Empirical Likelihood Confidence Intervals for Generalized Lorenz Curve

Lorenz curves are extensively used in economics to analyze income inequality metrics. In this thesis, we discuss confidence interval estimation methods for generalized Lorenz curve. We first obtain normal approximation (NA) and empirical likelihood (EL) based confidence intervals for generalized Lorenz curves. Then we perform simulation studies to compare coverage probabilities and lengths of the proposed EL-based confidence interval with the NA-based confidence interval for generalized Lorenz curve. Simulation results show that the EL-based confidence intervals have better coverage probabilities and shorter lengths than the NA-based intervals at 100p-th percentiles when p is greater than 0.50. Finally, two real examples on income are used to evaluate the applicability of these methods: the first example is the 2001 income data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) and the second example makes use of households’ median income for the USA by counties for the years 1999 and 200

Non-negative demand in newsvendor models:The case of singly truncated normal samples

This paper considers the classical newsvendor model when demand is normally distributed but with a large coefficient of variation. This leads to observe with a non-negligible probability negative values that do not make sense. To avoid the occurrence of such negative values, first, we derive generalized forms for the optimal order quantity and the maximum expected profit using properties of singly truncated normal distributions. Since truncating at zero produces non-symmetric distributions for the positive values, three alternative models are used to develop confidence intervals for the true optimal order quantity and the true maximum expected profit under truncation. The first model assumes traditional normality without truncation, while the other two models assume that demand follows (a) the log-normal distribution and (b) the exponential distribution. The validity of confidence intervals is tested through Monte-Carlo simulations, for low and high profit products under different sample sizes and alternative values for coefficient of variation. For each case, three statistical measures are computed: the coverage, namely the estimated actual confidence level, the relative average half length, and the relative standard deviation of half lengths. Only for very few cases the normal and the log-normal model produce confidence intervals with acceptable coverage but these intervals are characterized by low precision and stability.Inventory Management; Newsvendor model; Truncated normal; Demand estimation; Confidence intervals; Monte-Carlo simulations

Non-Parametric Confidence Intervals for Generalized Lorenz Curve using Modified Empirical Likelihood

The Lorenz curve portrays the inequality of income distribution. In this article, we develop three modified empirical likelihood (EL) approaches including adjusted empirical likelihood, transformed empirical likelihood, and transformed adjusted empirical likelihood to construct confidence intervals for the generalized Lorenz ordinate. We have shown that the limiting distribution of the modified EL ratio statistics for the generalized Lorenz ordinate follows the scaled Chi-Squared distributions with one degree of freedom. The coverage probabilities and mean lengths of confidence intervals are compared of the proposed methods with the traditional EL method through simulations under various scenarios. Finally, the proposed methods are illustrated using a real data application to construct confidence intervals.Comment: 20 page

On estimating the reliability in a multicomponent system based on progressively-censored data from Chen distribution

This research deals with classical, Bayesian, and generalized estimation of stress-strength reliability parameter, Rs;k = Pr(at least s of (X1;X2; :::;Xk) exceed Y) = Pr(Xks+1:k \u3eY) of an s-out-of-k : G multicomponent system, based on progressively type-II right-censored samples with random removals when stress and strength are two independent Chen random variables. Under squared-error and LINEX loss functions, Bayes estimates are developed by using Lindley’s approximation and Markov Chain Monte Carlo method. Generalized estimates are developed using generalized variable method while classical estimates - the maximum likelihood estimators, their asymptotic distributions, asymptotic confidence intervals, bootstrap-based confidence intervals - are also developed. A simulation study and a real-world data analysis are provided to illustrate the proposed procedures. The size of the test, adjusted and unadjusted power of the test, coverage probability and expected lengths of the confidence intervals, and biases of the estimators are also computed, compared and contrasted

Confidence Intervals for the Scaled Half-Logistic Distribution under Progressive Type-II Censoring

Confidence interval construction for the scale parameter of the half-logistic distribution is considered using four different methods. The first two are based on the asymptotic distribution of the maximum likelihood estimator (MLE) and log-transformed MLE. The last two are based on pivotal quantity and generalized pivotal quantity, respectively. The MLE for the scale parameter is obtained using the expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm. Performances are compared with the confidence intervals proposed by Balakrishnan and Asgharzadeh via coverage probabilities, length, and coverage-to-length ratio. Simulation results support the efficacy of the proposed approach