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A note on endogenous control variables in causal studies

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  • Lechner, Michael
Abstract
The issue of potentially endogenous control variables in causal studies based on the assumption of no selection bias conditional on observables (conditional independence assumption, CIA) is discussed. The paper shows that the standard formulation of the CIA obscures the endogeneity problem. It suggests a CIA based on potential variables together with explicit exogeneity conditions, which allows a separate assessment of the endogeneity bias and the plausibility of the CIA.

Suggested Citation

  • Lechner, Michael, 2008. "A note on endogenous control variables in causal studies," Statistics & Probability Letters, Elsevier, vol. 78(2), pages 190-195, February.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:stapro:v:78:y:2008:i:2:p:190-195
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. James J. Heckman & Edward Vytlacil, 2005. "Structural Equations, Treatment Effects, and Econometric Policy Evaluation," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 73(3), pages 669-738, May.
    2. Michael Gerfin & Michael Lechner, 2002. "A Microeconometric Evaluation of the Active Labour Market Policy in Switzerland," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 112(482), pages 854-893, October.
    3. Barbara Sianesi, 2004. "An Evaluation of the Swedish System of Active Labor Market Programs in the 1990s," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 86(1), pages 133-155, February.
    4. Michael Lechner & Ruth Miquel, 2010. "Identification of the effects of dynamic treatments by sequential conditional independence assumptions," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 39(1), pages 111-137, August.
    5. Donald B. Rubin, 2004. "Direct and Indirect Causal Effects via Potential Outcomes," Scandinavian Journal of Statistics, Danish Society for Theoretical Statistics;Finnish Statistical Society;Norwegian Statistical Association;Swedish Statistical Association, vol. 31(2), pages 161-170, June.
    6. Michael Lechner, 2002. "Program Heterogeneity And Propensity Score Matching: An Application To The Evaluation Of Active Labor Market Policies," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 84(2), pages 205-220, May.
    7. Constantine E. Frangakis & Donald B. Rubin, 2002. "Principal Stratification in Causal Inference," Biometrics, The International Biometric Society, vol. 58(1), pages 21-29, March.
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    9. Donald B. Rubin, 2005. "Causal Inference Using Potential Outcomes: Design, Modeling, Decisions," Journal of the American Statistical Association, American Statistical Association, vol. 100, pages 322-331, March.
    10. 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.
    11. Lars Skipper & Marianne Simonsen, 2006. "The costs of motherhood: an analysis using matching estimators," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 21(7), pages 919-934.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    Cited by:

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    10. Gong, Xuche & Yuan, Yan, 2017. "The Effect of School Transfers on Academic and Non-academic Performance of Rural-to-Urban Migrant Children in China," 2017 Annual Meeting, July 30-August 1, Chicago, Illinois 259178, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
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    15. Carolina Caetano & Brantly Callaway & Stroud Payne & Hugo Sant'Anna Rodrigues, 2022. "Difference in Differences with Time-Varying Covariates," Papers 2202.02903, arXiv.org, revised Jun 2024.
    16. Andreas Drichoutis & Rodolfo Nayga & Heather Rouse & Michael Thomsen, 2015. "Food environment and childhood obesity: the effect of dollar stores," Health Economics Review, Springer, vol. 5(1), pages 1-13, December.
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    19. Gueorgui Kambourov & Iourii Manovskii & Miana Plesca, 2020. "Occupational mobility and the returns to training," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 53(1), pages 174-211, February.
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    22. Sara Wong, 2017. "Minimum wage impacts on wages and hours worked of low-income workers in Ecuador," Working Papers PMMA 2017-14, PEP-PMMA.
    23. Anda DAVID & Audrey LENOEL, 2017. "International emigration and labour market outcomes of women staying behind: the case of Morocco," Working Paper f7f57256-7aaf-4dc5-9840-b, Agence française de développement.
    24. Andini, Corrado, 2014. "Fixed Exchange-Rate Policy and Real Wage Growth: Quasi-Experimental Evidence," IZA Discussion Papers 8701, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
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