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Heterogeneous Policy Effects in Comparative Case Studies with Treated-Unit Microdata

Carl Bonander

arXiv 23 Sep 2026 · Econometrics

arXiv:2609.28678 · PDF · Extracted main text

Abstract

Policy reforms are sometimes accompanied by detailed individual-level data in the implementing jurisdiction, while only aggregate outcomes are available for potential comparison jurisdictions. This article develops an identification framework for heterogeneous policy effects when individual-level data are unavailable for the comparison units. The framework combines treatment-effect contrasts from difference-in-differences comparisons within the treated jurisdiction with a compatible population-average effect identified from aggregate panel data. Identification requires relative parallel trends within the treated jurisdiction together with the assumptions needed to identify the population-average effect from the aggregate panel. The within-jurisdiction component can be estimated from repeated cross-sections with a single pretreatment period.

Citation extraction

29
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40
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29
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appendix boundary found by appendix_command · 67% 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
1Xu, Y (2017) Generalized synthetic control method: Causal inference with interactive fixed effects models0.8746567%
2Long, S. K (2008) On the road to universal coverage: Impacts of reform in Massachusetts at one year0.73732100%
3Shahn, Z (2023) Subgroup difference in differences to identify effect modification without a control group0.64422100%
4Shahn, Z. and Hatfield, L (2024) Generalizing difference-in-differences to non-canonical settings: Identifying an array of estimands0.64422100%
5Xu, Y., Zhao, A., and Ding, P (2026) Factorial difference-in-differences0.64422100%
6Liu, L., Wang, Y., and Xu, Y (2024) A practical guide to counterfactual estimators for causal inference with time-series cross-sectional data0.5112250%
7Abadie, A., Diamond, A., and Hainmueller, J (2010) Synthetic control methods for comparative case studies: Estimating the effect of California's tobacco control program0.40511100%
8Abadie, A. and L'Hour, J (2021) A penalized synthetic control estimator for disaggregated data0.40511100%
9Arkhangelsky, D., Athey, S., Hirshberg, D. A., Imbens, G. W., and Wa… (2021) Synthetic difference-in-differences0.40511100%
10Athey, S. and Imbens, G. W (2006) Identification and inference in nonlinear difference-in-differences models0.40511100%

Showing the top 10 of 29 scored citations.