IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/new/wpaper/1710.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Maximum Entropy Estimation of Statistical Equilibrium in Economic Quantal Response Models

Author

Listed:
  • Ellis Scharfenaker

    (Department of Economics, University of Missouri Kansas City)

  • Duncan Foley

    (Department of Economics, New School for Social Research)

Abstract

Many problems in empirical economic analysis involve systems in which the quantal actions of a large number of participants determine the distribution of some social outcome. In many of these cases key model variables are un- observed. From the statistical perspective, when observed variables depend non-trivially on unobserved variables the joint distribution of the variables of interest is underdetermined and the model is ill-posed due to incomplete information. In this paper we examine the class of models defined by a joint distribution of discrete individual actions and an outcome variable, where one of the variables is unobserved, so that the joint distribution is underdetermined. We derive a general maximum entropy based method to infer the underdetermined joint distribution in this class of models. We apply this method to the classical Smithian theory of competition where firms' profit rates are observed but the entry and exit decisions that determine the distribution of profit rates is unobserved.

Suggested Citation

  • Ellis Scharfenaker & Duncan Foley, 2017. "Maximum Entropy Estimation of Statistical Equilibrium in Economic Quantal Response Models," Working Papers 1710, New School for Social Research, Department of Economics, revised May 2017.
    • Handle: RePEc:new:wpaper:1710
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.economicpolicyresearch.org/econ/2017/NSSR_WP_102017.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2017
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. George Judge, 2015. "Entropy Maximization as a Basis for Information Recovery in Dynamic Economic Behavioral Systems," Econometrics, MDPI, vol. 3(1), pages 1-10, February.
    2. Judge,George G. & Mittelhammer,Ron C., 2012. "An Information Theoretic Approach to Econometrics," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521689731.
    3. Ellis Scharfenaker & Gregor Semieniuk, 2017. "A Statistical Equilibrium Approach to the Distribution of Profit Rates," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 68(3), pages 465-499, July.
    4. Judge,George G. & Mittelhammer,Ron C., 2012. "An Information Theoretic Approach to Econometrics," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521869591.
    5. Paulo dos Santos & Ellis Scharfenaker, 2016. "Informational Performance, Competitive Capital-Market Scaling, and the Frequency Distribution of Tobin’s Q," Working Papers 1607, New School for Social Research, Department of Economics.
    6. Alfarano, Simone & Milaković, Mishael & Irle, Albrecht & Kauschke, Jonas, 2012. "A statistical equilibrium model of competitive firms," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 136-149.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ellis Scharfenaker, Markus P.A. Schneider, 2019. "Labor Market Segmentation and the Distribution of Income: New Evidence from Internal Census Bureau Data," Working Paper Series, Department of Economics, University of Utah 2019_08, University of Utah, Department of Economics.
    2. Ellis Scharfenaker, 2022. "Statistical Equilibrium Methods In Analytical Political Economy," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(2), pages 276-309, April.
    3. Jangho Yang, 2023. "Information‐theoretic model of induced technical change: Theory and empirics," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 74(1), pages 2-39, February.
    4. Emanuele Citera & Francesco De Pretis, 2023. "An Information Theory Approach to the Stock and Cryptocurrency Market: A Statistical Equilibrium Perspective," Papers 2310.04907, arXiv.org.
    5. Ellis Scharfenaker, Duncan K. Foley, 2021. "Unfulfilled Expectations and Labor Market Interactions: A Statistical Equilibrium Theory of Unemployment," Working Paper Series, Department of Economics, University of Utah 2021_03, University of Utah, Department of Economics.
    6. Emanuele Citera, 2021. "Stock Returns, Market Trends, and Information Theory: A Statistical Equilibrium Approach," Working Papers 2116, New School for Social Research, Department of Economics.

    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. Sofia B. Villas-Boas & Qiuzi Fu & George Judge, 2015. "Is Benford’s Law a Universal Behavioral Theory?," Econometrics, MDPI, vol. 3(4), pages 1-11, October.
    2. Miguel Henry & George Judge, 2019. "Permutation Entropy and Information Recovery in Nonlinear Dynamic Economic Time Series," Econometrics, MDPI, vol. 7(1), pages 1-16, March.
    3. Mundt, Philipp & Oh, Ilfan, 2019. "Asymmetric competition, risk, and return distribution," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 29-32.
    4. Scharfenaker, Ellis, 2020. "Implications of quantal response statistical equilibrium," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    5. repec:unu:wpaper:wp2012-60 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Tiziano Squartini & Enrico Ser-Giacomi & Diego Garlaschelli & George Judge, 2015. "Information Recovery in Behavioral Networks," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(5), pages 1-11, May.
    7. Ellis Scharfenaker, 2022. "Statistical Equilibrium Methods In Analytical Political Economy," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(2), pages 276-309, April.
    8. Mundt, Philipp & Alfarano, Simone & Milaković, Mishael, 2020. "Exploiting ergodicity in forecasts of corporate profitability," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    9. Henry-Osorio, Miguel & Mittelhammer, Ronald C., 2012. "An Information-Theoretic Approach to Modeling Binary Choices: Estimating Willingness to Pay for Recreation Site Attributes," 2012 Annual Meeting, August 12-14, 2012, Seattle, Washington 123432, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    10. Leila Davis & Joao Paulo A. de Souza, 2022. "Churning and profitability in the U.S. corporate sector," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 73(3), pages 924-957, July.
    11. Mundt, Philipp & Oh, Ilfan, 2019. "Asymmetric competition, risk, and return distribution," BERG Working Paper Series 145, Bamberg University, Bamberg Economic Research Group.
    12. Villas-Boas, Sofia B & Fu, Jenny & Judge, George, 2016. "Measuring The Inequality Nature Of European Micro Income Data," Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley, Working Paper Series qt6445w1s5, Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley.
    13. Debowicz, Dario & Dorosh, Paul A. & Robinson, Sherman & Haider, Syed Hamza, 2012. "A 2007-08 social accounting matrix for Pakistan:," PSSP working papers 1, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    14. Amos Golan & Aman Ullah, 2017. "Interval estimation: An information theoretic approach," Econometric Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(6-9), pages 781-795, October.
    15. Go, Delfin S. & Lofgren, Hans & Ramos, Fabian Mendez & Robinson, Sherman, 2016. "Estimating parameters and structural change in CGE models using a Bayesian cross-entropy estimation approach," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 52(PB), pages 790-811.
    16. Villas-Boas, Sofia B. & Judge, George, 2013. "An Information Theoretic Approach to Understanding the Micro Foundations of Macro Processes," Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley, Working Paper Series qt82f7m32n, Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley.
    17. Roberto Veneziani & Luca Zamparelli & Deepankar Basu, 2017. "Quantitative Empirical Research In Marxist Political Economy: A Selective Review," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(5), pages 1359-1386, December.
    18. Channing Arndt & Charles Fant & Sherman Robinson & Kenneth Strzepek, 2015. "Informed selection of future climates," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 130(1), pages 21-33, May.
    19. Paulo L. dos Santos & Jangho Yang, 2019. "The persistent and informative distribution of returns on capital," Economics and Business Letters, Oviedo University Press, vol. 8(3), pages 156-165.
    20. Weber, Jan David & Scharfenaker, Ellis, 2024. "Measures of firm performance and concentration: Stylized facts and a dilemma of data reproduction," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 234(C).
    21. Qiuzi Fu & Sofia B. Villas-Boas & George Judge, 2019. "Entropy-based China income distributions and inequality measures," China Economic Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(3), pages 352-368, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Quantal response; maximum entropy; Information-theoretic quantitative methods; incomplete information; link function; profit rate distribution;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C10 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - General
    • C18 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Methodolical Issues: General
    • C70 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - General
    • C79 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Other

    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:new:wpaper:1710. 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: Mark Setterfield (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/denewus.html .

    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.