The synthetic control method (SCM) allows estimating the causal effect of an intervention in settings where panel data on a small number of treated and control units are available. We show that the existing SCM, as well as its extensions, can be easily modified to estimate how much of the...

Previous research found that less accommodating caseworkers are more successful in placing unemployed workers into employment. This paper tries to shed more light on the causal mechanisms behind this result using semiparametric mediation analysis. Analysing very informative linked...

Using a comprehensive simulation study based on empirical data, this paper investigates the finite sample properties of different classes of parametric and semi-parametric estimators of (natural or pure) direct and indirect causal effects used in mediation analysis under sequential conditional...

In this paper we show that the testable implications derived in Huber and Mellace (2013) are the best possible to detect invalid instruments, in the presence of heterogeneous treatment effects and endogeneity. We also provide a formal proof of the fact that those testable implications are only...