Kirill Borusyak, Jiafeng Chen, Peter Hull, Lihua Lei
arXiv 29 Dec 2025 · Econometrics
arXiv:2512.23211 · PDF · DOI · OpenAlex · Extracted main text
We study identification of differentiated product demand from market-level data when product characteristics can be endogenous. Past work suggests nonparametric identification may be impossible: that is, in addition to standard price instruments, exogenous characteristic-based instruments are essentially necessary to identify sufficiently flexible demand models with standard index restrictions. We show, however, that price counterfactuals are nonparametrically identified using recentered instruments -- which combine exogenous price instruments with possibly endogenous product characteristics -- under a weaker index restriction and a new condition we term faithfulness. We argue that faithfulness, like the usual completeness condition for nonparametric instrumental variable identification, is best viewed as a technical requirement on the strength of identifying variation rather than a substantive economic or statistical restriction. We show the two conditions are closely related, though generally distinct. We conclude with several practical implications for the parametric estimation of demand counterfactuals.
appendix boundary found by appendix_command · 37% of the source is main text. Read the extracted text to check this.
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.
| Reference | Intensity | Mentions | Sections | Main text | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Berry, Steven and Haile, Philip (2024) Nonparametric Identification of Differentiated Products Demand Using Micro Data | 1.000 | 8 | 3 | 100% |
| 2 | Chen, Jiafeng (2025) Reinterpreting demand estimation self | 1.000 | 5 | 3 | 100% |
| 3 | Berry, Steven and Haile, Philip (2014) Identification in Differentiated Products Markets Using Market Level Data | 0.985 | 22 | 5 | 95% |
| 4 | Borusyak, Kirill and Bravo, Mauricio Caceres and Hull, Peter (2025) Estimating Demand with Recentered Instruments self | 0.946 | 13 | 4 | 85% |
| 5 | Andrews, Isaiah and Barahona, Nano and Gentzkow, Matthew and Rambach… (2025) Structural estimation under misspecification: Theory and implications for practice | 0.928 | 4 | 3 | 100% |
| 6 | D'Haultfœuille, Xavier and Février, Philippe (2015) Identification of nonseparable triangular models with discrete instruments | 0.843 | 5 | 3 | 60% |
| 7 | Daniel A. Ackerberg and Gregory S. Crawford (2009) Estimating Price Elasticities in Differentiated Product Demand Models with Endogenous Characteristics | 0.843 | 3 | 3 | 100% |
| 8 | Berry, Steven and Levinsohn, James and Pakes, Ariel (1995) Automobile Prices in Market Equilibrium | 0.811 | 4 | 2 | 100% |
| 9 | Berry, Steven T and Haile, Philip A (2021) Foundations of demand estimation | 0.811 | 4 | 2 | 100% |
| 10 | Newey, Whitney K and Powell, James L (2003) Instrumental variable estimation of nonparametric models | 0.811 | 4 | 2 | 100% |
Showing the top 10 of 40 scored citations.