Debiasing and $t$-tests for synthetic control inference on average causal effects

Fuente: arXiv
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Autores principales: Chernozhukov, Victor, Wuthrich, Kaspar, Zhu, Yinchu
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2018
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author Chernozhukov, Victor
Wuthrich, Kaspar
Zhu, Yinchu
author_facet Chernozhukov, Victor
Wuthrich, Kaspar
Zhu, Yinchu
contents We propose a practical and robust method for making inferences on average treatment effects estimated by synthetic controls. We develop a $K$-fold cross-fitting procedure for bias correction. To avoid the difficult estimation of the long-run variance, inference is based on a self-normalized $t$-statistic, which has an asymptotically pivotal $t$-distribution. Our $t$-test is easy to implement, provably robust against misspecification, and valid with stationary and non-stationary data. It demonstrates an excellent small sample performance in application-based simulations and performs well relative to other methods. We illustrate the usefulness of the $t$-test by revisiting the effect of carbon taxes on emissions.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_1812_10820
institution arXiv
publishDate 2018
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Debiasing and $t$-tests for synthetic control inference on average causal effects
Chernozhukov, Victor
Wuthrich, Kaspar
Zhu, Yinchu
Econometrics
We propose a practical and robust method for making inferences on average treatment effects estimated by synthetic controls. We develop a $K$-fold cross-fitting procedure for bias correction. To avoid the difficult estimation of the long-run variance, inference is based on a self-normalized $t$-statistic, which has an asymptotically pivotal $t$-distribution. Our $t$-test is easy to implement, provably robust against misspecification, and valid with stationary and non-stationary data. It demonstrates an excellent small sample performance in application-based simulations and performs well relative to other methods. We illustrate the usefulness of the $t$-test by revisiting the effect of carbon taxes on emissions.
title Debiasing and $t$-tests for synthetic control inference on average causal effects
topic Econometrics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/1812.10820