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Potential Outcome Modeling and Estimation in DiD Designs with Staggered Treatments

Siddhartha Chib, Kenichi Shimizu

arXiv 23 May 2025 · Econometrics

arXiv:2505.18391 · PDF · DOI · OpenAlex · Extracted main text

Abstract

We propose the first potential outcome modeling of Difference-in-Differences designs with multiple time periods and variation in treatment timing. Importantly, the modeling respects the two key identifying assumptions: parallel trends and noanticipation. We then introduce a straightforward Bayesian approach for estimation and inference of the time-varying group specific Average Treatment Effects on the Treated (ATT). To improve parsimony and guide prior elicitation, we reparametrize the model in a way that reduces the effective number of parameters. Prior information about the ATT's is incorporated through black-box training sample priors and, in small-sample settings, by thick-tailed t-priors that shrink ATT's of small magnitudes toward zero. We provide a computationally efficient Bayesian estimation procedure and establish a Bernstein-von Mises-type result that justifies posterior inference for the treatment effects. Simulation studies confirm that our method performs well in both large and small samples, offering credible uncertainty quantification even in settings that challenge standard estimators. We illustrate the practical value of the method through an empirical application that examines the effect of minimum wage increases on teen employment in the United States.

Citation extraction

17
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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, Brantly and Sant’Anna, Pedro HC (2021) Difference-in-Differences with Multiple Time Periods1.00075100%
2Borusyak, Kirill and Jaravel, Xavier and Spiess, Jann (2024) Revisiting Event-Study Designs: Robust and Efficient Estimation0.73732100%
3Roth, Jonathan and Sant’Anna, Pedro HC and Bilinski, Alyssa and Poe,… (2023) What’s Trending in Difference-in-Differences? A Synthesis of the Recent Econometrics Literature0.73732100%
4Gardner, John and Thakral, Neil and To, Linh and Yap, Luther (2025) Two-stage Differences in Differences0.64422100%
chib1995unmatched citation key chib19950.64422100%
6Armagan, Artin and Zaretzki, Russell L (2010) Model Selection via Adaptive Shrinkage with $t$ Priors0.40511100%
7Bernardo, José M and Smith, Adrian FM (1994) Bayesian Theory0.40511100%
8Freyaldenhoven, Simon and Hansen, Christian and Shapiro, Jesse M (2019) Pre-Event Trends in the Panel Event-Study Design0.40511100%
9Goodman-Bacon, Andrew (2021) Difference-in-Differences with Variation in Treatment Timing0.40511100%
10Karim, Sunny and Webb, Matthew D (2024) Good Controls Gone Bad: Difference-in-Differences with Covariates0.40511100%

Showing the top 10 of 18 scored citations. 1 of these could not be matched to a bibliography entry, so only the citation key is shown.