A Joint Analysis of Sensitivity to Anticipation and Parallel Trends Violations

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Author: Fenaroli, Gianna
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Fenaroli, Gianna
author_facet Fenaroli, Gianna
contents Two key identifying assumptions used to justify difference-in-differences are parallel trends and no anticipation, yet both may fail in practice. I propose a class of assumptions on anticipation and derive closed-form, sharp bounds on the average treatment effect on the treated while simultaneously relaxing parallel trends. Deviations from both assumptions are jointly disciplined using observed pre-trends. When some anticipation is imposed, the identified set under joint deviations can be shorter than under parallel trends violations alone. These bounds inform a sensitivity analysis assessing the robustness of qualitative conclusions to anticipation and parallel trends violations. I illustrate with an empirical application.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2603_00868
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A Joint Analysis of Sensitivity to Anticipation and Parallel Trends Violations
Fenaroli, Gianna
Econometrics
Two key identifying assumptions used to justify difference-in-differences are parallel trends and no anticipation, yet both may fail in practice. I propose a class of assumptions on anticipation and derive closed-form, sharp bounds on the average treatment effect on the treated while simultaneously relaxing parallel trends. Deviations from both assumptions are jointly disciplined using observed pre-trends. When some anticipation is imposed, the identified set under joint deviations can be shorter than under parallel trends violations alone. These bounds inform a sensitivity analysis assessing the robustness of qualitative conclusions to anticipation and parallel trends violations. I illustrate with an empirical application.
title A Joint Analysis of Sensitivity to Anticipation and Parallel Trends Violations
topic Econometrics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.00868