Testing for the Unconfoundedness Assumption Using an Instrumental Assumption

The identification of average causal effects of a treatment in observational studies is typically based either on the unconfoundedness assumption (exogeneity of the treatment) or on the availability of an instrument. When available, instruments may also be used to test for the unconfoundedness assum...

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书目详细资料
Main Authors: de Luna Xavier, Johansson Per
格式: 文件
语言:English
出版: De Gruyter 2014-09-01
丛编:Journal of Causal Inference
主题:
在线阅读:https://doi.org/10.1515/jci-2013-0011
实物特征
总结:The identification of average causal effects of a treatment in observational studies is typically based either on the unconfoundedness assumption (exogeneity of the treatment) or on the availability of an instrument. When available, instruments may also be used to test for the unconfoundedness assumption. In this paper, we present a set of assumptions on an instrumental variable which allows us to test for the unconfoundedness assumption, although they do not necessarily yield nonparametric identification of an average causal effect. We propose a test for the unconfoundedness assumption based on the instrumental assumptions introduced and give conditions under which the test has power. We perform a simulation study and apply the results to a case study where the interest lies in evaluating the effect of job practice on employment.
ISSN:2193-3677
2193-3685