EconBase
← All papers

Randomization Inference for Matched Pairs with Binary Outcomes

Bob Wilson

arXiv 3 Sep 2026 · Statistics — Methodology

arXiv:2609.03227 · PDF · Extracted main text

Abstract

We give an exact randomization-based confidence set for the average treatment effect (ATE) in matched-pair studies with a binary outcome, requiring neither monotonicity nor any distributional assumption beyond the within-pair coin flip. At its core is an analytic solution to the worst-case allocation of attributable effects: two binomial-symmetry lemmas identify the pattern hardest to reject as a single boundary corner, so testing null hypotheses needs no integer program and no numerical search. Inverting the test via binary search yields a prediction set for the attributable effect in O(log S) Binomial tail calculations; the Bonferroni proposition of Rigdon and Hudgens (2015) produces the ATE confidence set at the same computational cost. The same corner extends without further machinery to a sensitivity analysis for matched observational studies under Rosenbaum's $Γ$-model. A simple formula for the design sensitivity illuminates when an observational study can hope to provide evidence for an effect.

Citation extraction

20
references
32
in-text mentions
20
distinct cited
0
self-citations
14,627
main-text words

appendix boundary found by none_found · 100% 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
1Joseph Rigdon and Michael G Hudgens (2015) Randomization inference for treatment effects on a binary outcome1.00064100%
2Paul R. Rosenbaum (2002) Attributing effects to treatment in matched observational studies0.84333100%
3Paul R. Rosenbaum (2001) Effects attributable to treatment: Inference in experiments and observational studies with a discrete pivot0.73732100%
4Joseph L Fleiss, Bruce Levin, and Myunghee Cho Paik (2013) Statistical methods for rates and proportions0.64422100%
5J. L. Hodges and E. L. Lehmann (1963) Estimates of location based on rank tests0.64422100%
6Erich L. Lehmann (1975) Nonparametrics: Statistical Methods Based on Ranks0.64422100%
7Peter M Aronow, Haoge Chang, and Patrick Lopatto (2025) Fast computation of exact confidence intervals for randomized experiments with binary outcomes0.40511100%
8Jiaxun Li, Jacob Spertus, and Philip B Stark (2025) Exact and conservative inference for the average treatment effect in stratified experiments with binary outcomes0.40511100%
9Charles F. Manski (2003) Partial Identification of Probability Distributions0.40511100%
10J. S. Maritz (1995) Distribution-Free Statistical Methods0.40511100%

Showing the top 10 of 20 scored citations.