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Treatment Effects Inference with High-Dimensional Instruments and Control Variables

Xiduo Chen, Xingdong Feng, Antonio F. Galvao, Yeheng Ge

arXiv 26 Mar 2025 · Econometrics

arXiv:2503.20149 · PDF · DOI · OpenAlex · Extracted main text

Abstract

Obtaining valid treatment effect inferences remains a challenging problem when dealing with numerous instruments and non-sparse control variables. In this paper, we propose a novel ridge regularization-based instrumental variables method for estimation and inference in the presence of both high-dimensional instrumental variables and high-dimensional control variables. These methods are applicable both with and without sparsity assumptions. To address the bias caused by high-dimensional instruments, we introduce a two-step procedure incorporating a data-splitting strategy. We establish statistical properties of the estimator, including consistency and asymptotic normality. Furthermore, we develop statistical inference procedures by providing a consistent estimator for the asymptotic variance of the estimator. The finite sample performance of the proposed method is evaluated through numerical simulations. Results indicate that the new estimator consistently outperforms existing sparsity-based approaches across various settings, offering valuable insights for more complex scenarios. Finally, we provide an empirical application estimating the causal effect of schooling on earnings by addressing potential endogeneity through the use of high-dimensional instrumental variables and high-dimensional covariates.

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38
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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
1Hansen, C. and D. Kozbur (2014) Instrumental variables estimation with many weak instruments using regularized jive1.000155100%
2Chernozhukov, V., C. Hansen, and M. Spindler (2015) Post-selection and post-regularization inference in linear models with many controls and instruments1.00084100%
3Liu, X., S. Zheng, and X. Feng (2020) Estimation of error variance via ridge regression0.8746467%
4Angrist, J. D. and A. B. Krueger (1991) Does compulsory school attendance affect schooling and earnings?0.81142100%
5Chernozhukov, V., D. Chetverikov, M. Demirer, E. Duflo, C. Hansen, W… (2018) Double/debiased machine learning for treatment and structural parameters0.64422100%
6Hausman, J. A., W. K. Newey, T. Woutersen, J. C. Chao, and N. R. Swa… (2012) Instrumental variable estimation with heteroskedasticity and many instruments0.64422100%
7Chao, J. C., N. R. Swanson, J. A. Hausman, W. K. Newey, and T. Woute… (2012) Asymptotic distribution of jive in a heteroskedastic iv regression with many instruments0.58531100%
8Belloni, A., D. Chen, V. Chernozhukov, and C. Hansen (2012) Sparse models and methods for optimal instruments with an application to eminent domain0.58531100%
9He, X. and Q.-M. Shao (2000) On parameters of increasing dimensions0.5112250%
10Liu, Y. and J. Xie (2020) Cauchy combination test: a powerful test with analytic p-value calculation under arbitrary dependency structures0.51121100%

Showing the top 10 of 38 scored citations.