A consistent nonparametric bootstrap test of exogeneity

This paper proposes a novel way of testing exogeneity of an explanatory variable without any parametric assumptions in the presence of a "conditional" instrumental variable. A testable implication is derived that if an explanatory variable is endogenous, the conditional distribution of the outcome given the endogenous variable is not independent of its instrumental variable(s). The test rejects the null hypothesis with probability one if the explanatory variable is endogenous and it detects alternatives converging to the null at a rate n^{-1/2}. We propose a consistent nonparametric bootstrap test to implement this testable implication. We show that the proposed bootstrap test can be asymptotically justified in the sense that it produces asymptotically correct size under the null of exogeneity, and it has unit power asymptotically. Our nonparametric test can be applied to the cases in which the outcome is generated by an additively non-separable structural relation or in which the outcome is discrete, which has not been studied in the literature.Postprin

Kerr Black Holes and Nonlinear Radiation Memory

The Minkowski background intrinsic to the Kerr-Schild version of the Kerr metric provides a definition of a boosted spinning black hole. There are two Kerr-Schild versions corresponding to ingoing or outgoing principal null directions. The two corresponding Minkowski backgrounds and their associated boosts differ drastically. This has an important implication for the gravitational memory effect. A prior analysis of the transition of a non-spinning Schwarzschild black hole to a boosted state showed that the memory effect in the nonlinear regime agrees with the linearised result based upon the retarded Green function only if the final velocity corresponds to a boost symmetry of the ingoing Minkowski background. A boost with respect to the outgoing Minkowski background is inconsistent with the absence of ingoing radiation from past null infinity. We show that this results extends to the transition of a Kerr black hole to a boosted state and apply it to set upper and lower bounds for the boost memory effect resulting from the collision of two spinning black holes.Comment: 17 pages, revised discussion sectio