> Quoting Maarten buis <[email protected]>:
> > BTW1 With -reg- the marginal effect will be the same as the
> > parameter estimate.
--- [email protected] wrote:
> Why is after -reg- the marginal effect the same as the parameter
> estimate?
Lets assume you have two variables, imaginatively called y and x, and
you used -reg- to estimate a regression:
reg y x
This assumes that the expected value of y (E(y)) depends on x in a
linear way. Any linear relationship can be represented with two
parameters: a constant (b0) and a slope (b1). It is these two
parameters that -reg- estimates.
When you are estimating a marginal effect you first write down how the
expected value of y depends on x, and than you calculate the first
derivative of this equation with respect to x. The regression equation
looks like this:
E(y) = b0 + b1*x
The first derivative of this equation with respect to x is b1. (see for
instance http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Differentiation_rules )
So, (assuming you haven't log transformed, used polynomials, etc) the
parameters given by -reg- are also the marginal effects.
Hope this helps,
Maarten
Ps. I forwarded this message also to the statalist since if you were
puzzled by this remark, chances are others are as well.
-----------------------------------------
Maarten L. Buis
Department of Social Research Methodology
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Boelelaan 1081
1081 HV Amsterdam
The Netherlands
visiting address:
Buitenveldertselaan 3 (Metropolitan), room Z434
+31 20 5986715
http://home.fsw.vu.nl/m.buis/
-----------------------------------------
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