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Identification and Estimation in a Class of Potential Outcomes Models

Manu Navjeevan, Rodrigo Pinto, Andres Santos

arXiv 8 Oct 2023 · Econometrics · 2 citations (OpenAlex)

arXiv:2310.05311 · PDF · DOI · OpenAlex · Extracted main text

Abstract

This paper develops a class of potential outcomes models characterized by three main features: (i) Unobserved heterogeneity can be represented by a vector of potential outcomes and a type describing the manner in which an instrument determines the choice of treatment; (ii) The availability of an instrumental variable that is conditionally independent of unobserved heterogeneity; and (iii) The imposition of convex restrictions on the distribution of unobserved heterogeneity. The proposed class of models encompasses multiple classical and novel research designs, yet possesses a common structure that permits a unifying analysis of identification and estimation. In particular, we establish that these models share a common necessary and sufficient condition for identifying certain causal parameters. Our identification results are constructive in that they yield estimating moment conditions for the parameters of interest. Focusing on a leading special case of our framework, we further show how these estimating moment conditions may be modified to be doubly robust. The corresponding double robust estimators are shown to be asymptotically normally distributed, bootstrap based inference is shown to be asymptotically valid, and the semi-parametric efficiency bound is derived for those parameters that are root-n estimable. We illustrate the usefulness of our results for developing, identifying, and estimating causal models through an empirical evaluation of the role of mental health as a mediating variable in the Moving To Opportunity experiment.

Citation extraction

63
references
146
in-text mentions
63
distinct cited
6
self-citations
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main-text words

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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
1Imbens, G. W. and Angrist, J. D (1994) Identification and estimation of local average treatment effects1.00074100%
2Mogstad, M., Torgovitsky, A. and Walters, C. R (2021) The causal interpretation of two-stage least squares with multiple instrumental variables1.00074100%
3Kline, P. and Walters, C. R (2016) Evaluating public programs with close substitutes: The case of head start1.00064100%
4Le Cam, L. and Yang, G. L (1988) On the preservation of local asymptotic normality under information loss1.00053100%
5Abadie, A (2003) Semiparametric instrumental variable estimation of treatment response models0.92843100%
6Chen, X. and Santos, A (2018) Overidentification in regular models self0.87482100%
7Pinto, R (2021) Beyond intention to treat: Using the incentives in moving to opportunity to identify neighborhood effects self0.84333100%
8Bickel, P. J., Klassen, C. A., Ritov, Y. and Wellner, J. A (1993) Efficient and Adaptive Estimation for Semiparametric Models0.81142100%
9Heckman, J. J. and Vytlacil, E (2005) Structural equations, treatment effects, and econometric policy evaluation 10.81142100%
10Orr, L., Feins, J. D., Jacob, R. and Beecroft, E (2003) Moving to Opportunity Interim Impacts Evaluation0.73732100%

Showing the top 10 of 63 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
1When does IV identification not restrict outcomes?0.84353
2Identification in Multiple Treatment Models under Discrete Variation0.73732
3Inference for Treatment Effects Conditional on Generalized Principal Strata using Instrumental Variables0.64422
4Policy Relevant Treatment Effects with Multidimensional Unobserved Heterogeneity0.40511
5Potential weights and implicit causal designs in linear regression0.40511
6Debiased Machine Learning for Unobserved Heterogeneity: High-Dimensional Panels and Measurement Error Models0.40511
7On Local Overidentification and Efficiency Gains in Modern Causal Inference and Data Combination0.40511