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Event-Study Designs for Discrete Outcomes under Transition Independence

Young Ahn, Hiroyuki Kasahara

arXiv 9 Mar 2026 · Econometrics

arXiv:2603.07914 · PDF · DOI · OpenAlex · Extracted main text

Abstract

We develop a new identification strategy for average treatment effects on the treated (ATT) in panel data with discrete outcomes. Standard difference-in-differences (DiD) relies on parallel trends, which is frequently violated in categorical settings due to mean reversion, out-of-bounds counterfactuals, and ill-defined trends for multi-category outcomes. We propose an alternative identification strategy with transition independence: absent treatment, transition dynamics conditional on pre-treatment outcomes are identical between control and treated groups. To capture unobserved heterogeneity, we introduce a latent-type Markov structure delivering type-specific and aggregate treatment effects from short panels. Three empirical applications yield ATT estimates substantially different from conventional DiD.

Citation extraction

47
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95
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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
1Charoenwong, Kwan and Umar (2019) Does regulatory jurisdiction affect the quality of investment-adviser regulation?1.000123100%
2Hvide and Jones (2018) University innovation and the professor's privilege1.000113100%
3Acemoglu and Angrist (2001) Consequences of employment protection? The case of the Americans with Disabilities Act0.81142100%
4Lise, Pastorino and Pistaferri (2023) Revisiting the Employment Effects of the Americans with Disabilities Act0.81142100%
5Callaway and Sant'Anna (2021) Difference-in-Differences with multiple time periods0.7946350%
6Robins (1986) A New Approach To Causal Inference in Mortality Studies With a Sustained Exposure Period - Application To Control of the Healthy…0.73732100%
7Bonhomme and Manresa (2015) Grouped patterns of heterogeneity in panel data0.64422100%
8Roth, Sant'Anna, Bilinski and Poe (2023) What's trending in difference-in-differences? A synthesis of the recent econometrics literature0.64422100%
9Hernán and Robins (2025) Unpublished manuscript (Chapman & Hall/CRC, 2025)0.64422100%
10Roth (2022) Pretest with Caution: Event-Study Estimates after Testing for Parallel Trends0.64422100%

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Cited by, within the corpus

arXiv econ.EM papers that cite this one, ranked by how heavily they lean on it.

Citing paperIntensityMentionsSections
1Compositional Difference-in-Differences0.51121