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Toggling the Defiers to Relax Monotonicity: The Difference-in-Instrumental-Variables Estimand

Johann Caro-Burnett

arXiv 13 Feb 2026 · Econometrics

arXiv:2602.12504 · PDF · DOI · OpenAlex · Extracted main text

Abstract

Standard instrumental variables (IV) methods identify a Local Average Treatment Effect under monotonicity, which rules out defiers. In many empirical environments, however, distinct instruments may induce heterogeneous and even opposing behavioral responses. This paper introduces the Difference-in-Instrumental-Variables (DIIV) estimand, which exploits two instruments with opposing compliance patterns to recover a point-identified and behaviorally interpretable causal effect without imposing monotonicity. The estimand yields a convex combination of the marginal treatment effects on compliers and defiers, with weights reflecting differential shifts in treatment take-up across instruments. When monotonicity holds, DIIV coincides with the standard IV estimand. The approach can be implemented using simple linear transformations and standard two-stage least squares procedures. Applications using replication data illustrate its applicability in practice.

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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
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Showing the top 10 of 27 scored citations. 1 of these could not be matched to a bibliography entry, so only the citation key is shown.