This note formalizes bias and inconsistency results for ordinary least squares (OLS) on the linear probability model and provides sufficient conditions for unbiasedness and consistency to hold. The conditions suggest that a btrimming estimatorQ may reduce OLS bias. D 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Abstract We contribute to the inverse farm size-productivity puzzle (IR) literature by examining relationship using a unique data set from southern Ghana that covers farms between 5 and 70 ha. The study uses an instrumental variable (IV) for land size mitigate some effects of measurement error in size. productivity is upheld when ordinary least squares estimators (OLS) are applied but becomes i...

There exists a spatial mismatch between socioeconomic data, such as Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and physical and environmental datasets. This study provides a dasymetric approach for GDP estimation at a fine scale by combining the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program Operational Linescan System (DMSP/OLS) nighttime imagery, enhanced vegetation index (EVI), and land cover data. Despite the...

In mixture experiments, estimation of the parameters is generally based on ordinary least squares (OLS). However, in the presence of multicollinearity and outliers, OLS can result in very poor estimates. In this case, effects due to the combined outlier-multicollinearity problem can be reduced to certain extent by using alternative approaches. One of these approaches is to use biased-robust reg...

State politics researchers commonly employ ordinary least squares (OLS) regression or one of its variants to test linear hypotheses. However, OLS is easily influenced by outliers and thus can produce misleading results when the error term distribution has heavy tails. Here we demonstrate that median regression (MR), an alternative to OLS that conditions the median of the dependent variable (rat...

We use U.S. county data (3,058 observations) and 41 conditioning variables to study growth and convergence. Using ordinary least squares (OLS) and three-stage least squares with instrumental variables (3SLS-IV), we report on the full sample and metro, nonmetro, and and regional samples: (1) OLS yields convergence rates around 2%; 3SLS yields 6%–8%; (2) convergence rates vary (for example, the S...

A lthough ordinary least-squares (OLS) regression is one of the most familiar statistical tools, far less has been written − especially in the pedagogical literature − on regression through the origin (RTO). Indeed, the subject is surprisingly controversial. The present note highlights situations in which RTO is appropriate, discusses the implementation and evaluation of such models and compare...