R help - Jan 2014 - use of "effects coding" in instrumental variables estimation

Dear all,

I am estimating a model with instrumental variables using ivreg() (from the
"AER" library). When the regressors and the instruments are limited to
continuous variables, things work fine.

However, I have some regressors, such as "income", for which I only
have categorical data (very low income, low income etc).

I have used the following procedure for "effects coding" (where "
one_car_dist_car_fam " is the dataframe with the sample observations and 
" totink_ovg" is the categorical variable):

        one_car_dist_car_fam$totink_ovg <-
as.factor(one_car_dist_car_fam$totink_ovg)

        contrasts(one_car_dist_car_fam$totink_ovg)  <- contr.sum(7)


See http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/r/library/contrast_coding.htm for a refernece.


Ordinary least squares works fine with this approach (where "voorby"
is the dependent variable en "totpr11" is a continuous regressor):


        > common_from <- formula(voorby ~ totpr11    + totink_ovg)

        > dist_ols <- lm(common_from, data =  one_car_dist_car_fam)


However, when I apply this to ivreg(), I get the following result (I have now
added an endogenous variable " verbrgem" and the instruments "
gewleeg + cyl + kw"):

        > common_from <- formula(voorby ~ totpr11  +  totink_ovg   +
verbrgem )

        > form_for_iv <- update.formula(common_from, ~ . | totpr11    +
totink_ovg            + gewleeg + cyl + kw  )

        > dist_iv <-ivreg( form_for_iv, data =  one_car_dist_car_fam)

        Error in lm.fit(xz, y, offset = offset, ...) : 0 (non-NA) cases

        In addition: Warning messages:

        1: In Ops.factor(totpr11, totink_ovg) : + not meaningful for factors

        2: In Ops.factor(totpr11, totink_ovg) : + not meaningful for factors


Does anyone have an idea why this occurs with ivreg() and not with lm()?

Of course, I still have the backup of doing the "effects coding"
manually, but I would first like to know whether there is an elegant way out of
this specific problem.



Laurent Franckx, PhD
Senior researcher sustainable mobility
VITO NV | Boeretang 200 | 2400 Mol
Tel. ++ 32 14 33 58 22| mob. +32 479 25 59 07 | Skype: laurent.franckx |
laurent.franckx at vito.be | Twitter @LaurentFranckx












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