A Nonparametric Test of Heterogeneous Treatment Effects under Interference

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Author: Owusu, Julius
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Owusu, Julius
author_facet Owusu, Julius
contents Statistical inference of heterogeneous treatment effects (HTEs) across predefined subgroups is challenging when units interact because treatment effects may vary by pre-treatment variables, post-treatment exposure variables (that measure the exposure to other units' treatment statuses), or both. Thus, the conventional HTEs testing procedures may be invalid under interference. In this paper, I develop statistical methods to infer HTEs and disentangle the drivers of treatment effects heterogeneity in populations where units interact. Specifically, I incorporate clustered interference into the potential outcomes model and propose kernel-based test statistics for the null hypotheses of (i) no HTEs by treatment assignment (or post-treatment exposure variables) for all pre-treatment variables values and (ii) no HTEs by pre-treatment variables for all treatment assignment vectors. I recommend a multiple-testing algorithm to disentangle the source of heterogeneity in treatment effects. I prove the asymptotic properties of the proposed test statistics. Finally, I illustrate the application of the test procedures in an empirical setting using an experimental data set from a Chinese weather insurance program.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2410_00733
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A Nonparametric Test of Heterogeneous Treatment Effects under Interference
Owusu, Julius
Econometrics
Statistical inference of heterogeneous treatment effects (HTEs) across predefined subgroups is challenging when units interact because treatment effects may vary by pre-treatment variables, post-treatment exposure variables (that measure the exposure to other units' treatment statuses), or both. Thus, the conventional HTEs testing procedures may be invalid under interference. In this paper, I develop statistical methods to infer HTEs and disentangle the drivers of treatment effects heterogeneity in populations where units interact. Specifically, I incorporate clustered interference into the potential outcomes model and propose kernel-based test statistics for the null hypotheses of (i) no HTEs by treatment assignment (or post-treatment exposure variables) for all pre-treatment variables values and (ii) no HTEs by pre-treatment variables for all treatment assignment vectors. I recommend a multiple-testing algorithm to disentangle the source of heterogeneity in treatment effects. I prove the asymptotic properties of the proposed test statistics. Finally, I illustrate the application of the test procedures in an empirical setting using an experimental data set from a Chinese weather insurance program.
title A Nonparametric Test of Heterogeneous Treatment Effects under Interference
topic Econometrics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2410.00733