WhenIwrotethebookMethodsofMomentsandSemiparametricEco- metrics for Limited Dependent Variable Models published from Springer in 1996, my motivation was clear: there was no book available to convey the latest messages in micro-econometrics. The messages were that most eco- metric estimators can be viewed as method-of-moment estimators and that inferences for models with limited dependent variables (LDV) can be done without going fully parametric. Time has passed and there are now several books available for the same purpose. These days, methods of moments are the mainstay in econometrics, not just in micro-, but also in macro-econometrics. Many papers have been published for semiparametric methods and LDV models. I, myself, learned much over the years since 1996, so much so that my own view on what should be taught, and how, has changed much. Particularly, my exposure to the “sample selection” and “treatment e?ect” literature has changed the way I look at econometrics now. When I set out to write the second edition of the 1996 book, these changes prompted me to re-title, reorganize, and re-focus the book.
This book introduces econometrics at the graduate level, and then specializes in micro-econometrics topics such as method of moments, limited and qualitative dependent variables, sample-selection models, panel data, nonparametric estimators and specification tests, and semi(non)-parametric methods. The coverage is up-to-date and broad as well as in depth. Many empirical examples are included along with a computer program appendix. Both graduate students and researchers, applied or theoretical, in all disciplines using observational data will find this book useful as a textbook as well as a research monograph for self-study and reference.
The second edition is three times length of the first edition One chapter on liner equation systems has been added and several new sections on panel data are new. Also sections for the following topics have been added: LDV's with endogenous regressors, competing risks, nonparametric survival and hazard function estimation, rank-based semiparametric methods, differencing-based semiparametric methods, semiparametric estimators for duration models, integrated moment specification tests, nonparametric control function approaches, nonparametric additive models, various transformation of response variables, and nonparametric specification and significance tests. The appendix now contains the proofs for some important results in the main text and new sections for the following topics: review of mathematical and statistical backgrounds, nested logit, U-statistics, GMM with integrated squared moments, goodness-of-fit tests for distribution functions, joint test for all quantiles, review on test, non-nested model test, stratified sampling and weighted M-estimator, empirical likelihood estimator, stochastic-process convergence and applications, and bootstrap.
The author, Myoung-jae Lee, is currently a Professor of Economics at Korea University, and has written Panel Data Econometrics: Methods-of-Moments and Limited Dependent Variables (2002, Academic Press) and Micro-Econometrics for Policy, Program, and Treatment Effects (2005, Oxford University Press), which complement the current book in covering micro-econometrics as a whole. The author published extensively across the broad spectrum of micro-econometrics, writing more than 40 academic papers in international journals including top econometrics and statistics journals.
