On sparse estimation for semiparametric linear transformation models

: Semiparametric linear transformation models have received much attention due to its high flexibility in modeling survival data. A useful estimating equation procedure was recently proposed by Chen et al. (2002) for linear transformation models to jointly estimate parametric and nonparametric terms. They showed that this procedure can yield a consistent and robust estimator. However, the problem of variable selection for linear transformation models is less studied, partially because a convenient loss function is not readily available under this context. In this paper, we propose a simple yet powerful approach to achieve both sparse and consistent estimation for linear transformation models. The main idea is to derive a profiled score from the estimating equation of Chen et al. (2002), construct a loss function based on the profile scored and its variance, and then minimize the loss subject to some shrinkage penalty. Under regularity conditions, we have shown that the resulting est...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2010
• Where: MA
• Authors: Hao Helen Zhang, Wenbin Lu, Hansheng Wang
• Keywords: Communications, Estimating Equation, Linear Transformation Models, MA 2010, Variable Selection