IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/biomet/v72y2016i4p1055-1065.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Propensity score matching and subclassification in observational studies with multi‐level treatments

Author

Listed:
  • Shu Yang
  • Guido W. Imbens
  • Zhanglin Cui
  • Douglas E. Faries
  • Zbigniew Kadziola

Abstract

In this article, we develop new methods for estimating average treatment effects in observational studies, in settings with more than two treatment levels, assuming unconfoundedness given pretreatment variables. We emphasize propensity score subclassification and matching methods which have been among the most popular methods in the binary treatment literature. Whereas the literature has suggested that these particular propensity‐based methods do not naturally extend to the multi‐level treatment case, we show, using the concept of weak unconfoundedness and the notion of the generalized propensity score, that adjusting for a scalar function of the pretreatment variables removes all biases associated with observed pretreatment variables. We apply the proposed methods to an analysis of the effect of treatments for fibromyalgia. We also carry out a simulation study to assess the finite sample performance of the methods relative to previously proposed methods.

Suggested Citation

  • Shu Yang & Guido W. Imbens & Zhanglin Cui & Douglas E. Faries & Zbigniew Kadziola, 2016. "Propensity score matching and subclassification in observational studies with multi‐level treatments," Biometrics, The International Biometric Society, vol. 72(4), pages 1055-1065, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:biomet:v:72:y:2016:i:4:p:1055-1065
    DOI: 10.1111/biom.12505
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/biom.12505
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/biom.12505?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Richard K. Crump & V. Joseph Hotz & Guido W. Imbens & Oscar A. Mitnik, 2009. "Dealing with limited overlap in estimation of average treatment effects," Biometrika, Biometrika Trust, vol. 96(1), pages 187-199.
    2. Elaine Zanutto & Bo Lu & Robert Hornik, 2005. "Using Propensity Score Subclassification for Multiple Treatment Doses to Evaluate a National Antidrug Media Campaign," Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, , vol. 30(1), pages 59-73, March.
    3. Kosuke Imai & David A. van Dyk, 2004. "Causal Inference With General Treatment Regimes: Generalizing the Propensity Score," Journal of the American Statistical Association, American Statistical Association, vol. 99, pages 854-866, January.
    4. Cattaneo, Matias D., 2010. "Efficient semiparametric estimation of multi-valued treatment effects under ignorability," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 155(2), pages 138-154, April.
    5. Keisuke Hirano & Guido W. Imbens & Geert Ridder, 2003. "Efficient Estimation of Average Treatment Effects Using the Estimated Propensity Score," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 71(4), pages 1161-1189, July.
    6. Kosuke Imai & Marc Ratkovic, 2014. "Covariate balancing propensity score," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series B, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 76(1), pages 243-263, January.
    7. Alberto Abadie & Guido W. Imbens, 2012. "A Martingale Representation for Matching Estimators," Journal of the American Statistical Association, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 107(498), pages 833-843, June.
    8. Huber, Martin & Lechner, Michael & Wunsch, Conny, 2013. "The performance of estimators based on the propensity score," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 175(1), pages 1-21.
    9. Guido W. Imbens, 2004. "Nonparametric Estimation of Average Treatment Effects Under Exogeneity: A Review," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 86(1), pages 4-29, February.
    10. Jinyong Hahn, 1998. "On the Role of the Propensity Score in Efficient Semiparametric Estimation of Average Treatment Effects," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 66(2), pages 315-332, March.
    11. Alberto Abadie & Guido W. Imbens, 2006. "Large Sample Properties of Matching Estimators for Average Treatment Effects," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 74(1), pages 235-267, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Michael C. Knaus, 2021. "A double machine learning approach to estimate the effects of musical practice on student’s skills," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 184(1), pages 282-300, January.
    2. Sokbae Lee & Bernard Salanié, 2018. "Identifying Effects of Multivalued Treatments," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 86(6), pages 1939-1963, November.
    3. Atila Abdulkadiroğlu & Joshua D. Angrist & Yusuke Narita & Parag A. Pathak, 2017. "Research Design Meets Market Design: Using Centralized Assignment for Impact Evaluation," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 85, pages 1373-1432, September.
    4. Siying Guo & Jianxuan Liu & Qiu Wang, 2022. "Effective Learning During COVID-19: Multilevel Covariates Matching and Propensity Score Matching," Annals of Data Science, Springer, vol. 9(5), pages 967-982, October.
    5. Hajime Seya & Takahiro Yoshida, 2017. "Propensity score matching for multiple treatment levels: A CODA-based contribution," Papers 1710.08558, arXiv.org.
    6. Issahaku, Gazali & Abdulai, Awudu, 2020. "Household welfare implications of sustainable land management practices among smallholder farmers in Ghana," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    7. Shu Yang & Jae Kwang Kim, 2020. "Asymptotic theory and inference of predictive mean matching imputation using a superpopulation model framework," Scandinavian Journal of Statistics, Danish Society for Theoretical Statistics;Finnish Statistical Society;Norwegian Statistical Association;Swedish Statistical Association, vol. 47(3), pages 839-861, September.
    8. Lee, Ying-Ying, 2018. "Efficient propensity score regression estimators of multivalued treatment effects for the treated," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 204(2), pages 207-222.
    9. Shu Yang & Yunshu Zhang, 2023. "Multiply robust matching estimators of average and quantile treatment effects," Scandinavian Journal of Statistics, Danish Society for Theoretical Statistics;Finnish Statistical Society;Norwegian Statistical Association;Swedish Statistical Association, vol. 50(1), pages 235-265, March.
    10. Yu, Haiyan & Yang, Ching-Chi & Yu, Ping, 2023. "Constrained optimization for stratified treatment rules in reducing hospital readmission rates of diabetic patients," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 308(3), pages 1355-1364.
    11. Susan Athey & Guido W. Imbens, 2017. "The State of Applied Econometrics: Causality and Policy Evaluation," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 31(2), pages 3-32, Spring.
    12. Ashesh Rambachan & Neil Shephard, 2019. "Econometric analysis of potential outcomes time series: instruments, shocks, linearity and the causal response function," Papers 1903.01637, arXiv.org, revised Feb 2020.
    13. Rachel C. Nethery & Yue Yang & Anna J. Brown & Francesca Dominici, 2020. "A causal inference framework for cancer cluster investigations using publicly available data," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 183(3), pages 1253-1272, June.
    14. Caloffi, Annalisa & Freo, Marzia & Ghinoi, Stefano & Mariani, Marco & Rossi, Federica, 2022. "Assessing the effects of a deliberate policy mix: The case of technology and innovation advisory services and innovation vouchers," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(6).
    15. Ganesh Karapakula, 2023. "Stable Probability Weighting: Large-Sample and Finite-Sample Estimation and Inference Methods for Heterogeneous Causal Effects of Multivalued Treatments Under Limited Overlap," Papers 2301.05703, arXiv.org, revised Jan 2023.
    16. Ao Yuan & Anqi Yin & Ming T. Tan, 2021. "Enhanced Doubly Robust Procedure for Causal Inference," Statistics in Biosciences, Springer;International Chinese Statistical Association, vol. 13(3), pages 454-478, December.
    17. Zhang, Xiaoke & Xue, Wu & Wang, Qiyue, 2021. "Covariate balancing functional propensity score for functional treatments in cross-sectional observational studies," Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    18. Zetterqvist, Johan & Waernbaum, Ingeborg, 2020. "Semi-parametric estimation of multi-valued treatment effects for the treated:estimating equations and sandwich estimators," Working Paper Series 2020:4, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
    19. Pedro H. C. Sant'Anna & Xiaojun Song, 2020. "Specification tests for generalized propensity scores using double projections," Papers 2003.13803, arXiv.org, revised Apr 2023.
    20. María de los Angeles Resa & José R. Zubizarreta, 2020. "Direct and stable weight adjustment in non‐experimental studies with multivalued treatments: analysis of the effect of an earthquake on post‐traumatic stress," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 183(4), pages 1387-1410, October.
    21. Evan D Peet & Edward N Okeke, 2019. "Utilization and quality: How the quality of care influences demand for obstetric care in Nigeria," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(2), pages 1-18, February.
    22. Cei, Leonardo & Stefani, Gianluca & Defrancesco, Edi, 2020. "The role of group-time treatment effect heterogeneity in long standing European agricultural policies. An application to the European geographical indication policy," Bio-based and Applied Economics Journal, Italian Association of Agricultural and Applied Economics (AIEAA), vol. 9(1), April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Huber, Martin, 2019. "An introduction to flexible methods for policy evaluation," FSES Working Papers 504, Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences, University of Freiburg/Fribourg Switzerland.
    2. Carlos A. Flores & Oscar A. Mitnik, 2009. "Evaluating Nonexperimental Estimators for Multiple Treatments: Evidence from Experimental Data," Working Papers 2010-10, University of Miami, Department of Economics.
    3. Ganesh Karapakula, 2023. "Stable Probability Weighting: Large-Sample and Finite-Sample Estimation and Inference Methods for Heterogeneous Causal Effects of Multivalued Treatments Under Limited Overlap," Papers 2301.05703, arXiv.org, revised Jan 2023.
    4. Chunrong Ai & Oliver Linton & Kaiji Motegi & Zheng Zhang, 2021. "A unified framework for efficient estimation of general treatment models," Quantitative Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 12(3), pages 779-816, July.
    5. Yihui He & Fang Han, 2023. "On propensity score matching with a diverging number of matches," Papers 2310.14142, arXiv.org, revised Nov 2023.
    6. Frölich, Markus & Huber, Martin & Wiesenfarth, Manuel, 2017. "The finite sample performance of semi- and non-parametric estimators for treatment effects and policy evaluation," Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 91-102.
    7. Timothy B. Armstrong & Michal Kolesár, 2021. "Finite‐Sample Optimal Estimation and Inference on Average Treatment Effects Under Unconfoundedness," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 89(3), pages 1141-1177, May.
    8. Susan Athey & Guido W. Imbens, 2017. "The State of Applied Econometrics: Causality and Policy Evaluation," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 31(2), pages 3-32, Spring.
    9. Tübbicke Stefan, 2022. "Entropy Balancing for Continuous Treatments," Journal of Econometric Methods, De Gruyter, vol. 11(1), pages 71-89, January.
    10. Farrell, Max H., 2015. "Robust inference on average treatment effects with possibly more covariates than observations," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 189(1), pages 1-23.
    11. Hugo Bodory & Lorenzo Camponovo & Martin Huber & Michael Lechner, 2020. "The Finite Sample Performance of Inference Methods for Propensity Score Matching and Weighting Estimators," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(1), pages 183-200, January.
    12. Lee, Ying-Ying, 2018. "Efficient propensity score regression estimators of multivalued treatment effects for the treated," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 204(2), pages 207-222.
    13. Athey, Susan & Imbens, Guido W. & Metzger, Jonas & Munro, Evan, 2024. "Using Wasserstein Generative Adversarial Networks for the design of Monte Carlo simulations," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 240(2).
    14. Heiler, Phillip & Kazak, Ekaterina, 2021. "Valid inference for treatment effect parameters under irregular identification and many extreme propensity scores," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 222(2), pages 1083-1108.
    15. Kitagawa, Toru & Muris, Chris, 2016. "Model averaging in semiparametric estimation of treatment effects," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 193(1), pages 271-289.
    16. Guido W. Imbens & Jeffrey M. Wooldridge, 2009. "Recent Developments in the Econometrics of Program Evaluation," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 47(1), pages 5-86, March.
    17. Toru Kitagawa & Chris Muris, 2013. "Covariate selection and model averaging in semiparametric estimation of treatment effects," CeMMAP working papers 61/13, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    18. Lenis, David & Ackerman, Benjamin & Stuart, Elizabeth A., 2018. "Measuring model misspecification: Application to propensity score methods with complex survey data," Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 48-57.
    19. Yukitoshi Matsushita & Taisuke Otsu & Keisuke Takahata, 2022. "Estimating density ratio of marginals to joint: Applications to causal inference," STICERD - Econometrics Paper Series 619, Suntory and Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines, LSE.
    20. Rahul Singh & Liyuan Xu & Arthur Gretton, 2020. "Kernel Methods for Causal Functions: Dose, Heterogeneous, and Incremental Response Curves," Papers 2010.04855, arXiv.org, revised Oct 2022.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:biomet:v:72:y:2016:i:4:p:1055-1065. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0006-341X .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.