The Fragility of Sensitivity Analysis: An Encompassing Perspective
Abstract
Robustness and fragility in Leamer's sense are defined with respect to a particular coefficient over a class of models. This paper shows that inclusion of the data generation process in that class of models is neither necessary nor sufficient for robustness. This result holds even if the properly specified model has well-determined, statistically significant coefficients. The encompassing principle explains how this result can occur. Encompassing also provides a link to a more common-sense notion of robustness, which is still a desirable property empirically; and encompassing clarifies recent discussion on model averaging and the pooling of forecasts.
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System International Finance Discussion Papers Number 959 November 2008 The Fragility of Sensitivity Analysis: An Encompassing Perspective Neil R. Ericsson NOTE: International Finance Discussion Papers are preliminary materials circulated to stimulate discussion and critical comment. References to International Finance Discussion Papers (other than an acknowledgment that the writer has had access to unpublished material) should be cleared with the author or authors. Recent IFDPs are available at www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/ifdp/ on the Web. This paper can be downloaded without charge from the Social Science Research Network electronic library at www.ssrn.com.
The Fragility of Sensitivity Analysis: An Encompassing Perspective Neil R. Ericsson ∗ Abstract: Robustness and fragility in Leamer’s sense are defined with respect to a particular coefficient over a class of models. This paper shows that inclusion of the data generation process in that class of models is neither necessary nor sufficient for robustness. Thisresultholdseveniftheproperlyspecifiedmodelhaswell-determined, statistically significant coefficients. The encompassing principle explains how this resultcanoccur. Encompassingalsoprovidesalinktoamorecommon-sensenotionof robustness, which is still a desirable property empirically; and encompassing clarifies recent discussion on model averaging and the pooling of forecasts. Keywords: encompassing, exogeneity, extreme bounds analysis, model averaging, parameter nonconstancy, pooling of forecasts, robustness, regime shifts, sensitivity analysis. JEL classifications: C52, E41. Forthcoming in the Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, special issue on Encompassing ∗ (edited by David F. Hendry, Massimiliano Marcellino, and Grayham E. Mizon). The author is a staff economist in the Division of International Finance, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Washington, D.C. 20551 U.S.A., and may be reached on the Internet at ericsson@frb.gov. The views in this paper are solely the responsibility of the author and should not be interpreted as reflecting the views of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve Systemor of any other person associated with the Federal Reserve System. The author is grateful to Julia Campos, Jon Faust, John Geweke, Dale Henderson, David Hendry, Ed Leamer, Jaime Marquez, Grayham Mizon, and tworefereesforhelpfulcommentsanddiscussions. AllnumericalresultswereobtainedusingPcGive Version 12; see Doornik and Hendry (2007).
1 Introduction Economists want their empirical results to be robust, and with good reason. Especially after Goldfeld’s (1976) missing money and Lucas’s (1976) critique, economists have been all too aware of the fragility of many empirical models to the choice of (e.g.) explanatory variables, sample period, and dynamics. In an attempt to measure acoefficient’ssensitivitytomodel selection, Leamer’s (1983)extremeboundsanalysis (also known as sensitivity analysis) calculates the range of potential coefficient estimates over a class of models. Extreme bounds analysis thus offers an appealing and intuitivemethodologyfordeterminingwhetheranempirical resultisrobustorfragile. Extreme bounds analysis also formalizes a common practice in empirical studies, and its explicit implementation is widespread; cf. Allen and Connolly (1989), Cooley and LeRoy (1981), Levine and Renelt (1992), Leamer (1997), Sala-i-Martin (1997), Serra (2006), Freille, Haque, andKneller(2007), andBjørnskov, Dreher, andFischer(2008) inter alia. Robustness and fragility in Leamer’s sense are defined with respect to a particular coefficient or set of coefficients over a class of models. This paper shows that the inclusion of the data generation process in that class of models is neither necessary norsufficientforrobustness. Thisresultholdseveniftheproperlyspecifiedmodelhas well-determined, statistically significant coefficients. The encompassing principle– pioneered by Mizon (1984) and Mizon and Richard (1986)–explains how this result can occur. Encompassing also provides a link to a more common-sense notion of robustness that is a desirable property empirically; and encompassing clarifies recent discussion on model averaging and the pooling of forecasts. Put somewhat differently, extreme bounds analysis focuses on the variation of estimated coefficients across model specifications. While that coefficient variation is of interest, it is so only in light of its causes. Extreme bounds analysis considers all coefficient variation, regardless of its causes. The encompassing principle discerns between coefficient variation that is not explainable by the model at hand, and coefficient variation that is. Encompassing thus clarifies when to worry about coefficient variation and when not to, whereas extreme bounds analysis worries about all coefficient variation. In essence, extreme bounds analysis is not sensitive enough to the data’s nuances, whereas the encompassing principle is. Section 2 briefly describes extreme bounds analysis, including modifications proposed by Leamer and Leonard (1983) and Levine and Renelt (1992). Section 3 establishes the lack of necessity and the lack of sufficiency through illustrations with classical regression models. Section 4 demonstrates how robustness and fragility in Leamer’s sense are themselves fragile in practice, employing Hendry and Ericsson’s (1991) model of U.K. money demand. Section 5 re-interprets the fragility of sensitiv- 1
ity analysis in light of the encompassing principle. In so doing, Section 5 clarifies the meaning of robustness and illuminates recent discussion on model averaging and the pooling of forecasts. Section 6 concludes. In order to make the results readilyaccessible, examples–rather than proofs–are employed. Also, proofs are readily apparent, given the examples. 2 A Characterization This section summarizes extreme bounds analysis (EBA), including modifications proposed by Leamer and Leonard (1983) and Levine and Renelt (1992). The classical regression model serves to illustrate. See Leamer (1978, Chapter 5) for an initial discussion of Bayesian sensitivity analysis; and see Leamer and Leonard (1983), Leamer (1985), and Levine and Renelt (1992) for more detailed descriptions of EBA. Consider the standard linear regression model: y = x β +z γ +u u IN(0,σ2) t = 1,...,T, (1) t 0t F t0 t t ∼ where y is the dependent variable, x and z are k 1 and q 1 vectors of “free” t t t × × and “doubtful” explanatory variables, β and γ are k 1 and q 1 vectors of their F × × coefficients, u is a normal independently distributed disturbance with mean zero and t variance σ2, and t is the time index for the interval [1,T]. A variable is free if a priori its coefficient is believed to be different from zero, and a variable is doubtful if a priori its coefficient is believed to be equal to zero. Extreme bounds analysis centers on a “focus” coefficient, denoted β. Commonly, β is an element of β and so is associated with a free variable, although β could be F any linear combination of (β : γ ), as in Breusch (1990). Below, β is always an 0F 0 element of β , purely for expository convenience. F Extreme bounds analysis determines the range of the least squares estimates of β over variations in the set of doubtful variables z . To illustrate, consider equation (1) t with two doubtful variables (z and z ) and one free variable (x ), where x is also 1t 2t t t the focus variable: y = βx +γ z +γ z +u . (2) t t 1 1t 2 2t t Bounds can be calculated from the four estimates of β that are obtained by including or excluding each of the doubtful variables in equation (2). However, these bounds generally are not invariant to nonsingular linear transformations of the doubtful variables. For instance, a different set of bounds might arise if z z and z (rather 1t 2t 2t − than z and z ) were used as the doubtful variables. 1t 2t Leamer and Leonard (1983) propose a simple solution to this conundrum: calculate the bounds over all linear combinations of the doubtful variables. While these 2
bounds might appear complicated to compute, they are not; and Breusch (1990, equation (17)) provides analytical formulae for them in terms of standard regression output from (1), estimated with and without the restriction γ = 0. The bounds are: 1/2 ˆ ˜ ese(β ˆ )2 (σˆ2/σ˜2)ese(β ˜ )2 qF β +β D − , (3) 2 ± nh 2 i o where the circumflex ˆ and tilde ˜ denote unrestricted and restricted estimates respectively, ese( ) is the estimated standard error, and F is the F-statistic for testing D · the exclusion of all q doubtful variables. Below, these bounds are called β and min β . As Breusch notes, these bounds are narrow when exclusion of the doubtful max variables results in either little loss of fit (F is small) or little change in the precision D of the estimate of β when adjusted for possible changes in error variance. See Stewart (1984) for an alternative approach. Estimation of β is “robust” if the range of inferences about β is small over the interval [β ,β ]. Estimation is “fragile” if the range of inferences is large. Specifmin max ically, the result is designated as fragile if [β ,β ] includes zero, and as robust min max if [β ,β ] excludes zero.1 Robustness and fragility in this sense are called Lmin max robustness and L-fragility (“L” for Leamer) so as to distinguish them from other senses of robustness and fragility used below. Some values of β in the range [β ,β ] may fit the data very poorly relative min max ˆ to the unrestricted estimate β. These values correspond to points in the parameter space that have very small likelihoods in terms of the observed data. To address this problem, Leamer and Leonard (1983, p. 311) propose restricting the extreme bounds ˆ to those points that lie within (e.g.) a 95% likelihood ellipsoid relative to β. Cooley and LeRoy (1981) implement this modified EBA in their analysis of money demand equations. Granger and Uhlig (1990, 1992) propose a similar modification to EBA by limiting consideration to only those models with a sufficiently high R2, relative to the R2 of the unrestricted model. McAleer and Veall (1989) criticize EBA for not accounting for the uncertainty in the extreme bounds estimates themselves. McAleer and Veall use bootstrap techniques to estimate the standard errors of the bounds and find that those standard errors can be large empirically. Magee (1990) derives the asymptotic variance of the extreme bounds: 1/2 ese(β ˆ )2 +(σˆ2/σ˜2)ese(β ˜ )2 ese(β ˆ )2 (σˆ2/σ˜2)ese(β ˜ )2 β ˆ β ˜ − − , (4) 2 ± qF · 2 " D # 1McAleer,Pagan, andVolker(1985,p.297)denotethisdefinitionoffragilityasTypeBfragility; see also Leamer and Leonard (1983, p. 307). Other similar definitions of fragility in EBA also exist. However,thekeyresultsinSection3areunaffectedbytheparticulardefinitionchosen,so“TypeB” fragility is used throughout as the definition of L-fragility. 3
where the two terms resulting from the “ ” are the variances of the upper (+) and ± lower ( ) bounds, denoted ese(β )2 and ese(β )2. As with the bounds in (3), the max min − variances in (4) are calculable from standard regression output for the restricted and unrestricted models. With the estimated bounds’ uncertainty in mind, Levine and Renelt (1992) propose a modified EBA, which solves for “... the widest range of coefficient estimates on the [focus variable] that standard hypothesis tests do not reject” (p. 944). In practice, Levine and Renelt use 95% critical values for calculating the extreme bounds. If the variance of the estimate of β is insensitive to the linear combination of z chosen, t Levine and Renelt’s bounds are approximately: [β 2ese(β ), β +2ese(β )]. (5) min min max max − Thus, while pure EBA ignores the plausibility of the bounds (in terms of the data) andtheuncertaintyoftheboundsthemselves,computationallyfeasiblesolutionsexist for addressing both shortcomings. 3 Implications of L-robustness and L-fragility This section establishes that L-robustness is neither necessary nor sufficient for the datagenerationprocess(DGP)tobeincludedasoneofthemodelsinextremebounds analysis (Section 3.1). To simplify discussion, only the “pure” form of EBA is examined initially; the modifications to EBA are considered at the end of Section 3.1. A simple DGP and several classical regression models illustrate the four propositions associatedwithlackofnecessityandlackofsufficiency(Section3.2). Intheexamples, bounds are calculated at population values for the various estimates in equation (3). This permits a clearer exposition and in no way invalidates the results. In fact, the four propositions hold both in finite samples and asymptotically, and they are not restricted to the examples in Section 3.2. Hendry and Mizon (1990) provide the essential framework for this section’s approach. Other authors have also pointed out difficulties with EBA. McAleer, Pagan, and Volker (1985) show that the bounds may lie in implausible parts of the parameter space, that other information may be relevant to the model’s usefulness (e.g., whitenoise errors), and that L-robustness is sensitive to the choice of the parameter’s prior mean and to its classification as free or doubtful. McAleer and Veall (1989) also show that accounting for the uncertainty in the estimated bounds can affect the results of EBA. 4
3.1 Four Propositions L-robustness is neither necessary nor sufficient for the DGP to be included as one of themodelsinextremeboundsanalysis. Itishelpful toexaminethisstatementasfour separate propositions. No formal proofs need be given; the examples in Section 3.2 are sufficient. Propositions 1 and 2 pertain to L-robustness. Proposition 1 If a set of models for EBA includes the DGP, a result may be Lrobust. Proposition 2 If a set of models for EBA excludes the DGP, a result may be Lrobust. Propositions 1 and 2 are unsurprising. Still, together they imply that L-robustness says nothing about whether any of the models in the EBA are the DGP, and so says nothing about how close or far away any of the models in the EBA are to the DGP. Propositions 3 and 4 pertain to L-fragility, or the lack of L-robustness. Proposition 3 If a set of models for EBA includes the DGP, a result may be Lfragile. From the perspective of an empirical modeler, Proposition 3 is problematic: correct specification of the unrestricted model does not ensure L-robustness. Proposition 4 If a set of models for EBA excludes the DGP, a result may be Lfragile. Propositions 3 and 4 together imply that L-fragility says nothing about whether any ofthemodelsintheEBAaretheDGP,parallelingtheimplicationaboutL-robustness from Propositions 1 and 2. Propositions 1—4 extend immediately to EBA that is modified to account for uncertaintyintheestimatedbounds. ForPropositions1and2, alargeenoughsample size always exists such that the uncertainty in the estimated bounds is negligible. For Propositions 3 and 4, the results remain L-fragile when accounting for uncertainty in the estimated bounds because that uncertainty must increase the range spanned by the bounds. Propositions1and2alsoextendtoEBAthatisrestrictedtoliewithinalikelihood ellipsoid, as when the doubtful variable has no explanatory power; see Examples 1 and 2 below. Section 5 discusses implications for Propositions 3 and 4. 5
3.2 Four Examples Examples 1, 2, 3, and 4 below illustrate Propositions 1, 2, 3, and 4 respectively. A simple framework is used to characterize the implications as clearly and directly as possible. Suppose that the data (y , t = 1,...,T) are generated by the conditional process: t y = α w +α w +α w +e e IN(0,σ2); (6) t 1 1t 2 2t 3 3t t t e ∼ and that the marginal variables (w ,w ,w ) (= w ) are normal, independent, and 1t 2t 3t t0 identically distributed: w IN(0,τ), (7) t ∼ where τ is the variance-covariance matrix of w . The dependent variable in (6) is the t same as that in (2). For simplicity, τ is an identity matrix and σ2 is unity, unless e otherwise stated. Toevaluatethepropertiesof EBA, theright-handsidevariablesintheconditional process(6)mustbemappedintofocus,free,anddoubtfulvariables. Also,itispossible that some w may be omitted from all models in the EBA. In Examples 1—4, w it 1t is the focus variable and is also the only free variable, w is the doubtful variable, 2t and w is excluded from all models in the EBA. Thus, in these examples, only two 3t models need to be estimated in order to calculate the bounds in equation (3) and the asymptotic variance of the bounds in equation (4). One model is the unrestricted model, which has both w and w as regressors. The other model is the restricted 1t 2t model, which has w as its only regressor. 1t The EBA will satisfy any of Propositions 1—4, depending upon the values of the parameters in the DGP (6)—(7). Thus, the examples are stated in terms of the parameters of the DGP. Example 1 illustrates Proposition 1. Example 1 Suppose that: α = 1 (the focus variable has a nonzero coefficient), 1 α = 0 (the doubtful variable is unnecessary for explaining y ), and 2 t α = 0 (the excluded variable is unnecessary for explaining y ). 3 t Then Proposition 1 holds for large enough T. In Example 1, expectations of relevant estimators are (β ˆ ) = (β ˜ ) = α , (σˆ2) = 1 E E E (σ˜2) = σ2, and (ese(β ˆ )2) (ese(β ˜ )2) σ2/T, where the approximate equalities e e E E ≈ E ≈ indicate evaluation at population values (i.e., the asymptotic approximation). These equalitiesimplythattheterminsquarebracketsinequation(3)iszerowhenevaluated at population values. Hence, the bounds are likely to be narrow in finite samples. For large enough T (or for small enough σ2), the bounds can be arbitrarily narrow. e 6
Example2isthesameasExample1exceptthattheomittedvariableisimportant in the DGP. Example 2 Suppose that α = 1, α = 0, and α = 1. Then Proposition 2 holds. 1 2 3 In Example 2, (β ˆ ) = (β ˜ ) = α , (σˆ2) = (σ˜2) = σ2 +α2τ , and (ese(β ˆ )2) E E 1 E E e 3 33 E ≈ (ese(β ˜ )2) (σ2 +α2τ )/T. While these equalities differ from those in Example 1, E ≈ e 3 33 they still imply that the term in square brackets in equation (3) is zero at population values. So, the bounds are again likely to be narrow, and they can be arbitrarily ˆ ˜ narrow for a large enough T. Worryingly, (β) = (β) = α in general if w and 1 1t E E 6 w are correlated. That is, the restricted and unrestricted estimates have the same 3t expectations, and both estimates are biased (and in fact are typically inconsistent) for the true parameter. For the next two examples–Examples 3 and 4–the marginal process (7) is modified slightly to include a nonzero correlation (ρ ) between w and w . 12 1t 2t Example 3 Suppose that α = 1, α = 3, α = 0, and ρ = 0.5. Then Proposi- 1 2 3 12 − tion 3 holds for large enough T. Example 3 is the same as Example 1 except that the doubtful variable is necessary for explaining y , and the doubtful variable is correlated with the focus variable. In t Example 3, (β ˆ ) = α , (β ˜ ) α +ρ α , (σˆ2) = σ2, (σ˜2) σ2+α2(1 ρ2 ) σ2, E 1 E ≈ 1 12 2 E e E ≈ e 2 − 12 ≡ r (ese(β ˆ )2) σ2/[T(1 ρ2 )], and (ese(β ˜ )2) σ2/T. Further, F is a noncentral E ≈ e − 12 E ≈ r D F-statistic, with (F /T) α2(1 ρ2 )/σ2, which is essentially the noncentrality E D ≈ 2 − 12 e parameter divided by T. Thus, the extreme bounds are approximately: ρ α ρ α α + 12 2 | 12 2 |. (8) 1 2 ± 2 ³ ´ For the parameter values in Example 3, equation (8) implies extreme bounds of approximately [ 0.5,+1.0]. In practice, the bounds may be even larger, noting that − ˆ ˜ (β) = 1.0 and (β) 0.5. Even with these wide bounds, the unrestricted estima- E E ≈ − ˆ ˆ tor β is unbiased for β; and, for (e.g.) T = 100, β is precisely estimated by β, with an approximate estimated standard error of 0.12, implying a typical t-ratio of over eight. The DGP in Example 4 is the same as in Example 3, except that α is nonzero 3 and so the unrestricted model for EBA does not include the DGP. Example 4 Suppose that α = 1, α = 3, α = 1, and ρ = 0.5. Then Proposi- 1 2 3 12 − tion 4 holds. Because w is independent of w and w , all results for Example 3 carry through, 3t 1t 2t but with σ2 redefined as σ2 +α2τ . e e 3 33 7
4 An Empirical Example To highlight the empirical consequences of the four propositions in Section 3, the current section re-examines an empirical model of narrow money demand in the United Kingdom from Hendry and Ericsson (1991). This model is described, and its history and properties summarized. Several alternatives to this model are then estimated, and extreme bounds are calculated for various model pairs. Treating the original model as the DGP, examples of all four propositions can be found empirically. Of course, the original model is not the DGP. However, that model does appear wellspecified when examined with a wide range of diagnostic statistics, so it behaves like a local DGP, thus making these extreme bounds analyses of substantive interest. ThedataarequarterlyseasonallyadjustednominalM1(M),realtotalfinalexpenditure (TFE) at 1985 prices (I), the TFE deflator (P), and the net interest rate (R ), ∗ which measures the opportunity cost of holding money. The net interest rate is the differential between the three-month local authority interest rate and the learningadjustedretailsight-depositinterestrate. Equation(6)inHendryandEricsson(1991) is the following equilibrium correction model (EqCM): ∆(m p) = 0.023 0.687 ∆p 0.175 ∆(m p i) t t t 1 − (0.004) − (0.125) − (0.058) − − − d 0.630 R 0.093 (m p i) t∗ t 1 − (0.060) − (0.009) − − − T = 100 [1964(3)—1989(2)] σˆ = 1.313% , (9) wherevariablesinlowercaseareinlogarithms,∆istheone-perioddifferenceoperator, and estimated standard errors are in parentheses. Equation (9) is an empirically constantparsimonioussimplificationofanautoregressivedistributedlaginthemoney demand variables. Equation (9) has long-run unit price and income elasticities but near-zeroshort-runones; andthelong-runinterestrateelasticityislargeandnegative. Hendry and Ericsson (1991) discuss the economic and statistical merits of (9) in greater detail. The historyof (9) provides a perspectiveonits empirical validity, which motivates treating (9) as the DGP in the examples below. Hacche (1974) and Coghlan (1978) developed some of the first models of U.K. narrow money demand. Hendry (1979) noted problems in the dynamic specification of those models and obtained a betterspecified model much like (9) as a simplification from an autoregressive distributed lag model on data through 1977. Equation (9) differs from Hendry’s (1979) model by having the interest rate in levels rather than logs (a formulation proposed by Trundle (1982)), by having slightly simpler dynamics, and by having the net interest rate rather than the local authority rate. The net interest rate helps properly measure 8
the economic concept of the opportunity cost when narrow money started earning interest in the 1980s. The empirical specification in (9) has been extensively analyzed. Aspects examined include parameter constancy [Hendry (1985), Hendry and Ericsson (1991)], cointegration [Johansen (1992), Hendry and Mizon (1993), Paruolo (1996)], weak exogeneity [Johansen (1992), Boswijk (1992)], super exogeneity [Cuthbertson (1988), Hendry (1988), Hendry and Ericsson (1991), Engle and Hendry (1993)], dynamic specification [Ericsson, Campos, and Tran (1990)], finite-sample biases in estimation [Kiviet and Phillips (1994)], and seasonality [Ericsson, Hendry, and Tran (1994)]. Only the last (seasonality) provides any evidence of mis-specification, and the magnitude of that mis-specification appears relatively small. To illustrate the four propositions above, consider the following four variants on equation (9). M : equation (9) itself; 1 M : equation (9), excluding ∆p ; 2 t M : equation (9), excluding ∆p and ∆(m p i) ; and 3 t t 1 − − − M : equation (9), excluding ∆p and R . 4 t t∗ Table 1 summarizes the estimation results for these four models. For EBA, choices of excluded, free, doubtful, and focus variables must be made; and the following choices aim to illustrate Propositions 1—4. Treating M as the 1 DGP, the model pairs (M ,M ), (M ,M ), (M ,M ), and (M ,M ) correspond to 1 2 2 3 1 4 2 4 Propositions1, 2, 3, and4respectivelyintermsofwhethertheDGPisincludedinthe EBA. Each model pair determines which (if any) variable the EBA excludes, relative to the DGP. For each model pair, the free variables are all of the variables included in the restricted model, and the doubtful variables are all variables excluded from the restricted model but included in the unrestricted model. The interest rate R t∗ is the focus variable for the first two model pairs, and the dynamic response to disequilibrium ∆(m p i) is the focus variable for the second two model pairs. t 1 − − − Table2presentstheextremeboundsanalysisforeachofthefourmodelpairs. The interest rate R is L-robust, whether or not M is included in the models analyzed: t∗ 1 see the first two columns of results. Conversely, the variable ∆(m p i) is t 1 − − − L-fragile, whether or not M is included: see the last two columns of results. Both 1 variablesarehighlystatisticallysignificantintheoriginalmodelM , withF-statistics 1 of F(1,95) = 109.5 [p = 0.0%] for R , F(1,95) = 9.06 [p = 0.3%] for ∆(m p i) , t∗ t 1 − − − and F(2,95) = 55.97 [p = 0.0%] for R and ∆(m p i) jointly. t∗ t 1 − − − To summarize, inclusion or exclusion of the DGP in the models examined has no bearing on the determination of L-robustness or L-fragility in extreme bounds analysis. Additionally, a coefficient can be highly statistically significant, yet be 9
Table 1: Estimates for Restricted and Unrestricted Models. Variable or Model Statistic M M M M 1 2 3 4 ∆p 0.687 — — — t −(0.125) ∆(m p i) 0.175 0.133 — 0.343 t 1 − − − −(0.058) −(0.066) (0.090) R 0.630 0.786 0.718 — t∗ −(0.060) −(0.060) −(0.051) (m p i) 0.093 0.092 0.084 0.006 t 1 − − − −(0.009) −(0.010) −(0.009) −(0.012) intercept 0.023 0.024 0.022 0.003 (0.004) (0.005) (0.005) (0.007) R2 0.762 0.686 0.673 0.133 σˆ 1.313% 1.498% 1.522% 2.478% F-statistic vs. M — F(1,95) F(2,95) F(2,95) 1 30.01 17.67 125.3 ∗∗ ∗∗ ∗∗ [0.000] [0.000] [0.000] F-statistic vs. M — — F(1,96) F(1,96) 2 4.09 169.3 ∗ ∗∗ [0.046] [0.000] Notes: 1. The dependent variable is ∆(m p) , and the sample period is 1964(3)—1989(2) t − [T =100]. 2. Estimated standard errors of coefficient estimates appear in parentheses. 3. Inthelasttworows,thethreeentrieswithinagivenblockaretheF-statisticwith degreesoffreedomasindicated, thevalueofthatF-statistic,andthetailprobability associated with that value of the F-statistic (in brackets). 4. A single asterisk and two asterisks indicate rejection at the 5% and 1% levels ∗ ∗∗ respectively. 10
Table 2: Extreme Bounds Analysis of the Model Pairs (M ,M ), (M ,M ), (M ,M ), 1 2 2 3 1 4 and (M ,M ). 2 4 Model pair (M ,M ) (M ,M ) (M ,M ) (M ,M ) 1 2 2 3 1 4 2 4 Proposition 1 2 3 4 illustrated Unrestricted M M M M 1 2 1 2 model Restricted M M M M 2 3 4 4 model DGP (M ) included excluded included excluded 1 Focus R R ∆(m p i) ∆(m p i) t∗ t∗ t 1 t 1 variable − − − − − − Bounds [ 0.79, 0.63] [ 0.79, 0.72] [ 0.18,+0.34] [ 0.13,+0.34] −(0.05)−(0.06) −(0.06)−(0.05) −(0.06) (0.05) −(0.07) (0.06) Modified [ 0.89, 0.51] [ 0.91, 0.62] [ 0.29,+0.44] [ 0.26,+0.45] bounds − − − − − − L-robust or L-robust L-robust L-fragile L-fragile L-fragile Notes: 1. Even although M is not the actual DGP, M is treated as such to provide empirical 1 1 examples of the four propositions. 2. Estimated asymptotic standard errors of bounds appear in parentheses underneath the bounds. 3. The modified bounds are calculated from equation (5). 11
either L-robust or L-fragile. As this section and the previous section show, these negative results are easily demonstrated in principle and in empirical practice. 5 Encompassing, EBA, and Robustness This section interprets Propositions 1—4 in light of the encompassing literature (Section 5.1), relates Leamer and Leonard’s modified EBA to encompassing (Section 5.2), and re-interprets several encompassing tests and diagnostic tests as tests of robustness(Section5.3). SeeMizon(1984), MizonandRichard(1986), HendryandRichard (1989), and Bontemps and Mizon (2003) for key references on encompassing. 5.1 An Encompassing Interpretation of EBA Whether or not a variable is L-robust depends inter alia upon the correlations between the free and doubtful variables. That dependence leads to an encompassing interpretation of EBA. A simple regression model illustrates. Returning to equations (1) and (2), consider the case with one focus variable x t and one doubtful variable z : t y = βx +γz +u . (10) t t t t With only one doubtful variable in (10), the extreme bounds are given by the unre- ˆ ˜ ˜ stricted and restricted estimates β and β. The restricted estimate β can be expressed ˆ in terms of the unrestricted estimate β as: β ˜ = β ˆ +( x2) 1( x z )γˆ t − t t P P 1 z2 2 = β ˆ +r t γˆ , (11) xz x2 Ã P t ! where r is the sample correlation between tPhe focus variable and the doubtful varixz able. From (11), the distance between the bounds is the product of that correlation, the square root of the ratio of the regressors’ sample second moments, and the unrestricted coefficient estimate for the doubtful variable. For similar interpretations, see McAleer, Pagan, and Volker (1985) and Breusch (1990). Thus, for restricted models with statistically invalid restrictions, loose bounds (i.e., implying L-fragility) are unworrying. For example, for the model pair (M ,M ) 2 4 in Table 2, the deletion of R switches the sign of the coefficient on ∆(m p i) , t∗ t 1 − − − resulting in L-fragility. However, the exclusion of R is statistically invalid; and the t∗ exclusion of R generates omitted variable bias in the estimation of β, where the t∗ 12
˜ ˆ omitted variable bias is (β β), as from (11). The restricted model M fails to 4 E − parsimoniously encompass the more general model M because R is statistically 2 t∗ significant in M . 2 Forrestrictedmodelswithstatisticallyvalid restrictions, therestrictedmodelparsimoniously encompasses the unrestricted model because those restrictions are statisticallyvalid. IfEBAobtainslooseboundsinsuchasituation,thoselooseboundsmust arise from the uncertainty in the estimated coefficients: the corresponding statistical reduction appears valid, implying no omitted variable bias. The examples in the previous two paragraphs compare a given model with a more general, nesting model. A given model can also be compared with a non-nested model or with a more restricted model. Non-nested comparisons generate varianceencompassing and parameter-encompassing test statistics. General-to-specific comparisons generate the standard F-statistic, interpretable as a statistic for encompassing. On the latter, Gouriéroux and Monfort (1995, Proposition 8) demonstrate that (counterintuitively)ageneralmodelneednotalwaysencompassamodelnestedwithin it. However, Bontemps and Mizon (2003) find “... that the congruence of a model is a sufficient condition for it to nest and encompass a simplification (parametric or nonparametric) of itself, and that consequently [congruence] plays a crucial role in the application of the encompassing principle.” (p. 355) 5.2 Encompassing, and Modified EBA Leamer and Leonard’s (1983) modified EBA restricts the bounds to lie within some specified likelihood ellipsoid relative to the unrestricted model. This statistical modificationisveryclassicalinnature: modifiedEBAconsidersonlythosemodelsthatare statistically valid simplifications of the unrestricted model. This modification is very much in the spirit of the encompassing literature, given the discussion in Section 5.1; and it motivates orthogonalization of variables in model design, as discussed below. Equation (11) highlights an advantage to having nearly orthogonal regressors: they help minimize the potential for omitted variable bias. Because linear models are invariant to nonsingular linear transformations of the regressors, orthogonalization of thevariablesintheunrestrictedmodel couldbeobtainedbyconstruction. Fortypical (i.e., highly autocorrelated) economic time series, near orthogonalization can often be obtained by using two economically interpretable transformations: differencing, and differentials. For example, in equation (9), inflation ∆p is a differenced variable, t lagged inverse velocity (m p i) and the net interest rate R are differentials, t 1 t∗ − − − and ∆(m p i) is a differenced differential. Transformation of the original t 1 − − − level variables in the unrestricted autoregressive distributed lag into near-orthogonal variables in an equilibrium correction representation provides some insurance against 13
omitted variable bias for the estimates in a restricted model, where the omitted variables are those variables that are deleted in the reduction from the unrestricted modeltotherestrictedmodel. SeeEricsson, Campos, andTran(1990)foranexample of such transformations and reductions with the U.K. money data. While this sense of robustness is often achievable by design, no procedure appears capable of ensuring orthogonalization with respect to variables that are not included in the unrestricted model. This implication emphasizes the importance of starting with a general enough model. Leamer and Leonard (1983, p. 306) are sympathetic to this view, given their concern for obtaining robust inferences over a broad family of models. For detailed discussions of general-to-specific modeling and model design, seeHendry(1983), Hendry, Pagan, andSargan(1984), Gilbert(1986), Spanos(1986), Ericsson, Campos, and Tran (1990), Mizon (1995), Hoover and Perez (1999), Hendry andKrolzig(1999, 2005), Campos, Ericsson, andHendry(2005), andDoornik(2008). 5.3 Robustness and Encompassing L-robustness focuses on how coefficient estimates alter as the information set for the model changes. From the discussion above, L-robustness is only statistically or economically interesting if the information that is excluded–relative to the unrestricted model–is validly excluded. Tests of encompassing are tests of that exclusion; hence tests of encompassing are interpretable as tests of robustness. Put slightly differently, an encompassing test of a given model evaluates whether or not the information in the other model is redundant, conditional on the information in the given model. If encompassing holds, then the given model is robust to that additional information. At a more general level, robustness (and so encompassing) can be defined in terms of generic changes to the model’s information set, and not just in terms of changes associated with the additional variables in another model; see Mizon (1995, pp. 121— 122; 2008) and Lu and Mizon (1996). In a partition of information sources similar to the one in Hendry (1983) for test statistics, consider the following four sources of information: the model itself, other models, other sample periods, and other regimes. Information from the model itself. Robustness to data in the model itself correspondstosatisfyingarangeof standarddiagnostictests, suchas thoseforwhite-noise residuals and homoscedasticity. In this spirit, Edwards, Sams, and Yang (2006) propose a further refinement to Leamer and Leonard’s modified EBA by requiring the bounds to satisfy not just the standard likelihood ratio test but also a battery of diagnostic tests. By focusing on congruence, this refinement parallels the generalized concept of encompassing. Information from other models. Robustness to data in another model corresponds to standard encompassing: in particular, variance encompassing and parameter en- 14
compassing for non-nested models, and parsimonious encompassing for nested models. Differencesincoefficientestimatesacrossmodelsareunimportantper se. Rather, the interest is in the ability of a given model to explain why other models obtain the results that they do. The formula for omitted variable bias provides one way for such an accounting. The relationship of the given model to the alternative model formally defines the type of encompassing statistic. Non-nested models generate variance-encompassing and parameter-encompassing statistics; nested models generate parsimonious-encompassing statistics. If the two models differ in their dynamic specification, special attention must be given to the construction of the encompassing statistic, even although the comparison of models may appear conceptually equivalent to the one generating the usual encompassing statistics. See Hendry and Richard (1989) and Govaerts, Hendry, and Richard (1994) for details. Encompassing accounts for information in other models. Model averaging is an alternative approach to accounting for such information. Early versions of model averaging include pre-test, Stein-rule, and shrinkage estimators; see Judge and Bock (1978). Raftery, Madigan, and Hoeting (1997) and Hansen (2007) exemplify recent directions in model averaging. While model averaging is an appealing way of combining information, it has several statistical disadvantages relative to encompassing through general-to-specific model selection; see Hoover andPerez (2004), Hendry and Krolzig (2005), and Hendry and Reade (2005) inter alia. For example, consider model averaging across a set of models that includes a well-specified model (e.g., the DGP) and some mis-specified models. As Hendry and Reade (2005) demonstrate, typical rules for model averaging place too much weight on the mis-specified models, in effect mixing too much bad wine with too little good wine. Encompassing through general-to-specific modeling aims to find the well-specified model among the set of models being considered, thus (to continue the analogy) singling out that one bottle of a rare vintage. If the union model is the DGP but none of the individual models are, the distinction between model averaging and encompassing is even sharper. Model averaging places zero weight on the DGP, whereas encompassing through general-to-specific modeling has power to detect the union model as the DGP. Information from other sample periods. Robustness to data from another sample period corresponds to parameter constancy. Fisher’s (1922) covariance statistic and Chow’s(1960)predictionintervalstatisticaretwoearlyimportantstatisticsfortesting thisformof robustness. Morerecentdevelopmentshavefocusedontestingrobustness to a range of sample periods: see Brown, Durbin, and Evans (1975), Harvey (1981), andDoornikandHendry(2007)inter alia onrecursivestatistics, andAndrews(1993) and Hansen (1992) on statistics for testing parameter instability when the breakpoint 15
is unknown. Information from other regimes. Robustness to regime changes corresponds to valid super exogeneity. Two common tests for super exogeneity are constructed as follows. (i) Establish the constancy of the parameters in the conditional model and the nonconstancy of those in the marginal model; cf. Hendry (1988). (ii) Having established (i), further develop the marginal model by including additional explanatory variables until the marginal model is empirically constant. Then, test for the significance of those additional variables when added to the conditional model. Insignificance in the conditional model demonstrates invariance of the conditional model’s parameters to the changes in the marginal process; cf. Engle and Hendry (1993) for this test’s initial implementation, Hendry and Santos (2006) for a version based on impulse saturation, and Hendry, Johansen, and Santos (2008) and Johansen and Nielsen (2008) for statistical underpinnings of the latter. These tests use statistics for testing parameter constancy and statistics for omitted variables. Thus, these tests are interpretable as tests of robustness to information fromother sample periods and fromother models. However, tests of super exogeneity merit separate mention because super exogeneity is central to policy analysis. HendryandEricsson(1991)calculatebothtypesofsuperexogeneitytests. Hendry andEricssonshowthat theEqCM(9) is empiricallyconstant, butthat autoregressive models for inflation and the net interest rate are not. The EqCM is constant across regime changes, which were responsible for the nonconstancy of the inflation and interest rate processes. From(i), inflation and the net interest rate are super exogenous in (9). Additionally, functions of the residuals from the marginal processes are insignificant when added to the EqCM, so inflation and the net interest rate are super exogenous from (ii). See Engle, Hendry, and Richard (1983) for a general discussion of exogeneity. Overlapping sources of information. Robustness to the intersection of multiple sources of information is also of interest. For instance, robustness to another model’s data over anout-of-sample period corresponds to forecast encompassing andforecastmodel encompassing; see Chong and Hendry (1986), Lu and Mizon (1991), Ericsson (1992), and Ericsson and Marquez (1993). See also Bates and Granger (1969), Granger (1989), Wright (2003a, 2003b), Hendry and Clements (2004), Hendry and Reade (2006), and Castle, Fawcett, and Hendry (2008) inter alia for discussion on the related concept of forecast combination. 16
Other implications of encompassing. Encompassing does not imply that the DGP is included in the set of models being examined. However, an encompassing model is congruent with respect to the available information set and thus parsimoniously encompasses the local DGP. In that specific sense, the encompassing model establishes a closeness to the DGP. General-to-specific modeling with diagnostic testing enforces encompassing and generates a progressive research strategy that converges to the DGP in large samples; cf. White (1990) and Mizon (1995). Extreme bounds analysis–at least in its unmodified form–does neither. 6 Summary and Remarks Extreme bounds analysis re-emphasizes the importance of robustness in empirical modeling. The measure of robustness in EBA has several unfortunate properties that render that particular measure useless in practice. Nonetheless, the structure of EBA helps elucidate an important role of encompassing and model design in empirical modeling: encompassing tests and several other diagnostic tests are interpretable as tests of a more appropriately defined notion of robustness. 17
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Cite this document
Neil R. Ericsson (2008). The Fragility of Sensitivity Analysis: An Encompassing Perspective (IFDP 2008-959). Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, International Finance Discussion Papers. https://whenthefedspeaks.com/doc/ifdp_2008-959
@techreport{wtfs_ifdp_2008_959,
author = {Neil R. Ericsson},
title = {The Fragility of Sensitivity Analysis: An Encompassing Perspective},
type = {International Finance Discussion Papers},
number = {2008-959},
institution = {Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System},
year = {2008},
url = {https://whenthefedspeaks.com/doc/ifdp_2008-959},
abstract = {Robustness and fragility in Leamer's sense are defined with respect to a particular coefficient over a class of models. This paper shows that inclusion of the data generation process in that class of models is neither necessary nor sufficient for robustness. This result holds even if the properly specified model has well-determined, statistically significant coefficients. The encompassing principle explains how this result can occur. Encompassing also provides a link to a more common-sense notion of robustness, which is still a desirable property empirically; and encompassing clarifies recent discussion on model averaging and the pooling of forecasts.},
}