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Difference-in-Differences Designs: A Practitioner's Guide

Andrew Baker, Brantly Callaway, Scott Cunningham, Andrew Goodman-Bacon, Pedro H. C. Sant'Anna

arXiv 17 Mar 2025 · Econometrics · publishedJournal of Economic Literature (2026) · 13 citations (OpenAlex)

arXiv:2503.13323 · PDF · DOI · OpenAlex · Extracted main text

Abstract

Difference-in-differences (DiD) is arguably the most popular quasi-experimental research design. Its canonical form, with two groups and two periods, is well-understood. However, empirical practices can be ad hoc when researchers go beyond that simple case. This article provides an organizing framework for discussing different types of DiD designs and their associated DiD estimators. It discusses covariates, weights, handling multiple periods, and staggered treatments. The organizational framework, however, applies to other extensions of DiD methods as well.

Citation extraction

129
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309
in-text mentions
129
distinct cited
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36,596
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
1Callaway and Sant'Anna (2021) Difference-in-differences with multiple time periods1.000193100%
2Sun and Abraham (2021) Estimating dynamic treatment effects in event studies with heterogeneous treatment effects1.000114100%
3de Chaisemartin and D'Haultfoeuille (2020) Two-way fixed effects estimators with heterogeneous treatment effects1.000114100%
4de Chaisemartin and D'Haultfoeuille (2023) Difference-in-Differences Estimators of Intertemporal Treatment Effects1.00073100%
5Roth, Sant'Anna, Bilinski and Poe (2023) What's Trending in Difference-in-Differences? A Synthesis of the Recent Econometrics Literature1.00063100%
6Goodman-Bacon (2021) Difference-in-differences with variation in treatment timing self1.00053100%
7Borgschulte and Vogler (2020) Did the ACA Medicaid expansion save lives?0.92843100%
8Sant'Anna and Zhao (2020) Doubly Robust Difference-in-Differences Estimators0.874122100%
9Borusyak, Jaravel and Spiess (2024) Revisiting Event Study Designs: Robust and Efficient Estimation0.87492100%
10Rambachan and Roth (2023) A More Credible Approach to Parallel Trends0.87472100%

Showing the top 10 of 129 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
1Refining the Notion of No Anticipation in Difference-in-Differences Studies1.00083
2Big Wins, Small Net Gains: Direct and Spillover Effects of First Industry Entries in Puerto Rico0.84333
3Selection and parallel trends0.81142
4Better Understanding Triple Differences Estimators0.73732
5Sensitivity Analysis for Treatment Effects in Difference-in-Differences Models using Riesz Representation0.69351
6Doubly Robust Estimators with Weak Overlap0.64432
7On a Debiased and Semiparametric Efficient Changes-in-Changes Estimator0.64422
8A Joint Analysis of Sensitivity to Anticipation and Parallel Trends Violations0.58531
9Difference-in-Differences with a Continuous Treatment0.51122
10Causal Identification under Interference: The Role of Treatment Assignment Independence0.51122