Least absolute deviations estimation for the censored regression model

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Abstract

This paper proposes an alternative to maximum likelihood estimation of the parameters of the censored regression (or censored ‘Tobit’) model. The proposed estimator is a generalization of least absolute deviations estimation for the standard linear model, and, unlike estimation methods based on the assumption of normally distributed error terms, the estimator is consistent and asymptotically normal for a wide class of error distributions, and is also robust to heteroscedasticity. The paper gives the regularity conditions and proofs of these large-sample results, and proposes classes of consistent estimators of the asymptotic covariance matrix for both homoscedastic and heteroscedastic disturbances.

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    This research was supported by National Science Foundation Grants SES79-12965 and SES79-13976 at the Institute for Mathematical Studies in the Social Sciences at Stanford University. I would like to thank Takeshi Amemiya, Theodore W. Anderson, Timothy Bresnahan, Colin Cameron, Jerry Hausman, Thomas MaCurdy, Daniel McFadden, Julio Rotemberg, and the referees for their helpful comments.

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