mixmcm: A community-contributed command for fitting mixtures of Markov chain models using maximum likelihood and the EM algorithm

2019
Markov chain models and finite mixture models have been widely applied in various strands of the academic literature. Several studies analyzing dynamic processes have combined both modeling approaches to account for unobserved heterogeneity within a population. In this article, we describe mixmcm, a community-contributed command that fits the general class of mixed Markov chain models, accounting for the possibility of both entries into and exits from the population. To account for the possibility of incomplete information within the data (that is, unobserved heterogeneity), the model is fit with maximum likelihood using the expectation-maximization algorithm. mixmcm enables users to fit the mixed Markov chain models parametrically or semiparametrically, depending on the specifications chosen for the transition probabilities and the mixing distribution. mixmcm also allows for endogenous identification of the optimal number of homogeneous chains, that is, unobserved types or components. We illustrate mixmcms usefulness through three examples analyzing farm dynamics using an unbalanced panel of commercial French farms.
STATA JOURNAL
页码:294-334|卷号:19|期号:2
ISSN:1536-867X
收录类型
SSCI
发表日期
2019
学科领域
循证社会科学-方法
国家
法国
语种
英语
DOI
10.1177/1536867X19854015
其他关键词
MOVER-STAYER MODEL; CONTINUOUS-TIME; DYNAMICS
EISSN
1536-8734
被引频次(WOS)
1
被引更新日期
2022-01
来源机构
INRAE Institut Agro Agrocampus Ouest
关键词
st0556 mixmcm Markov chain model finite mixture model EM algorithm mlogit fmlogit