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Three's a crowd: Identification challenges in the triple difference model with spillover effects

Silvia De Nicolò, Beatrice Biondi, Mario Mazzocchi

arXiv 22 Jan 2026 · Econometrics

arXiv:2601.15764 · PDF · DOI · OpenAlex · Extracted main text

Abstract

The paper studies identification in triple-difference designs when spillover effects contaminate one or more control groups. We show that, under conventional identifying assumptions, the triple-difference model fails to identify both the treatment effect and the spillover effect under such interference. To overcome this limitation, we propose an alternative specification, the double-triple-difference model, and explicitly formalize identifying assumptions and spillover structures required for consistent identification of both effects. We derive formal identification results and assess the performance of the proposed model through Monte Carlo simulations. An empirical application evaluating a Special Economic Zone in Italy is provided.

Citation extraction

43
references
78
in-text mentions
43
distinct cited
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self-citations
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main-text words

appendix boundary found by appendix_titled_section at “Supplementary Material” · 73% 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
1Olden, Andreas and Møen, Jarle (2022) The triple difference estimator1.00063100%
2Huber, Martin and Steinmayr, Andreas (2021) A framework for separating individual-level treatment effects from spillover effects1.00053100%
3Ortiz-Villavicencio, Marcelo and Sant'Anna, Pedro HC (2025) Better Understanding Triple Differences Estimators0.95616688%
4Caron, Laura (2025) Triple Difference Designs with Heterogeneous Treatment Effects0.84333100%
5Lee, Youjin and Hettinger, Gary and Mitra, Nandita (2025) Policy effect evaluation under counterfactual neighbourhood intervention in the presence of spillover0.84333100%
6Bellou, Andriana and Bhatt, Rachana (2013) Reducing underage alcohol and tobacco use: Evidence from the introduction of vertical identification cards0.64422100%
7Lee, Hwa-Young and Kim, Nam-Hee and Kawachi, Ichiro (2022) Did expansion of insurance coverage for major diseases in Korea induce a positive spillover effect on dental service utilization?0.64422100%
8Butts, Kyle (2021) Difference-in-differences estimation with spatial spillovers0.64422100%
9Fiorini, Mario and Lee, Wooyong and Pfeifer, Gregor (2024) A Simple Approach to Staggered Difference-in-differences in the Presence of Spillovers0.64422100%
10Cerqua, Augusto and Pellegrini, Guido (2017) Industrial policy evaluation in the presence of spillovers0.51121100%

Showing the top 10 of 43 scored citations.