5
$\begingroup$

Suppose you had a method for estimating the population covariance of a vector-valued random variable given observations of that random variable, say $f(Z) \rightarrow C$, where the rows of $Z$ are observations of the random variable. Can one abuse this process to perform a least squares regression $y = x^T\beta + \epsilon$, for $n$-dimensional vector $x$? The idea is that one would have a vector of observations of $y$, call it $Y$, and a matrix of paired observations of $x$, call it $X$, then one would compute the covariance of $Z = [X\; Y]$ (concatenate the matrix next to the vector) via $f$, call it $C$, then let $\hat{\beta} = C_{1:n,1:n}^{-1} C_{1:n,n+1}$.

A few questions:

  1. Will this work under optimistic conditions? (a simple simulation in Matlab shows that the precision is not great, but the results are within 4 sig figs, so I am guessing it will.)
  2. Is this a known trick? if so, does it have a name I can google search for, or is it so trivial that it doesn't require a name?
  3. Most importantly, if $f$ can deal with input where some values are missing (say, MCAR--missing completely at random), under what conditions will this technique behave reasonably for regression with missing values?

edit I am assuming that $x$ is drawn from a zero mean process and that the regression has no intercept term.

$\endgroup$
3
  • $\begingroup$ What is $\epsilon$? $\endgroup$ Oct 3, 2010 at 7:49
  • $\begingroup$ $\epsilon$ is a zero-mean error term. $\endgroup$
    – shabbychef
    Oct 4, 2010 at 1:49
  • $\begingroup$ This bears a strong resemblance to kernel regression, which is a class of inference methods requiring only calculation of inner products. $\endgroup$ Oct 4, 2016 at 1:17

1 Answer 1

3
$\begingroup$

your "trick" seems to be the solution to the [so-called] normal equations for multiple regression - which is the usual least-squares answer in multiple regression.

as for missing data - what $f$ do you have in mind that knows how to get $C$ in that case?

there are methods like imputation for filling in missing values. perhaps little and rubin can give further information on the issues involved.

$\endgroup$
2
  • $\begingroup$ one such $f$ is based on EM, as described in Little & Rubin (I was somewhat put off by their treatment of regression, but perhaps I should revisit). $\endgroup$
    – shabbychef
    Oct 3, 2010 at 4:19
  • $\begingroup$ It seems like imputation would not work for covariance estimation. $\endgroup$
    – shabbychef
    Oct 4, 2010 at 1:51

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.