Propensity Score Matching (PSM) has become a popular approach to estimation of causal effects. It relies on the assumption that selection into a treatment can be explained purely in terms of observable characteristics (the “unconfoundedness assumption”) and on the property that balancing on...

We consider policy evaluations when SUTVA is violated because of the presence of interference among units. We propose to explicitly model interactions as a function of units characteristics. Our approach is applied to the evaluation of a policy implemented in Tuscany (a region in Italy) on small...

This paper explains the insights of the Stata's user written command diff for the estimation of Difference in Differences treatment effects (DID). The options and the formulas are detailed for the single DID, Kernel Propensity Score DID, Quantile DID and the balancing properties . An example of...

We consider estimation of the causal effect of a sequential binary treatment (typically corresponding to a policy or a subsidy in the economic context) on a final outcome, when the treatment assignment at a given occasion depends on the sequence of previous assignments as well as on time-varying...

A common claim in the democratization literature is that foreign free media undermine authoritarian rule. No reliable micro-level evidence on this topic exists, however, since independent survey research is rarely possible in authoritarian regimes and self-selection into media consumption...

This study explores the short-run spillover effects of popular research papers. We consider the publicity of 'Male Organ and Economic Growth: Does Size Matter?' as an exogenous shock to economics discussion paper demand, a natural experiment of a sort. In particular, we analyze how the very...

This paper shows that government of India supported microfinance programme under SGSY scheme is partially effective to reduce poverty of the rural households. Few expansion of National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme plays here the supportive role. Taking the help of Natural Experiment it is...

This paper provides new evidence about the effects of economic incentives embedded in the Italian Social Security system on retirement decisions. The 1992 reform is an interesting example since it was implemented when: (a) the system was very generous to retirees; (b) the demographic context was...

Using data from 260 households from the Hadejia-Nguru wetlands, the paper shows that vulnerability to poverty estimates are biased if the data used is seasonal. The seasonal bias in the consumption expenditure is less pronounced than in its variance. The paper further shows that the relative...

In this paper, we investigate whether there is a pollution haven effect, specifically, the effect of environmental regulations on firm location. Our identification uses the Two Control Zones (TCZ) policy implemented by the Chinese government in 1998. The difference-in-differences (DID)...