Inference for high-dimensional varying-coefficient quantile regression

Abstract

Quantile regression has been successfully used to study heterogeneous and heavy-tailed data. Varying-coefficient models are frequently used to capture changes in the effect of input variables on the response as a function of an index or time. In this work, we study high-dimensional varying-coefficient quantile regression models and develop new tools for statistical inference. We focus on development of valid confidence intervals and honest tests for nonparametric coefficients at a fixed time point and quantile, while allowing for a high-dimensional setting where the number of input variables exceeds the sample size. Performing statistical inference in this regime is challenging due to the usage of model selection techniques in estimation. Nevertheless, we can develop valid inferential tools that are applicable to a wide range of data generating processes and do not suffer from biases introduced by model selection. We performed numerical simulations to demonstrate the finite sample performance of our method, and we also illustrated the application with a real data example.

Publication
Electronic Journal of Statistics 15(2)
Ran Dai
Ran Dai
PhD (2016-2020)

Ran Dai is a fourth-year PhD candidate in Statistics at the University of Chicago advised by Rina Foygel Barber. Ran’s research interest is in high dimensional inference, nonparametric modeling, and shape-constrained regressions, multiple testing, and causal inference. In particular, Ran is interested in developing computationally efficient algorithms for these problems with statistical convergence guarantee and valid inference; and applying these methods towards real datasets in the areas of drug development, HIV mutation study and cancer study.

Mladen Kolar
Mladen Kolar
Associate Professor of Econometrics and Statistics

Mladen Kolar is an Associate Professor of Econometrics and Statistics at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. His research is focused on high-dimensional statistical methods, graphical models, varying-coefficient models and data mining, driven by the need to uncover interesting and scientifically meaningful structures from observational data.