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Choosing Exogeneity Assumptions in Potential Outcome Models

Matthew A. Masten, Alexandre Poirier

arXiv 4 May 2022 · Econometrics · publishedEconometrics Journal (2023) · 6 citations (OpenAlex)

arXiv:2205.02288 · PDF · DOI · OpenAlex · Extracted main text

Abstract

There are many kinds of exogeneity assumptions. How should researchers choose among them? When exogeneity is imposed on an unobservable like a potential outcome, we argue that the form of exogeneity should be chosen based on the kind of selection on unobservables it allows. Consequently, researchers can assess the plausibility of any exogeneity assumption by studying the distributions of treatment given the unobservables that are consistent with that assumption. We use this approach to study two common exogeneity assumptions: quantile and mean independence. We show that both assumptions require a kind of non-monotonic relationship between treatment and the potential outcomes. We discuss how to assess the plausibility of this kind of treatment selection. We also show how to define a new and weaker version of quantile independence that allows for monotonic treatment selection. We then show the implications of the choice of exogeneity assumption for identification. We apply these results in an empirical illustration of the effect of child soldiering on wages.

Citation extraction

39
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Most heavily cited references

The works this paper leans on most, across its whole bibliography — not restricted to papers in our corpus. Ranked by composite intensity, which combines how often a work is mentioned, how many sections mention it, and how much of that falls in the main text rather than the appendix.

ReferenceIntensityMentionsSectionsMain text
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2Manski, C. F (1988) Identification of binary response models0.64422100%
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4Blundell, R., A. Gosling, H. Ichimura, and C. Meghir (2007) Changes in the distribution of male and female wages accounting for employment composition using bounds0.5112250%
5Manski, C. F. and J. V. Pepper (2000) Monotone instrumental variables: With an application to the returns to schooling0.5112250%
6Masten, M. A. and A. Poirier (2016) Partial independence in nonseparable models self0.5112250%
7Nelsen, R. B (2006) An Introduction to Copulas0.5112250%
8Imbens, G. W (2004) Nonparametric estimation of average treatment effects under exogeneity: A review0.51121100%
9Manski, C. F (2003) Partial Identification of Probability Distributions0.51121100%
10Annan, J., C. Blattman, and R. Horton (2006) The state of youth and youth protection in northern Uganda0.40511100%

Showing the top 10 of 39 scored citations.

Cited by, within the corpus

arXiv econ.EM papers that cite this one, ranked by how heavily they lean on it.

Citing paperIntensityMentionsSections
1A General Approach to Relaxing Unconfoundedness0.40511
2Assessing Sensitivity to IV Exclusion and Exogeneity without First Stage Monotonicity0.40511