Solved – Coefficients in ordered probit model

Question

Suppose I have $4$ ordinal variables and a single covariate ($\log_{10}(x)$). When I run an ordinal probit model, I get three threshold coefficients and one probit slope. Call the threshold coefficients $b_1, \dots,b_3$ and the probit slope $b_4$.

So we can get $10^{b_1/b_4}$ for category 1, $10^{b_{2}/b_{4}}$ for category 2, and $10^{b_{3}/b_{4}}$ for category 3. But how would we calculate this value for category $4$? There is no coefficient for category 4.

Answer 1

With one ordinal variable with 4 levels, you should only have 3 threshold coefficients. You are essentially dealing with an unobserved continuous outcome which has been divided into four observable buckets (the levels). The thresholds are the boundaries between the buckets, so there should be only 3. The variable $\log_{10} (x)$ and the slope parameter $b_4$ determine how you move from one bucket to the next as the unobserved variable changes.

Here's an example that might give you some intuition.