Papers

Question 1

RCT example

Answer 1

Murallidharan and Sundararaman (2011) - Teacher Performance Pay

Question 2

Teacher Performance Pay methodology

Answer 2

RCT across 500 schools in an Indian state
- random allocation across 5 different groups
- 4 different treatments with 1 control

Question 3

Teacher Performance Pay balance test

Answer 3

shows randomisation worked

want a high p-value so there isn’t a statistically significant difference in means

Question 4

Teacher Performance Pay effect on student test scores

Answer 4

0.149 showing 15% std increase if in an incentive school compared to a control school (statistically significant at the 99% level)

Question 5

Teacher Performance Pay overall findings

Answer 5

2 years after RCT, students in incentive schools do 0.22 std better on test scores

gains are not driven by a selected group but broad-based

no negative consequences on other learning outcomes

individual incentives more effective than school incentives

teacher behaviour affected in terms of effort rather than attendance

performance-pay more cost-effective compared to school transfers

Question 6

IV/TSLS example

Answer 6

Acemoglu, Johnson and Robinson (2001) - The Colonial Origins of Comparative Development

Question 7

The Colonial Origins of Comparative Development methodology

Answer 7

Y variable - GDP per capita (PPP-adjusted) in 1995

X variable - average protection against risk of expropriation during 1985-1995

Z variable - colonial settler mortality rate

Question 8

The Colonial Origins of Comparative Development first-stage regression

Answer 8

statistically strong first stage

Question 9

The Colonial Origins of Comparative Development reduced form regression

Answer 9

clear strong negative relationship between settler mortality and current institutions

Question 10

The Colonial Origins of Comparative Development main results table

Answer 10

with one unit increase in institution index score, there’s a 94% increase in economic performance in 1995

Question 11

The Colonial Origins of Comparative Development overall findings

Answer 11

statistically significant causal effect of institutions on levels of economic development

also economically meaningful (institutions make a big difference)

first stage regressions show there is strong historical persistence in institutional quality

Question 12

DiD example

Answer 12

Card and Krueger (1994) - Employment Effects of Minimum Wage Policies

Duflo (2001) - Schooling and Labour Market Consequences of School Construction

Question 13

Employment Effects of Minimum Wage Policies methodology

Answer 13

effect of increasing minimum wage on the employment of low-wage workers (natural experiment)

assumption that pre-existing differences before minimum wage policy would have stayed the same had it not been the minimum wage policy

Question 14

Employment Effects of Minimum Wage Policies results

Answer 14

minimum wage policy increased employment slightly by about 3 workers

Question 15

Schooling and Labour Market Consequences of School Construction methodology

Answer 15

DiD with unusual policy experiment with increased oil windfalls and increase of primary schools constructed

using DD to see the causal effect of an extra school on wages

also using construction as an instrument for years of education in 1995

Question 16

Schooling and Labour Market Consequences of School Construction overall findings

Answer 16

one additional school per 1000 children led to 0.15 additional years of education

one additional school per 1000 children increased average wage by 2%

additional year of education led to 10% higher wages

Question 17

panel data/FE example

Answer 17

S&W Textbook - Beer Taxes and Traffic Fatalities

Question 18

Beer Taxes and Traffic Fatalities methodology

Answer 18

can’t just regress fatality rate on beer tax since there’s OVB problems with cov(error, X) not being equal to 0

FE estimation
- taking out of the estimation equation that some states have higher fatality rates or higher beer taxes on average and using mean deviation over time
- using dummies

Question 19

Beer Taxes and Traffic Fatalities overall findings

Answer 19

state FE has a substantial impact on the relationship between beer tax and fatality rate while time FE does not
- sign changes and R^2 increases a lot for state FE

stiffer punishments and higher drinking ages don’t reduce fatalities but higher taxes are effective

Question 20

RD example

Answer 20

Lemieux and Milligan (2005) - Welfare Payments and Labour Supply in Canada

Abdulkadiroglu, Angrist and Pathak (2014) - Elite Schools in Boston

Question 21

Welfare Payments and Labour Supply in Canada methodology

Answer 21

exploiting a discontinuity in social assistance in Quebec
- until 1989, unemployed individuals under 30 without children received lower welfare benefits than those over 30

Question 22

Welfare Payments and Labour Supply in Canada overall finding

Answer 22

higher levels of social assistance reduce work incentives

employment rates dropped by 4.5% once you double benefits across the cutoff

Question 23

Elite Schools in Boston methodology

Answer 23

three exam schools that are public but have higher competitive entrance exams

instrumenting peer quality for average test scores of peers

Question 24

Elite Schools in Boston overall findings

Answer 24

substantially better peer quality does not improve math scores

for the instrument to be valid, attending boston latin school should only affect outcomes through changes in peer quality at the threshold but this could be violated since the school might have better and more motivated teachers
- overestimate the true effect of better peer quality