Endogeneity and Measurement Bias of the Indicator Variables in Hybrid Choice Models: A Monte Carlo Investigation

Abstract

We investigate the problem of endogeneity and measurement bias arising from incorporating indicator variables (e.g., measures of attitudes) into discrete choice models. We demonstrate that although a hybrid choice framework can resolve both endogeneity and measurement problems, the former requires explicit accounting for in the model, which has not typically been done in applied studies to date. By conducting a Monte Carlo experiment, we demonstrate the extent of the bias resulting from measurement and endogeneity problems. We propose two novel solutions to address the endogeneity problem: explicitly accounting for correlation between structural and discrete choice component error terms (or with random parameters in a utility function), or introducing additional latent variables. Using simulated data, we demonstrate that these approaches work as expected, i.e. they successfully recover the true values of all model parameters.