Instrumental variables Flashcards
What is the CIA?
Conditional on observed characteristics x_i,the selection bias disappears. That is, conditional on x_i, treatment status, D_i is independent of potential outcomes
conditional on covariates x_i, treatment status, D_i is as good as randomly assigned.
If Conditional on a vector of observable covariates, x_i, D_i is statistically independent of η_i implying that E[η_i│D_i,x_i ]=E[η_i│x_i ], what assumption is satisfied?
CIA
The conditional expectation of η_i does not depend on D_i if we control for x_i. Conditional on x_i, D_i is as good as randomly assigned, so D_i becomes uncorrelated with η_i. The key assumption here is that the observable characteristics x_i are the only reason why η_i and D_i are correlated.
our instrument, z_i, should satisfy the following two criteria
Cov(z_i,η_i )=0
Cov(z_i,x_i )≠0
B1=cov(?,?)/cov(?,?)
(Cov(y,z))/(Cov(x,z))=((Cov(y,z))⁄(Var(z)))/((Cov(x,z))⁄(Var(z)))
two variables in first stage regression (denominator)
reg x on z
two variables in reduced form regression (numerator)
reg y on z
True or false: i’s ok if first stage is 0
false–
assumption for first stage?
the instrument must have a clear effect on x_i.
exclusion restriction definition
the statement that the instrument is as good as randomly assigned (i.e., independent of potential outcomes, conditional on covariates), while the second is that the instrument has no effect on outcomes other than through the first-stage channel
reduced form model?
y_i=γ_0+γ_1 z_i+ζ_i
first stage model?
x_i=δ_0+δ_1 z_i+μ_i
IV model?
y_i=β_0+β_1 x_i+η_i
true or false: all instruments (including controls) should be included in all stages
true
condition-instrument relevance
Cov(z_i,x_i)≠0
condition-instrument independence
Cov(z_i,η_i )=0
what happens to standard errors and causal estimates if instrument is weak?
.With weak instruments, instrumental variable estimates are badly biased–look just like ols
Furthermore, weak instruments imply that your first stage predicted value will be quite noisy. That fact implies that the second stage instrumental variable estimates are likely to have very large standard errors.
test for weak instruments?
F-test–is it larger than 10?
if not, weak
assumptions necessary for instrument validiity?
1) Random assignment of z (in first‐stage)
2) Exclusion restriction (z does not belong in the second stage)
3) Nonzero causal effect of z on x
what estimates do IV provide?
LATE–ATE for those induced by instrument
who are non-compliers?
always-takers and never-takers
when will the the parameter identified by instrumental variables differ from the average effect of interest.
heterogeneous treatment effects
what do compliers do?
what they are told
x=1 if z=1 and x=0 if z=0
what do never-takers do?
never want treatment
x=0 if z=1 and x=0 if z=0
what do always-takers do?
always want treatment
x=1 if z=1 and x=1 if z=0
what do defiers do?
the opposite
x=0 if z=1 and x=1 if z=0