A class of general adjusted maximum likelihood methods for desirable mean squared error estimation of EBLUP under the Fay-Herriot small area model

In this paper, we therefore seek an adequate class of general adjusted maximum-likelihood methods that simultaneously achieve the three desired properties of MSE estimation. To establish that the investigated class does so, we reveal the relationship between the general adjusted maximum-likelihood method for the model variance parameter and the general functional form of the second-order unbiased MSE estimator, maintaining strict positivity. We also compare the performance of several MSE estimators in our investigated class and others through a Monte Carlo simulation study. The results show that the MSE estimators in our investigated class perform better than those in others.