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Bootstrap Confidence Sets with Weak Instruments

Author

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  • Russell Davidson

    (Department of Mining and Materials Engineering [Montréal] - McGill University = Université McGill [Montréal, Canada], GREQAM - Groupement de Recherche en Économie Quantitative d'Aix-Marseille - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - AMU - Aix Marseille Université - ECM - École Centrale de Marseille - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

  • James G. Mackinnon

Abstract

We study several methods of constructing confidence sets for the coefficient of the single right-hand-side endogenous variable in a linear equation with weak instruments. Two of these are based on conditional likelihood ratio (CLR) tests, and the others are based on inverting t statistics or the bootstrap P values associated with them. We propose a new method for constructing bootstrap confidence sets based on t statistics. In large samples, the procedures that generally work best are CLR confidence sets using asymptotic critical values and bootstrap confidence sets based on limited-information maximum likelihood (LIML) estimates.

Suggested Citation

  • Russell Davidson & James G. Mackinnon, 2014. "Bootstrap Confidence Sets with Weak Instruments," Post-Print hal-01463109, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01463109
    DOI: 10.1080/07474938.2013.825177
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Zivot, Eric & Startz, Richard & Nelson, Charles R, 1998. "Valid Confidence Intervals and Inference in the Presence of Weak Instruments," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 39(4), pages 1119-1146, November.
    2. Marcelo J. Moreira, 2003. "A Conditional Likelihood Ratio Test for Structural Models," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 71(4), pages 1027-1048, July.
    3. Moreira, Marcelo J. & Porter, Jack R. & Suarez, Gustavo A., 2009. "Bootstrap validity for the score test when instruments may be weak," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 149(1), pages 52-64, April.
    4. Stock, James H & Wright, Jonathan H & Yogo, Motohiro, 2002. "A Survey of Weak Instruments and Weak Identification in Generalized Method of Moments," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 20(4), pages 518-529, October.
    5. Mikusheva, Anna, 2010. "Robust confidence sets in the presence of weak instruments," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 157(2), pages 236-247, August.
    6. Russell Davidson & James G. MacKinnon, 2014. "Confidence sets based on inverting Anderson–Rubin tests," Econometrics Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 17(2), pages 39-58, June.
    7. Davidson, Russell & Flachaire, Emmanuel, 2008. "The wild bootstrap, tamed at last," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 146(1), pages 162-169, September.
    8. Moreira, Marcelo J., 2009. "Tests with correct size when instruments can be arbitrarily weak," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 152(2), pages 131-140, October.
    9. Davidson, Russell & MacKinnon, James G., 2010. "Wild Bootstrap Tests for IV Regression," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 28(1), pages 128-144.
    10. Frank Kleibergen, 2002. "Pivotal Statistics for Testing Structural Parameters in Instrumental Variables Regression," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 70(5), pages 1781-1803, September.
    11. Phillips, P.C.B., 1983. "Exact small sample theory in the simultaneous equations model," Handbook of Econometrics, in: Z. Griliches† & M. D. Intriligator (ed.), Handbook of Econometrics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 8, pages 449-516, Elsevier.
    12. Marcelo J. Moreira & Jack R. Porter & Gustavo A. Suarez, 2004. "Bootstrap and Higher-Order Expansion Validity When Instruments May Be Weak," NBER Technical Working Papers 0302, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Davidson, Russell & MacKinnon, James, 2006. "Bootstrap Inference in a Linear Equation Estimated by Instrumental Variables," Queen's Economics Department Working Papers 273460, Queen's University - Department of Economics.
    14. Russell Davidson & James G. MacKinnon, 2008. "Bootstrap inference in a linear equation estimated by instrumental variables," Econometrics Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 11(3), pages 443-477, November.
    15. Douglas Staiger & James H. Stock, 1997. "Instrumental Variables Regression with Weak Instruments," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 65(3), pages 557-586, May.
    16. Davidson, Russell & MacKinnon, James G., 2008. "Bootstrap Inference in a Linear Equation Estimated by Instrumental Variables," Queen's Economics Department Working Papers 273633, Queen's University - Department of Economics.
    17. Jean-Marie Dufour, 1997. "Some Impossibility Theorems in Econometrics with Applications to Structural and Dynamic Models," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 65(6), pages 1365-1388, November.
    18. Andrews, Donald W.K. & Moreira, Marcelo J. & Stock, James H., 2007. "Performance of conditional Wald tests in IV regression with weak instruments," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 139(1), pages 116-132, July.
    19. Davidson, Russell & Flachaire, Emmanuel, 2001. "The Wild Bootstrap, Tamed at Last," Queen's Economics Department Working Papers 273426, Queen's University - Department of Economics.
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    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. My "Must Read" List
      by Dave Giles in Econometrics Beat: Dave Giles' Blog on 2012-09-27 06:33:00

    Citations

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    Cited by:

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    2. Doko Tchatoka, Firmin & Wang, Wenjie, 2021. "Uniform Inference after Pretesting for Exogeneity with Heteroskedastic Data," MPRA Paper 106408, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Wang, Wenjie, 2021. "Wild Bootstrap for Instrumental Variables Regression with Weak Instruments and Few Clusters," MPRA Paper 106227, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. James G. MacKinnon, 2020. "Wild cluster bootstrap confidence intervals," L'Actualité Economique, Société Canadienne de Science Economique, vol. 96(4), pages 721-743.
    5. Wenjie Wang & Qingfeng Liu, 2015. "Bootstrap-based Selection for Instrumental Variables Model," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 35(3), pages 1886-1896.
    6. Dennis Lim & Wenjie Wang & Yichong Zhang, 2024. "A Dimension-Agnostic Bootstrap Anderson-Rubin Test For Instrumental Variable Regressions," Papers 2412.01603, arXiv.org, revised Sep 2025.
    7. Wang, Wenjie & Kaffo, Maximilien, 2016. "Bootstrap inference for instrumental variable models with many weak instruments," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 192(1), pages 231-268.
    8. Wenze Li, 2025. "An Empirical Comparison of Weak-IV-Robust Procedures in Just-Identified Models," Papers 2506.18001, arXiv.org.
    9. Wang, Wenjie, 2020. "On Bootstrap Validity for the Test of Overidentifying Restrictions with Many Instruments and Heteroskedasticity," MPRA Paper 104858, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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    JEL classification:

    • C10 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - General
    • C15 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Statistical Simulation Methods: General

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