Alternative Approaches to Evaluation in Empirical Microeconomics

2009/01/01 by Richard Blundell, Monica Costa Dias, Mónica Costa Dias · 244 citations
Economics, Econometrics and Finance · Mathematics · #Computer science #Earnings #Econometrics #Economic Policies and Impacts #Economics #Empirical research #Estimation #Identification (biology) #Instrumental variable #Matching (statistics) #Mathematics #Microeconomics #Regression discontinuity design #Set (abstract data type) #Statistics

paper · pdf · doi:10.3368/jhr.44.3.565

published in The Journal of Human Resources 44(3), 565-640 (University of Wisconsin Press)

openalex publication_date 2009/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29

Abstract

Four alternative but related approaches to empirical evaluation of policy interventions are studied: social experiments, natural experiments, matching methods, and instrumental variables. In each case the necessary assumptions and the data requirements are considered for estimation of a number of key parameters of interest. These key parameters include the average treatment effect, the treatment of the treated and the local average treatment effect. Some issues of implementation and interpretation are discussed drawing on the labour market programme evaluation literature.

Citations

• Identification and Estimation of Local Average Treatment Effects
• Sample Selection Bias as a Specification Error
• The central role of the propensity score in observational studies for causal effects
• Constructing a Control Group Using Multivariate Matched Sampling Methods That Incorporate the Propensity Score

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Related

• Evaluation Methods for Non‐Experimental Data
• The State of Applied Econometrics - Causality and Policy Evaluation
• Econometrics for Evaluations: An Introduction to Recent Developments
• An introduction to flexible methods for policy evaluation
• Instrumental Variables: A Study of Implicit Behavioral Assumptions Used in Making Program Evaluations