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Interpreting statistical data as evidence, Statistical Evidence: A Likelihood Paradigm focuses on the law of likelihood, fundamental to solving many of the problems associated with interpreting data in this way. Statistics has long neglected this principle, resulting in a seriously defective methodology. This book redresses the balance, explaining why science has clung to a defective methodology despite its well-known defects. After examining the strengths and weaknesses of the work of Neyman and Pearson and the Fisher paradigm, the author proposes an alternative paradigm which provides, in the law of likelihood, the explicit concept of evidence missing from the other paradigms. At the same time, this new paradigm retains the elements of objective measurement and control of the frequency of misleading results, features which made the old paradigms so important to science. The likelihood paradigm leads to statistical methods that have a compelling rationale and an elegant simplicity, no longer forcing the reader to choose between frequentist and Bayesian statistics.

"Maximum likelihood estimation is a general method for estimating the parameters of econometric models from observed data. The principle of maximum likelihood plays a central role in the exposition of this book, since a number of estimators used in econometrics can be derived within this framework. Examples include ordinary least squares, generalized least squares and full-information maximum likelihood. In deriving the maximum likelihood estimator, a key concept is the joint probability density function (pdf) of the observed random variables, yt. Maximum likelihood estimation requires that the following conditions are satisfied. (1) The form of the joint pdf of yt is known. (2) The specification of the moments of the joint pdf are known. (3) The joint pdf can be evaluated for all values of the parameters, 9. Parts ONE and TWO of this book deal with models in which all these conditions are satisfied. Part THREE investigates models in which these conditions are not satisfied and considers four important cases. First, if the distribution of yt is misspecified, resulting in both conditions 1 and 2 being violated, estimation is by quasi-maximum likelihood (Chapter 9). Second, if condition 1 is not satisfied, a generalized method of moments estimator (Chapter 10) is required. Third, if condition 2 is not satisfied, estimation relies on nonparametric methods (Chapter 11). Fourth, if condition 3 is violated, simulation-based estimation methods are used (Chapter 12). 1.2 Motivating Examples To highlight the role of probability distributions in maximum likelihood estimation, this section emphasizes the link between observed sample data and 4 The Maximum Likelihood Principle the probability distribution from which they are drawn"-- publisher.

Based on a course in the theory of statistics this text concentrates on what can be achieved using the likelihood/Fisherian method of taking account of uncertainty when studying a statistical problem. It takes the concept ot the likelihood as providing the best methods for unifying the demands of statistical modelling and the theory of inference. Every likelihood concept is illustrated by realistic examples, which are not compromised by computational problems. Examples range from a simile comparison of two accident rates, to complex studies that require generalised linear or semiparametric modelling. The emphasis is that the likelihood is not simply a device to produce an estimate, but an important tool for modelling. The book generally takes an informal approach, where most important results are established using heuristic arguments and motivated with realistic examples. With the currently available computing power, examples are not contrived to allow a closed analytical solution, and the book can concentrate on the statistical aspects of the data modelling. In addition to classical likelihood theory, the book covers many modern topics such as generalized linear models and mixed models, non parametric smoothing, robustness, the EM algorithm and empirical likelihood.

The pioneering research of Hirotugu Akaike has an international reputation for profoundly affecting how data and time series are analyzed and modelled and is highly regarded by the statistical and technological communities of Japan and the world. His 1974 paper "A new look at the statistical model identification" (IEEE Trans Automatic Control, AC-19, 716-723) is one of the most frequently cited papers in the area of engineering, technology, and applied sciences (according to a 1981 Citation Classic of the Institute of Scientific Information). It introduced the broad scientific community to model identification using the methods of Akaike's criterion AIC. The AIC method is cited and applied in almost every area of physical and social science. The best way to learn about the seminal ideas of pioneering researchers is to read their original papers. This book reprints 29 papers of Akaike's more than 140 papers. This book of papers by Akaike is a tribute to his outstanding career and a service to provide students and researchers with access to Akaike's innovative and influential ideas and applications. To provide a commentary on the career of Akaike, the motivations of his ideas, and his many remarkable honors and prizes, this book reprints "A Conversation with Hirotugu Akaike" by David F. Findley and Emanuel Parzen, published in 1995 in the journal Statistical Science. This survey of Akaike's career provides each of us with a role model for how to have an impact on society by stimulating applied researchers to implement new statistical methods.

Mounting failures of replication in social and biological sciences give a new urgency to critically appraising proposed reforms. This book pulls back the cover on disagreements between experts charged with restoring integrity to science. It denies two pervasive views of the role of probability in inference: to assign degrees of belief, and to control error rates in a long run. If statistical consumers are unaware of assumptions behind rival evidence reforms, they can't scrutinize the consequences that affect them (in personalized medicine, psychology, etc.). The book sets sail with a simple tool: if little has been done to rule out flaws in inferring a claim, then it has not passed a severe test. Many methods advocated by data experts do not stand up to severe scrutiny and are in tension with successful strategies for blocking or accounting for cherry picking and selective reporting. Through a series of excursions and exhibits, the philosophy and history of inductive inference come alive. Philosophical tools are put to work to solve problems about science and pseudoscience, induction and falsification.