EconBase
← All papers

Difference-in-Differences with a Misclassified Treatment

Akanksha Negi, Digvijay Singh Negi

arXiv 4 Aug 2022 · Econometrics · publishedJournal of Applied Econometrics (2025) · 5 citations (OpenAlex)

arXiv:2208.02412 · PDF · DOI · OpenAlex · Extracted main text

Abstract

This paper studies identification and estimation of the average treatment effect on the treated (ATT) in difference-in-difference (DID) designs when the variable that classifies individuals into treatment and control groups (treatment status, D) is endogenously misclassified. We show that misclassification in D hampers consistent estimation of ATT because 1) it restricts us from identifying the truly treated from those misclassified as being treated and 2) differential misclassification in counterfactual trends may result in parallel trends being violated with D even when they hold with the true but unobserved D*. We propose a solution to correct for endogenous one-sided misclassification in the context of a parametric DID regression which allows for considerable heterogeneity in treatment effects and establish its asymptotic properties in panel and repeated cross section settings. Furthermore, we illustrate the method by using it to estimate the insurance impact of a large-scale in-kind food transfer program in India which is known to suffer from large targeting errors.

Citation extraction

69
references
129
in-text mentions
69
distinct cited
1
self-citations
11,688
main-text words

appendix boundary found by appendix_command · 59% of the source is main text. Read the extracted text to check this.

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
1Aigner, D. J (1973) Regression with a binary independent variable subject to errors of observation1.00053100%
2Lewbel, A (2007) Estimation of average treatment effects with misclassification0.92843100%
3Botosaru, I. and F. H. Gutierrez (2018) Difference-in-differences when the treatment status is observed in only one period0.87472100%
4Acerenza, S., K. Ban, and D. Kédagni (2021) Marginal Treatment Effects with Misclassified Treatment0.84333100%
5Nguimkeu, P., A. Denteh, and R. Tchernis (2019) On the estimation of treatment effects with endogenous misreporting0.84333100%
6Wooldridge, M. J (2021) Two-Way Fixed Effects, the Two-Way Mundlak Regression, and Difference-in-Differences Estimators0.84333100%
7Coady, D., M. E. Grosh, and J. Hoddinott (2004) Targeting of transfers in developing countries: Review of lessons and experience0.81142100%
8Gadenne, L., S. Norris, M. Singhal, and S. Sukhtankar (2021) In-kind transfers as insurance, Tech0.81142100%
9Battistin, E. and B. Sianesi (2011) Misclassified treatment status and treatment effects: an application to returns to education in the United Kingdom0.73732100%
10Jha, S., A. Kotwal, and B. Ramaswami (2013) Safety Nets and Food Programs in Asia: A Comparative Perspective0.73732100%

Showing the top 10 of 69 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
1Misclassification in Difference-in-Differences Models0.64422
22106.005360.40511
3Staggered Adoption DiD Designs with Misclassification and Anticipation0.40511