Which Quantile is the Most Informative? Maximum Likelihood, Maximum Entropy and Quantile Regression

This paper studies the connections among quantile regression, the asymmetric Laplace distribution, maximum likelihood and maximum entropy. We show that the maximum likelihood problem is equivalent to the solution of a maximum entropy problem where we impose moment constraints given by the joint consideration of the mean and median. Using the resulting score functions we propose an estimator based on the joint estimating equations. This approach delivers estimates for the slope parameters together with the associated “most probable” quantile. Similarly, this method can be seen as a penalized quantile regression estimator, where the penalty is given by deviations from the median regression. Finally, we illustrate the use of the estimator with a simple application to the U.S. wage data to evaluate the effect of training on wages.