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Continuous difference-in-differences with double/debiased machine learning

Lucas Z. Zhang

arXiv 20 Aug 2024 · Econometrics · 1 citations (OpenAlex)

arXiv:2408.10509 · PDF · DOI · OpenAlex · Extracted main text

Abstract

This paper extends difference-in-differences to settings with continuous treatments. Specifically, the average treatment effect on the treated (ATT) at any level of treatment intensity is identified under a conditional parallel trends assumption. Estimating the ATT in this framework requires first estimating infinite-dimensional nuisance parameters, particularly the conditional density of the continuous treatment, which can introduce substantial bias. To address this challenge, we propose estimators for the causal parameters under the double/debiased machine learning framework and establish their asymptotic normality. Additionally, we provide consistent variance estimators and construct uniform confidence bands based on a multiplier bootstrap procedure. To demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach, we apply our estimators to the 1983 Medicare Prospective Payment System (PPS) reform studied by Acemoglu and Finkelstein (2008), reframing it as a DiD with continuous treatment and nonparametrically estimating its effects.

Citation extraction

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appendix boundary found by appendix_titled_section at “Appendix A: Algorithms for Constructing DML Estimators” · 31% 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
1Acemoglu, D. and Finkelstein, A (2008) Input and technology choices in regulated industries: evidence from the health care sector1.000163100%
2Callaway, B., Goodman-Bacon, A., and Sant'Anna, P. H (2024) Difference-in-differences with a continuous treatment1.000113100%
3Fan, Q., Hsu, Y. C., Lieli, R. P., and Zhang, Y (2022) Estimation of conditional average treatment effects with high-dimensional data0.9416483%
4Colangelo, K. and Lee, Y. Y (2025) Double debiased machine learning non-parametric inference with continuous treatments0.92843100%
5Chernozhukov, V., Chetverikov, D., Demirer, M., Duflo, E., Hansen, C… (2018) Double/debiased machine learning for treatment and structural parameters0.89911573%
6Bibaut, A. F. and van der Laan, M. J (2017) Data-adaptive smoothing for optimal-rate estimation of possibly non-regular parameters, arXiv:1706.074080.84333100%
7Su, L., Ura, T., and Zhang, Y (2019) Non-separable models with high-dimensional data0.84333100%
8Chang, N. C (2020) Double/debiased machine learning for difference-in-differences models0.8307457%
9Abadie, A (2005) Semiparametric difference-in-differences estimators0.81142100%
10Chernozhukov, V., Chetverikov, D., and Kato, K (2014) Anti-concentration and honest, adaptive confidence bands0.81142100%

Showing the top 10 of 84 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
1Difference-in-Differences with Time-varying Continuous Treatments Using Double/Debiased Machine Learning0.941125
2Difference-in-differences for mediation analysis using double machine learning0.64422
3Dimension Reduction for Conditional Density Estimation with Applications to High-Dimensional Causal Inference0.40511
4xtdml: Double Machine Learning Estimation to Static Panel Data Models with Fixed Effects in R0.40511