For manifest variables with additive noise and for a given number of latent variables with an assumed distribution, we propose to nonparametrically estimate the association between latent and manifest variables. Our estimation is a two step procedure: first it employs standard factor analysis to...

We review the use and the interpretation of some robustness concepts and techniques in some economic applications. We focus on estimation techniques in income distribution analysis and we discuss the reliability of inequality measures

The Markowitz (1959) mean-variance efficient frontier is the standard theoretical model for normative investment behaviour. It is still in practice the method of choice for optimal portfolio construction although among practitioners it has nearly lost its character of 'optimal' tool. Indeed it...

The paper discusses the effect of model deviations such as data contamination on the maximum likelihood estimator (MLE) for a general class of latent trait models (citeNP{MoKn:00}). This is done with the use of the influence function (Hampel 1968, 1974) a mathematical tool to assess the...

Successful estimation of the Pareto tail index from extreme order statistics relies heavily on the procedure used to determine the number of extreme order statistics that are used for the estimation. Most of the known procedures are based on the minimization of (an estimate of) the asymptotic...

This paper proposes a robust estimator for a general class of linear latent variable models (GLLVM) (Moustaki and Knott 2000, Bartholomew and Knott 1999). It is based on a weighted score function that is simple to implement numerically and is made consistent using the basic idea of indirect...

Structural equation models have been around for now a long time. They are intensively used to analyze data from di.erent fields such as psychology, social sciences, economics, management, etc. Their estimation can be performed using standard statistical packages such as LISREL. However, these...

In most health survey the state of health of individuals is measured through several different kinds of variables such as qualitative, discrete quantitative or dichotomic ones. From these variables, one aims at building univariate indices of health that summarize the information. To do so, we...

In affective psychology, there is a persistent controversy about the number, the nature and the definition of the affect structure dimensions. Responding to the methodological criticisms addressed to the preceding studies, we conciliated the principal theories regarding the affect structure with...