IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bpj/causin/v4y2016i2p4n3.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Data-Adaptive Causal Effects and Superefficiency

Author

Listed:
  • Aronow Peter M.

    (Departments of Political Science and Biostatistics, Yale University, 77 Prospect St., New Haven, CT 06520, USA)

Abstract

Recent approaches in causal inference have proposed estimating average causal effects that are local to some subpopulation, often for reasons of efficiency. These inferential targets are sometimes data-adaptive, in that they are dependent on the empirical distribution of the data. In this short note, we show that if researchers are willing to adapt the inferential target on the basis of efficiency, then extraordinary gains in precision can potentially be obtained. Specifically, when causal effects are heterogeneous, any asymptotically normal and root-n$n$ consistent estimator of the population average causal effect is superefficient for a data-adaptive local average causal effect.

Suggested Citation

  • Aronow Peter M., 2016. "Data-Adaptive Causal Effects and Superefficiency," Journal of Causal Inference, De Gruyter, vol. 4(2), pages 1-4, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:bpj:causin:v:4:y:2016:i:2:p:4:n:3
    DOI: 10.1515/jci-2016-0007
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1515/jci-2016-0007
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1515/jci-2016-0007?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
    ---><---

    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. Joshua D. Angrist & Jörn-Steffen Pischke, 2009. "Mostly Harmless Econometrics: An Empiricist's Companion," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 8769.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Aoki, Yu & Santiago, Lualhati, 2018. "Deprivation, Segregation, and Socioeconomic Class of UK Immigrants: Does English Proficiency Matter?," IZA Discussion Papers 11368, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Jeffrey Smith & Arthur Sweetman, 2016. "Viewpoint: Estimating the causal effects of policies and programs," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 49(3), pages 871-905, August.
    3. Tom Boot & Didier Nibbering, 2024. "Inference on LATEs with covariates," Papers 2402.12607, arXiv.org, revised Nov 2024.
    4. Guido W. Imbens, 2015. "Matching Methods in Practice: Three Examples," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 50(2), pages 373-419.
    5. Paul Goldsmith-Pinkham & Peter Hull & Michal Kolesár, 2024. "Contamination Bias in Linear Regressions," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 114(12), pages 4015-4051, December.
    6. Yoko Kijima, 2022. "Long-term and spillover effects of rice production training in Uganda," Journal of Development Effectiveness, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(4), pages 395-415, October.
    7. Tamara Bischof & Boris Kaiser, 2021. "Who cares when you close down? The effects of primary care practice closures on patients," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(9), pages 2004-2025, September.
    8. Samuel Bazzi & Sudarno Sumarto & Asep Suryahadi, "undated". "Intinya Penentuan Waktu: Respons Belanja dan Suplai Kerja Rumah Tangga terhadap Bantuan Langsung Tunai," Working Papers 3610, Publications Department.
    9. Hanson, Andrew & Rohlin, Shawn, 2017. "Do Spatially Targeted Redevelopment Incentives Work? The Answer Depends on How You Ask the Question," Working Papers 06910, George Mason University, Mercatus Center.
    10. Beard, T. Randolph & Ford, George S. & Saba, Richard P. & Seals, Richard A., 2012. "Internet use and job search," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(4), pages 260-273.
    11. Samuel Bazzi & Sudarno Sumarto & Asep Suryahadi, "undated". "It’s All in the Timing: Household Expenditure and Labor Supply Responses to Unconditional Cash Transfers," Working Papers 280, Publications Department.
    12. Aoki, Yu & Santiago, Lualhati, 2018. "Speak better, do better? Education and health of migrants in the UK," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 1-17.
    13. Simon Porcher, 2019. "Does Contracting for the Provision of Public Services Decrease Prices? Evidence from French Water Public Services," Working Papers hal-02145863, HAL.
    14. Paik, Myungho & Black, Bernard & Hyman, David A., 2017. "Damage caps and defensive medicine, revisited," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 84-97.
    15. Jeremy G. Weber & J. Wesley Burnett & Irene M. Xiarchos, 2016. "Broadening Benefits from Natural Resource Extraction: Housing Values and Taxation of Natural Gas Wells as Property," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 35(3), pages 587-614, June.
    16. Baten, Jörg & Cappelli, Gabriele, 2016. "The Evolution of Human Capital in Africa, 1730 – 1970: A Colonial Legacy?," CEPR Discussion Papers 11273, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    17. Aronow Peter M., 2016. "Data-Adaptive Causal Effects and Superefficiency," Journal of Causal Inference, De Gruyter, vol. 4(2), pages 1, September.
    18. Oleg Sidorkin & Martin Srholec, 2022. "Do Direct Subsidies Stimulate New R&D Outputs in Firms? Evidence from the Czech Republic," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 13(3), pages 2203-2229, September.
    19. Péter Elek & Balázs Váradi & Márton Varga, 2015. "Effects of Geographical Accessibility on the Use of Outpatient Care Services: Quasi‐Experimental Evidence from Panel Count Data," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(9), pages 1131-1146, September.
    20. Myoung‐jae Lee, 2021. "Instrument residual estimator for any response variable with endogenous binary treatment," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series B, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 83(3), pages 612-635, July.

    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:bpj:causin:v:4:y:2016:i:2:p:4:n:3. 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: Peter Golla (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.degruyter.com .

    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.