The Calculus of M-Estimation in R with geex

Abstract

M-estimation, or estimating equation, methods are widely applicable for point estimation and asymptotic inference. In this paper, we present an R package that can find roots and compute the empirical sandwich variance estimator for any set of user-specified, unbiased estimating equations. Examples from the M-estimation primer by Stefanski and Boos (2002) demonstrate use of the software. The package also includes a framework for finite sample, heteroscedastic, and autocorrelation variance corrections, and a website with an extensive collection of tutorials.

Keywords

• empirical sandwich variance estimator
• estimating equations
• m-estimation
• robust statistics
• r