EconBase
← All papers

Counterfactual and Synthetic Control Method: Causal Inference with Instrumented Principal Component Analysis

Cong Wang

arXiv 17 Aug 2024 · Econometrics

arXiv:2408.09271 · PDF · DOI · OpenAlex · Extracted main text

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a novel method for causal inference within the framework of counterfactual and synthetic control. Matching forward the generalized synthetic control method, our instrumented principal component analysis method instruments factor loadings with predictive covariates rather than including them as regressors. These instrumented factor loadings exhibit time-varying dynamics, offering a better economic interpretation. Covariates are instrumented through a transformation matrix, $\Gamma$, when we have a large number of covariates it can be easily reduced in accordance with a small number of latent factors helping us to effectively handle high-dimensional datasets and making the model parsimonious. Moreover, the novel way of handling covariates is less exposed to model misspecification and achieved better prediction accuracy. Our simulations show that this method is less biased in the presence of unobserved covariates compared to other mainstream approaches. In the empirical application, we use the proposed method to evaluate the effect of Brexit on foreign direct investment to the UK.

Citation extraction

41
references
73
in-text mentions
41
distinct cited
0
self-citations
8,403
main-text words

appendix boundary found by appendix_command · 69% 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
1Yiqing Xu (2017) Generalized synthetic control method: Causal inference with interactive fixed effects models0.9209778%
2Bryan T Kelly, Seth Pruitt, and Yinan Su (2020) Instrumented principal component analysis0.8746567%
3Jushan Bai (2009) Panel data models with interactive fixed effects0.8434375%
4Marc Chan, Simon Kwok, et al (2016) Policy evaluation with interactive fixed effects0.84333100%
5Jushan Bai and Pierre Perron (2003) Computation and analysis of multiple structural change models0.73732100%
6James H Stock and Mark W Watson (2002) Forecasting using principal components from a large number of predictors0.73732100%
7Alberto Abadie, Alexis Diamond, and Jens Hainmueller (2010) Synthetic control methods for comparative case studies: Estimating the effect of california’s tobacco control program0.64422100%
8Eli Ben-Michael, Avi Feller, and Jesse Rothstein (2021) The augmented synthetic control method0.64422100%
9Victor Chernozhukov, Kaspar Wüthrich, and Yinchu Zhu (2021) An exact and robust conformal inference method for counterfactual and synthetic controls0.64422100%
10Laurent Gobillon and Thierry Magnac (2016) Regional policy evaluation: Interactive fixed effects and synthetic controls0.64422100%

Showing the top 10 of 41 scored citations.