Structural interdependence and unobserved heterogeneity in event history analysis

This chapter introduces how latent variables are handled in event history analysis, a popular method used to examine both the occurrence and the timing of events. We first emphasize why event history models are popular and what kinds of research questions the model can be used to answer. We also review the major estimation issues, briefly trace the development of event history models, and highlight the differences and similarities across various types of event history models. We then consider how latent variables are handled in event history analysis and demonstrate this with an example of latent variable analysis. In the conclusion we consider possible areas for future research.