We propose a causal analysis of the mother’s educational level on the health status of the newborn, in terms of gestational weeks and weight. The analysis is based on a finite mixture structural equation model, the parameters of which have a causal interpretation. The model is applied to a...

We show that the h-index and the g-index, which are commonly used to mea- sure the research productivity of a scientist, may be seen as concentration indices. For these indices we also propose transformations that make them always ranging between two known limits, which correspond to the...

Evaluation of corrupt activities is incrementally based on administration of questionnaires to firms in business, and generally involves a large number of items. Data collected by questionnaires of this type can be analyzed by Latent Class (LC) models in order to classify firms into homogeneous...

We provide a comprehensive overview of latent Markov (LM) models for the analysis of longitudinal data. The main assumption behind these models is that the response variables are conditionally independent given a latent process which follows a first-order Markov chain. We first illustrate the...

We propose a test for state dependence in binary panel data under the dynamic logit model with individual covariates. For this aim, we rely on a quadratic exponential model in which the association between the response variables is accounted for in a different way with respect to more standard...

In the context of multilevel longitudinal data, where sample units are collected in clusters, an important aspect that should be accounted for is the unobserved heterogeneity between sample units and between clusters. For this aim we propose an approach based on nested hidden (latent) Markov...

We propose a finite mixture latent trajectory model to study the behavior of firms in terms of open-ended employment contracts that are activated and terminated during a certain period. The model is based on the assumption that the population of firms is composed by unobservable clusters (or...

We consider estimation of the causal effect of a sequential binary treatment (typically corresponding to a policy or a subsidy in the economic context) on a final outcome, when the treatment assignment at a given occasion depends on the sequence of previous assignments as well as on time-varying...

Objectives We investigate about the differences in birthweight between firstand second-borns, evaluating the impact of changes in pregnancy (e.g., gestational age), demographic (e.g., age), and social (e.g., education level, marital status) maternal characteristics. Data and Methods All analyses...