Reduced-Form Versus Structural Models of Water Demand Under Nonlinear Prices
比较了阶梯水价下需水模型的结构估计与工具变量估计，通过蒙特卡洛实验发现两者均有偏误，且弹性估计对模型选择敏感。
Increasing-block prices are common in markets for water, cellular phone service, and retail electricity. This study estimates demand models under block prices and conducts a Monte Carlo experiment to test the small-sample bias of structural and instrumental variables (IV) estimators. We estimate the price and income elasticity of water demand under increasing-block prices using a structural discrete/continuous choice (DCC) model, as well as random effects and IV. Elasticity estimates are sensitive to the modeling framework. The Monte Carlo experiment suggests that IV and DCC models estimate both price and income elasticity with bias, with no clear best choice among estimators.