Small area estimation under area-level generalized linear mixed models

This paper introduces a general area-level model-based formulation to small area estimation based on generalized linear mixed models. By applying an optimization algorithm to the Laplace approximation of the likelihood, the maximum likelihood estimators of the model parameters are calculated. Empirical best predictors of small area quantities are derived and the corresponding mean squared errors are estimated by parametric bootstrap. Some simulation experiments are carried out to study the behavior of the fitting algorithm, the small area predictors and the estimators of the mean squared errors. By using data of the Spanish living condition survey of 2008, an application to the estimation of average annual net incomes in Spanish provinces by sex is given.