inference for the $\tau$-Quantile of Individual Heterogeneous Coefficient

Author

Listed:
  • Antonio F. Galvao
  • Ulrich Hounyo
  • Jiahao Lin

Abstract

This paper proposes estimation and inference procedures for quantiles of the heterogeneous individual-specific coefficients in panel data. Unlike conventional panel quantile regression, which focuses on outcome heterogeneity, our approach targets the $\tau$-quantile of the cross-sectional distribution of individual-specific slopes. We establish the asymptotic theory under both stochastic and deterministic designs, with convergence rates $\sqrt{N}$ and $\sqrt{N\sqrt{T}}$, respectively. We also develop two corresponding bootstrap procedures for practical inference, and formally establish their validity. The suggested methods are of practical interest since they require weaker sample size growth conditions than standard fixed-effect quantile regression, and accommodate large $N$ settings. Numerical simulations and an empirical application illustrate the empirical effectiveness of the methods under both designs.

Suggested Citation

  • Antonio F. Galvao & Ulrich Hounyo & Jiahao Lin, 2026. "Estimation and Inference for the $\tau$-Quantile of Individual Heterogeneous Coefficient," Papers 2605.01923, arXiv.org, revised Jun 2026.
  • Handle: RePEc:arx:papers:2605.01923
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2605.01923
    File Function: Latest version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Carhart, Mark M, 1997. "On Persistence in Mutual Fund Performance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(1), pages 57-82, March.
    2. Victor Chernozhukov & Iván Fernández‐Val & Ye Luo, 2018. "The Sorted Effects Method: Discovering Heterogeneous Effects Beyond Their Averages," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 86(6), pages 1911-1938, November.
    3. Galvao, Antonio F. & Kato, Kengo, 2016. "Smoothed quantile regression for panel data," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 193(1), pages 92-112.
    4. M. Hashem Pesaran, 2006. "Estimation and Inference in Large Heterogeneous Panels with a Multifactor Error Structure," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 74(4), pages 967-1012, July.
    5. Victor Chernozhukov & Iván Fernández‐Val & Blaise Melly, 2013. "Inference on Counterfactual Distributions," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 81(6), pages 2205-2268, November.
    6. Jeffrey A. Busse & Qing Tong, 2012. "Mutual Fund Industry Selection and Persistence," The Review of Asset Pricing Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 2(2), pages 245-274.
    7. Galvao, Antonio F. & Gu, Jiaying & Volgushev, Stanislav, 2020. "On the unbiased asymptotic normality of quantile regression with fixed effects," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 218(1), pages 178-215.
    8. Manuel Arellano & Stéphane Bonhomme, 2012. "Identifying Distributional Characteristics in Random Coefficients Panel Data Models," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 79(3), pages 987-1020.
    9. Kato, Kengo & F. Galvao, Antonio & Montes-Rojas, Gabriel V., 2012. "Asymptotics for panel quantile regression models with individual effects," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 170(1), pages 76-91.
    10. Pastor, Lubos & Stambaugh, Robert F., 2003. "Liquidity Risk and Expected Stock Returns," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 111(3), pages 642-685, June.
    11. Blaise Melly & Martina Pons, 2025. "Minimum Distance Estimation of Quantile Panel Data Models," Papers 2502.18242, arXiv.org.
    12. Denis Chetverikov & Bradley Larsen & Christopher Palmer, 2016. "IV Quantile Regression for Group‐Level Treatments, With an Application to the Distributional Effects of Trade," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 84, pages 809-833, March.
    13. Koenker, Roger W & Bassett, Gilbert, Jr, 1978. "Regression Quantiles," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 46(1), pages 33-50, January.
    14. Wayne Ferson & Jerchern Lin, 2014. "Alpha and Performance Measurement: The Effects of Investor Disagreement and Heterogeneity," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 69(4), pages 1565-1596, August.
    15. James J. Heckman & Edward Vytlacil, 2005. "Structural Equations, Treatment Effects, and Econometric Policy Evaluation," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 73(3), pages 669-738, May.
    16. Rosa L. Matzkin, 2003. "Nonparametric Estimation of Nonadditive Random Functions," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 71(5), pages 1339-1375, September.
    17. James G. MacKinnon & Morten Ørregaard Nielsen & Matthew D. Webb, 2023. "Fast and reliable jackknife and bootstrap methods for cluster‐robust inference," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 38(5), pages 671-694, August.
    18. Amihud, Yakov, 2002. "Illiquidity and stock returns: cross-section and time-series effects," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 5(1), pages 31-56, January.
    19. Fernández-Val, Iván & Gao, Wayne Yuan & Liao, Yuan & Vella, Francis, 2022. "Dynamic Heterogeneous Distribution Regression Panel Models, with an Application to Labor Income Processes," IZA Discussion Papers 15236, IZA Network @ LISER.
    20. Hashem Pesaran, M. & Yamagata, Takashi, 2008. "Testing slope homogeneity in large panels," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 142(1), pages 50-93, January.
    21. Sergio Firpo & Nicole M. Fortin & Thomas Lemieux, 2009. "Unconditional Quantile Regressions," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 77(3), pages 953-973, May.
    22. Galvao, Antonio F. & Wang, Liang, 2015. "Efficient minimum distance estimator for quantile regression fixed effects panel data," Journal of Multivariate Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 1-26.
    23. Edwin J. Elton & Martin J. Gruber & Christopher R. Blake, 2001. "A First Look at the Accuracy of the CRSP Mutual Fund Database and a Comparison of the CRSP and Morningstar Mutual Fund Databases," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 56(6), pages 2415-2430, December.
    24. Fama, Eugene F. & French, Kenneth R., 1993. "Common risk factors in the returns on stocks and bonds," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 3-56, February.
    25. Polachek, Solomon W. & Kim, Moon-Kak, 1994. "Panel estimates of the gender earnings gap : Individual-specific intercept and individual-specific slope models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 23-42, March.
    26. Galvao Jr., Antonio F., 2011. "Quantile regression for dynamic panel data with fixed effects," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 164(1), pages 142-157, September.
    27. Robert Kosowski & Allan Timmermann & Russ Wermers & Hal White, 2006. "Can Mutual Fund “Stars” Really Pick Stocks? New Evidence from a Bootstrap Analysis," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 61(6), pages 2551-2595, December.
    28. Steven N. Kaplan & Antoinette Schoar, 2005. "Private Equity Performance: Returns, Persistence, and Capital Flows," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(4), pages 1791-1823, August.
    29. Ivan A. Canay, 2011. "A simple approach to quantile regression for panel data," Econometrics Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 14(3), pages 368-386, October.
    30. Eugene F. Fama & Kenneth R. French, 2010. "Luck versus Skill in the Cross‐Section of Mutual Fund Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 65(5), pages 1915-1947, October.
    31. Bryan S. Graham & James L. Powell, 2012. "Identification and Estimation of Average Partial Effects in “Irregular” Correlated Random Coefficient Panel Data Models," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 80(5), pages 2105-2152, September.
    32. Li, Kunpeng & Cui, Guowei & Lu, Lina, 2020. "Efficient estimation of heterogeneous coefficients in panel data models with common shocks," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 216(2), pages 327-353.
    33. Koenker, Roger, 2004. "Quantile regression for longitudinal data," Journal of Multivariate Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 91(1), pages 74-89, October.
    34. Liangjun Su & Zhentao Shi & Peter C. B. Phillips, 2016. "Identifying Latent Structures in Panel Data," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 84, pages 2215-2264, November.
    35. Busse, Jeffrey A, 1999. "Volatility Timing in Mutual Funds: Evidence from Daily Returns," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 12(5), pages 1009-1041.
    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. David Van Dijcke & Kaspar Wuthrich, 2026. "IV regression with distribution-valued outcomes," Papers 2605.28749, arXiv.org.
    2. Galvao, Antonio F. & Gu, Jiaying & Volgushev, Stanislav, 2020. "On the unbiased asymptotic normality of quantile regression with fixed effects," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 218(1), pages 178-215.
    3. Fernández-Val, Iván & Gao, Wayne Yuan & Liao, Yuan & Vella, Francis, 2022. "Dynamic Heterogeneous Distribution Regression Panel Models, with an Application to Labor Income Processes," IZA Discussion Papers 15236, IZA Network @ LISER.
    4. Jorge Eduardo Camusso & Ana Inés Navarro, 2021. "Asymmetries in aggregate income risk over the business cycle: evidence from administrative data of Argentina," Asociación Argentina de Economía Política: Working Papers 4447, Asociación Argentina de Economía Política.
    5. Baruník, Jozef & Čech, František, 2021. "Measurement of common risks in tails: A panel quantile regression model for financial returns," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    6. Frantisek Cech & Jozef Barunik, 2017. "Measurement of Common Risk Factors: A Panel Quantile Regression Model for Returns," Working Papers IES 2017/20, Charles University Prague, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of Economic Studies, revised Sep 2017.
    7. Blasberg, Alexander & Kiesel, Rüdiger & Taschini, Luca, 2023. "Carbon default swap – disentangling the exposure to carbon risk through CDS," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 118096, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    8. Zhang, Yingying & Wang, Huixia Judy & Zhu, Zhongyi, 2019. "Quantile-regression-based clustering for panel data," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 213(1), pages 54-67.
    9. Leng, Xuan & Chen, Heng & Wang, Wendun, 2023. "Multi-dimensional latent group structures with heterogeneous distributions," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 233(1), pages 1-21.
    10. Graham, Bryan S. & Hahn, Jinyong & Poirier, Alexandre & Powell, James L., 2018. "A quantile correlated random coefficients panel data model," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 206(2), pages 305-335.
    11. repec:ehl:lserod:118092 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Liao, Li & Zhang, Xueyong & Zhang, Yeqing, 2017. "Mutual fund managers' timing abilities," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 80-96.
    13. repec:ces:ceswps:_10016 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Blasberg, Alexander & Kiesel, Rüdiger & Taschini, Luca, 2024. "Carbon default swap – disentangling the exposure to carbon risk through CDS," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 128528, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    15. Jiang, George J. & Zaynutdinova, Gulnara R. & Zhang, Huacheng, 2021. "Stock-selection timing," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    16. Callaway, Brantly & Li, Tong & Oka, Tatsushi, 2018. "Quantile treatment effects in difference in differences models under dependence restrictions and with only two time periods," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 206(2), pages 395-413.
    17. Antonio F. Galvao & Thomas Parker & Zhijie Xiao, 2024. "Bootstrap Inference for Panel Data Quantile Regression," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(2), pages 628-639, April.
    18. Panagiotidis, Theodore & Printzis, Panagiotis, 2021. "Investment and uncertainty: Are large firms different from small ones?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 302-317.
    19. Yiren Wang & Liangjun Su & Yichong Zhang, 2022. "Low-rank Panel Quantile Regression: Estimation and Inference," Papers 2210.11062, arXiv.org.
    20. Bargain, Olivier & Etienne, Audrey & Melly, Blaise, 2021. "Informal pay gaps in good and bad times: Evidence from Russia," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(3), pages 693-714.
    21. Xiaorong Yang & Jia Chen & Degui Li & Runze Li, 2024. "Functional-Coefficient Quantile Regression for Panel Data with Latent Group Structure," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(3), pages 1026-1040, July.
    22. Pop, Adrian & Pop, Diana, 2025. "Is the market tougher with riskier banks? Evidence from the pricing of bank debt securities during a financial turmoil episode," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 134.

    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:2605.01923. 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: https://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.