stepwise: Stepwise estimation tools

stepwiseR Documentation

Stepwise estimation tools

Description

Functions to perform stepwise estimations in fixest models.

Usage

sw(...)

csw(...)

sw0(...)

csw0(...)

mvsw(...)

Arguments

...

Represents formula variables to be added in a stepwise fashion to an estimation.

Details

To include multiple independent variables, you need to use the stepwise functions. There are 5 stepwise functions: sw, sw0, csw, csw0 and mvsw. Let's explain that.

Assume you have the following formula: fml = y ~ x1 + sw(x2, x3). The stepwise function sw will estimate the following two models: y ~ x1 + x2 and y ~ x1 + x3. That is, each element in sw() is sequentially, and separately, added to the formula. Would have you used sw0 in lieu of sw, then the model y ~ x1 would also have been estimated. The 0 in the name implies that the model without any stepwise element will also be estimated.

Finally, the prefix c means cumulative: each stepwise element is added to the next. That is, fml = y ~ x1 + csw(x2, x3) would lead to the following models y ~ x1 + x2 and y ~ x1 + x2 + x3. The 0 has the same meaning and would also lead to the model without the stepwise elements to be estimated: in other words, fml = y ~ x1 + csw0(x2, x3) leads to the following three models: y ~ x1, y ~ x1 + x2 and y ~ x1 + x2 + x3.

The last stepwise function, mvsw, refers to 'multiverse' stepwise. It will estimate as many models as there are unique combinations of stepwise variables. For example fml = y ~ x1 + mvsw(x2, x3) will estimate y ~ x1, y ~ x1 + x2, y ~ x1 + x3, y ~ x1 + x2 + x3. Beware that the number of estimations grows pretty fast (2^n, with n the number of stewise variables)!

Examples


base = setNames(iris, c("y", "x1", "x2", "x3", "species"))

# Regular stepwise
feols(y ~ sw(x1, x2, x3), base)

# Cumulative stepwise
feols(y ~ csw(x1, x2, x3), base)

# Using the 0
feols(y ~ x1 + x2 + sw0(x3), base)

# Multiverse stepwise
feols(y ~ x1 + mvsw(x2, x3), base)


fixest documentation built on June 22, 2024, 9:12 a.m.