Modelling and Evaluating Treatment Effects in Econometrics

Dann Millimet, Jeffrey Smith, Edward Vytlacil, Dann Millimet, Jeffrey Smith, Edward Vytlacil

• Publisher: JAI Press Inc.
• Year: 2008
• Print ISBN: 9780762313808
• eBook ISBN: 9781849505239
• Topic: Economics
• Subtopic: Econometrics
• Index: Economics

The estimation of the effects of treatments endogenous variables representing everything from individual participation in a training program to national participation in a World Bank loan program has occupied much of the theoretical and applied econometric research literatures in recent years. This volume brings together a diverse collection of papers on this important topic by leaders in the field from around the world. Some of the papers offer new theoretical contributions on various estimation techniques and others provide timely empirical applications illustrating the benefits of these and other methods. All of the papers share two common themes. First, as different estimators estimate different treatment effect parameters, it is vital to know what you are estimating and to know to whom the estimate applies. Second, as different estimators require different identification assumptions, it is crucial to understand the assumptions underlying each estimator. In empirical applications, the researcher must also make the case that the assumptions hold based on the available data and the institutional context. The theoretical contributions range over a variety of different estimators drawn from both statistics and econometrics, including matching and other non-parametric methods, panel methods, instrumental variables, methods based on hazard rate models and principal stratification, and they draw upon both the Bayesian and classical statistical traditions. The empirical contributions focus mainly on the evaluation of active labor market programs in Europe and the United States, but also examine of the effect of parenthood on wages and of the number of children on child health. It contains both theoretical and empirical contributions. It includes examples from both Europe and the US.

Table of contents

• Front cover
• Modelling and Evaluating Treatment Effects in Econometrics
• Copyright page
• Contents
• List of Contributors
• Introduction
• Chapter 1. Selection Bias in Evaluating Treatment Effects: Some Formal Illustrations
• Chapter 2. The Event-History Approach to Program Evaluation
• Chapter 3. Bayesian Analysis of Treatment Effects in an Ordered Potential Outcomes Model
• Chapter 4. Instrumental Variables Estimation of the Average Treatment Effect in the Correlated Random Coefficient Model
• Chapter 5. Evaluating the Effects of Job Training Programs on Wages Through Principal Stratification
• Chapter 6. Graphical Diagnostics of Endogeneity
• Chapter 7. Fertility and the Health of Children: A Nonparametric Investigation
• Chapter 8. Program Participation, Labor Force Dynamics, and Accepted Wage Rates
• Chapter 9. When is ATE Enough? Risk Aversion and Inequality Aversion in Evaluating Training Programs
• Chapter 10. Matching Estimation of Dynamic Treatment Models: Some Practical Issues
• Chapter 11. Panel Data Models and Transitory Fluctuations in the Explanatory Variable
• Chapter 12. An Empirical Assessment of the Effects of Parenthood on Wages
• Chapter 13. The Employment Effects of Job-Creation Schemes in Germany: A Microeconometric Evaluation