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Partial identification of the distribution of treatment effects with an application to the Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP)

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  • Brigham R. Frandsen
  • Lars J. Lefgren

Abstract

We bound the distribution of treatment effects under plausible and testable assumptions on the joint distribution of potential outcomes, namely that potential outcomes are mutually stochastically increasing. We show how to test the empirical restrictions implied by those assumptions. The resulting bounds substantially sharpen bounds based on classical inequalities. We apply our method to estimate bounds on the distribution of effects of attending a Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) charter school on student achievement, and find that a substantial majority of students' math achievement benefited from attendance, especially those who would have fared poorly in a traditional classroom.

Suggested Citation

  • Brigham R. Frandsen & Lars J. Lefgren, 2021. "Partial identification of the distribution of treatment effects with an application to the Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP)," Quantitative Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 12(1), pages 143-171, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:quante:v:12:y:2021:i:1:p:143-171
    DOI: 10.3982/QE1273
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    Cited by:

    1. Buhl-Wiggers, Julie & Kerwin, Jason T. & Muñoz-Morales, Juan & Smith, Jeffrey & Thornton, Rebecca, 2024. "Some children left behind: Variation in the effects of an educational intervention," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 243(1).
    2. Daniel Ober-Reynolds, 2023. "Estimating Functionals of the Joint Distribution of Potential Outcomes with Optimal Transport," Papers 2311.09435, arXiv.org.
    3. Wenlong Ji & Lihua Lei & Asher Spector, 2023. "Model-Agnostic Covariate-Assisted Inference on Partially Identified Causal Effects," Papers 2310.08115, arXiv.org, revised Nov 2024.
    4. Sungwon Lee, 2021. "Partial Identification and Inference for Conditional Distributions of Treatment Effects," Papers 2108.00723, arXiv.org, revised Nov 2023.
    5. Eric Auerbach & Yong Cai, 2023. "Identifying Socially Disruptive Policies," Papers 2306.15000, arXiv.org, revised Jun 2023.
    6. Sungwon Lee, 2024. "Partial identification and inference for conditional distributions of treatment effects," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 39(1), pages 107-127, January.

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