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Automatic Debiased Machine Learning of Structural Parameters with General Conditional Moments

Facundo Argañaraz

arXiv 9 Dec 2025 · Econometrics

arXiv:2512.08423 · PDF · Extracted main text

Abstract

This paper proposes a method to automatically construct or estimate Neyman-orthogonal moments in general models defined by a finite number of conditional moment restrictions (CMRs), with possibly different conditioning variables and endogenous regressors. CMRs are allowed to depend on non-parametric components, which might be flexibly modeled using Machine Learning tools, and non-linearly on finite-dimensional parameters. The key step in this construction is the estimation of Orthogonal Instrumental Variables (OR-IVs) -- "residualized" functions of the conditioning variables, which are then combined to obtain a debiased moment. We argue that computing OR-IVs necessarily requires solving potentially complicated functional equations, which depend on unknown terms. However, by imposing an approximate sparsity condition, our method finds the solutions to those equations using a Lasso-type program and can then be implemented straightforwardly. Based on this, we introduce a GMM estimator of finite-dimensional parameters (structural parameters) in a two-step framework. We derive theoretical guarantees for our construction of OR-IVs and show $\sqrt{n}$-consistency and asymptotic normality for the estimator of the structural parameters. Our Monte Carlo experiments and an empirical application on estimating firm-level production functions highlight the importance of relying on inference methods like the one proposed.

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Most heavily cited references

The works this paper leans on most, across its whole bibliography — not restricted to papers in our corpus. Ranked by composite intensity, which combines how often a work is mentioned, how many sections mention it, and how much of that falls in the main text rather than the appendix.

ReferenceIntensityMentionsSectionsMain text
1Ackerberg, Daniel A, Kevin Caves, and Garth Frazer (2015) Identification properties of recent production function estimators1.000205100%
2Chernozhukov, Victor, Whitney K Newey, and Rahul Singh (2022) d): Automatic debiased machine learning of causal and structural effects1.000157100%
3Chernozhukov, Victor, Denis Chetverikov, Mert Demirer, Esther Duflo,… (2018) Double/debiased machine learning for treatment and structural parameters1.000147100%
4Levinsohn, James and Amil Petrin (2003) Estimating production functions using inputs to control for unobservables1.000134100%
5Olley, G. Steven and Ariel Pakes (1996) The Dynamics of Productivity in the Telecommunications Equipment Industry1.000114100%
6Ackerberg, Daniel, Xiaohong Chen, Jinyong Hahn, and Zhipeng Liao (2014) Asymptotic efficiency of semiparametric two-step GMM1.000106100%
7Bakhitov, Edvard (2022) Automatic Debiased Machine Learning in Presence of Endogeneity1.000105100%
8Argañaraz, Facundo and Juan Carlos Escanciano (2025) b): Machine Learning Debiasing with Conditional Moment Restrictions: An Application to LATE1.00094100%
9Belloni, Alexandre, Daniel Chen, Victor Chernozhukov, and Christian… (2012) Sparse models and methods for optimal instruments with an application to eminent domain1.00093100%
10Cha, Jooyoung, Harold D. Chiang, and Yuya Sasaki (2023) Inference in High-Dimensional Regression Models without the Exact or Lp Sparsity1.00063100%

Showing the top 10 of 97 scored citations.

Cited by, within the corpus

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1Debiased Machine Learning for Unobserved Heterogeneity: High-Dimensional Panels and Measurement Error Models0.40511