Abstract. Extending Chapter 9, this chapter considers dependent variables having more than two possible categorical alternatives. As in Chapter 9, we often interpret a categorical variable to be an attribute possessed or choice made by an individual, household, or firm. By allowing more than two alternatives, we substantially broaden the scope of applications to complex social science problems of interest.

The pedagogic approach of this chapter follows the pattern established in earlier chapters; we begin with homogeneous models in Section 11.1 followed by the Section 11.2 model that incorporates random effects, thus providing a heterogeneity component. Section 11.3 introduces an alternative method for accommodating time patterns through transition, or Markov, models. Although transition models are applicable in the Chapter 10 generalized linear models, they are particularly useful in the context of categorical dependent variables. Many repeated applications of the idea of transitioning give rise to survival models, another important class of longitudinal models. Section 11.4 develops this link.