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Nonlinear Binscatter Methods
Binscatters are a powerful tool for empirical work in the social, behavioral, and biomedical sciences. Available tools rely on least squares estimation of the conditional mean. We introduce novel binscatter methods based on nonlinear, possibly nonsmooth M-estimation, covering generalized linear, robust, and quantile regression models. We provide theoretical results and practical tools, including optimal bin selection, confidence bands, and statistical tests regarding functional form or shape restrictions. We demonstrate our methods by studying the relationship of income and (lack of) health ...
Report
On binscatter
Binscatter is a popular method for visualizing bivariate relationships and conducting informal specification testing. We study the properties of this method formally and develop enhanced visualization and econometric binscatter tools. These include estimating conditional means with optimal binning and quantifying uncertainty. We also highlight a methodological problem related to covariate adjustment that can yield incorrect conclusions. We revisit two applications using our methodology and find substantially different results relative to those obtained using prior informal binscatter methods. ...