Fractional Response Models - A Replication Exercise of Papke and Wooldridge (1996)

Abstract

This paper replicates the estimates of a fractional response model for share data reported in the seminal paper of Leslie E. Papke and Jeffrey M. Wooldridge published in the Journal of Applied Econometrics 11(6), 1996, pp.619-632. We have been able to replicate all of the reported estimation results concerning the determinants of employee participation rates in 401(k) pension plans using the standard routines provided in Stata. As an alternative, we estimate a two-part model that is capable of coping with the excessive number of boundary values equalling one in the data. The estimated marginal effects are similar to those derived in the paper. A small-scale Monte Carlo simulation exercise suggests that the RESET tests proposed by Papke and Wooldridge in their robust form are useful for detecting neglected non-linearities in small samples.