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Sensitivity analysis of the unconfoundedness assumption in observational studies

Author

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  • de Luna, Xavier

    (Department of Statistics, Umeå University)

  • Lundin, Mathias

    (Department of Statistics, Umeå University)

Abstract

In observational studies, the estimation of a treatment effect on an outcome of interest is often done by controlling on a set of pre-treatment characteristics (covariates). This yields an unbiased estimator of the treatment effect when the assumption of unconfoundedness holds, that is, there are no unobserved covariates affecting both the treatment assignment and the outcome. This is in general not realistically testable. It is, therefore, important to conduct an analysis about how sensitive the inference is with respect to the unconfoundedness assumption. In this paper we propose a procedure to conduct such a Bayesian sensitivity analysis, where the usual parameter uncertainty and the uncertainty due to the unconfoundedness assumption can be compared. To measure departures from the assumption we use a correlation coefficient which is intuitively comprehensible and ensures that the results of sensitivity analyses made on different evaluation studies are comparable. Our procedure is applied to the Lalonde data and to a study of the effect of college choice on income in Sweden.

Suggested Citation

  • de Luna, Xavier & Lundin, Mathias, 2009. "Sensitivity analysis of the unconfoundedness assumption in observational studies," Working Paper Series 2009:12, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2009_012
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Guildo W. Imbens, 2003. "Sensitivity to Exogeneity Assumptions in Program Evaluation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(2), pages 126-132, May.
    2. John Copas & Shinto Eguchi, 2001. "Local sensitivity approximations for selectivity bias," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series B, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 63(4), pages 871-895.
    3. LaLonde, Robert J, 1986. "Evaluating the Econometric Evaluations of Training Programs with Experimental Data," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(4), pages 604-620, September.
    4. Sander Greenland, 2005. "Multiple‐bias modelling for analysis of observational data," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 168(2), pages 267-306, March.
    5. John Copas & Shinto Eguchi, 2005. "Local model uncertainty and incomplete‐data bias (with discussion)," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series B, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 67(4), pages 459-513, September.
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    Cited by:

    1. Patrik Gustavsson Tingvall & Josefin Videnord, 2020. "Regional differences in effects of publicly sponsored R&D grants on SME performance," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 54(4), pages 951-969, April.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Causal inference; effects of college choice; propensity score; register data;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C11 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Bayesian Analysis: General
    • C15 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Statistical Simulation Methods: General

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