Matching estimators and optimal bandwidth choice

  • Authors:
  • Markus Frölich

  • Affiliations:
  • University College London and University of St. Gallen, St. Gallen, Switzerland CH-9000

  • Venue:
  • Statistics and Computing
  • Year:
  • 2005

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Abstract

Optimal bandwidth choice for matching estimators and their finite sample properties are examined. An approximation to their MSE is derived, as a basis for a plug-in bandwidth selector. In small samples, this approximation is not very accurate, though. Alternatively, conventional cross-validation bandwidth selection is considered and performs rather well in simulation studies: Compared to standard pair-matching, kernel and ridge matching achieve reductions in MSE of about 25 to 40%. Local linear matching and weighting perform poorly. Furthermore, the scope for developing better bandwidth selectors seems to be limited for ridge matching, but non-negligible for kernel and local linear matching.