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Marginal treatment effects in the absence of instrumental variables

Zhewen Pan, Zhengxin Wang, Junsen Zhang, Yahong Zhou

arXiv 31 Jan 2024 · Econometrics

arXiv:2401.17595 · PDF · DOI · OpenAlex · Extracted main text

Abstract

We propose a method for defining, identifying, and estimating the marginal treatment effect (MTE) without imposing the instrumental variable (IV) assumptions of independence, exclusion, and separability (or monotonicity). Under a new definition of the MTE based on reduced-form treatment error that is statistically independent of the covariates, we find that the relationship between the MTE and standard treatment parameters holds in the absence of IVs. We provide a set of sufficient conditions ensuring the identification of the defined MTE in an environment of essential heterogeneity. The key conditions include a linear restriction on potential outcome regression functions, a nonlinear restriction on the propensity score, and a conditional mean independence restriction that will lead to additive separability. We prove this identification using the notion of semiparametric identification based on functional form. And we provide an empirical application for the Head Start program to illustrate the usefulness of the proposed method in analyzing heterogenous causal effects when IVs are elusive.

Citation extraction

76
references
120
in-text mentions
76
distinct cited
3
self-citations
41,733
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
1Escanciano, Juan Carlos and Jacho-Chávez, David and Lewbel, Arthur (2016) Identification and estimation of semiparametric two-step models1.000113100%
2Heckman, James J and Vytlacil, Edward (2005) Structural equations, treatment effects, and econometric policy evaluation1.00063100%
3De Haan, Monique and Leuven, Edwin (2020) Head start and the distribution of long-term education and labor market outcomes0.87452100%
4Ahn, Hyungtaik and Powell, James L (1993) Semiparametric estimation of censored selection models with a nonparametric selection mechanism0.84333100%
5Pan, Zhewen and Zhou, Xianbo and Zhou, Yahong (2022) Semiparametric estimation of a censored regression model subject to nonparametric sample selection self0.84333100%
6Powell, James L. and Stock, James H. and Stoker, Thomas M (1989) Semiparametric estimation of index coefficients0.84333100%
7Brinch, Christian N and Mogstad, Magne and Wiswall, Matthew (2017) Beyond LATE with a discrete instrument0.73732100%
8Heckman, James J and Vytlacil, Edward (2001) Local instrumental variables0.73732100%
9Li, Qi and Racine, Jeffrey Scott (2007) Nonparametric Econometrics: Theory and Practice0.73732100%
10Zhou, Xiang and Xie, Yu (2019) Marginal treatment effects from a propensity score perspective0.73732100%

Showing the top 10 of 76 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
1Locally robust semiparametric estimation of sample selection models without exclusion restrictions0.64422
2Extrapolating LATE with Weak IVs0.51122