Improvements of the maximum pseudo-likelihood estimators in various spatial statistical models

Maximum pseudo-likelihood estimation has hitherto been viewed as a practical but flawed alternative to maximum likelihood estimation, necessary because the maximum likelihood estimator is too hard to compute, but flawed because of its inefficiency when the spatial interactions are strong. We demonstrate that a single Newton-Raphson step starting from the maximum pseudo-likelihood estimator produces an estimator which is close to the maximum likelihood estimator in terms of its actual value, attained likelihood, and efficiency, even in the presence of strong interactions. This hybrid technique greatly increases the practical applicability of pseudo-likelihood-based estimation. Additionally, in the case of the spatial point processes, we propose a proper maximum pseudo-likelihood estimator which is different from the conventional one. The proper maximum pseudo-likelihood estimator clearly shows better performance than the conventional one does when the spatial interactions are strong.