This paper demonstrates the extensive scope of an alternative to standard instrumental variables methods, namely covariate-based methods, for identifying and estimating effects of interest in general structural systems. As we show, commonly used econometric methods, specifically parametric,...

Microeconomic theory often yields models with multiple nonlinear equations, nonseparable unobservables, nonlinear cross equation restrictions, and many potentially multicollinear covariates. We show how statistical dimension reduction techniques can be applied in models with these features. In...

We propose a method to identify bounds (i.e. set identification) on the sharing rule for a general collective household consumption model. Unlike the effects of distribution factors, it is well known that the level of the sharing rule cannot be uniquely identified without strong assumptions on...

This note establishes that the fully nonparametric classical errors-in-variables model is identifiable from data on the regressor and the dependent variable alone, unless the specification is a member of a very specific parametric family. This family includes the linear specification with...

This paper demonstrates the extensive scope of an alternative to standardinstrumental variables methods, namely covariate-based methods, for identifying and es-timating effects of interest in general structural systems. As we show, commonly usedeconometric methods, speci…cally parametric,...

The structural consumer demand methods used to estimate the parameters of collective household models are typically either very restrictive and easy to implement or very general and difficult to estimate. In this paper, we provide a middle ground. We adapt the very general framework of Browning,...

We study the interrelations between (conditional) independence and causal relations in settable systems. We provide definitions in terms of functional dependence for direct, indirect, and total causality as well as for (indirect) causality via and exclusive of a set of variables. We then provide...

Death statutes in the United States list elements of loss for which a defendant must make compensatory payment. The element that economists as expert witnesses are called upon to calculate is net income, roughly defined as the decedent's income minus personal expenses. The existence of joint or...

How much income would a woman living alone require to attain the same standard of living that she would have if she were married? What percentage of a married couple's expenditures are controlled by the husband? How much money does a couple save on consumption goods by living together versus...

This paper examines the ways in which structural systems can yield observed variables, other than the cause or treatment of interest, that can play an instrumental role in identifying and estimating causal effects. We focus speciÖcally on the ways in which structures determine exclusion...