EPI 268: Econometric Methods for Causal Inference (Fall 2017)

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    Econometrics for Causal Inference EPI 268 Fall 2017 (2 or 3 units). Course Director: Justin White, PhD. Assistant Professor, Institute for Health Policy Studies

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  • Select activity Epi 268 Empirical Paper Guidelines, fall 2017

    

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• Select section Friday, September 29, 2017, 1:30 PM - 4:00 PM

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  Friday, September 29, 2017, 1:30 PM - 4:00 PM

  Lecture: Causal Inference and Regression

  Topics: course introduction, RCTs as gold standard, potential outcomes framework, conditional expectation function, regression notation, regression mechanics, interpreting coefficients and effect sizes

  Faculty:  Justin White
  

  
  Location: MH 1407

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  • Select activity Required Reading:Mastering Metrics (MM), Introduct...

    Required Reading:

    • Mastering Metrics (MM), Introduction
    • MM, Ch. 1
    • MM, Ch. 2

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  • Select activity Optional Reading:Holland PW (1986). Statistics an...

    Optional Reading:

    • Holland PW (1986). Statistics and causal inference. Journal of the American Statistical Association 81(396), 945–960.

    • Imbens GW, Rubin DB (2015). Causal Inference for Statistics, Social, and Biomedical Sciences: An Introduction. Cambridge University Press. Ch. 1-3.
      

    • Rubin DB (1986). Comment: Which ifs have causal answers. Journal of the American Statistical Association 81(396): 961–962.

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• Select section Friday, October 6, 2017, 1:30 PM - 4:00 PM

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  Friday, October 6, 2017, 1:30 PM - 4:00 PM

  Lecture: Selection on Observables Designs and Stata Programming

  Topics: regression adjustment, omitted variable bias, nonparametric regression, introduction to Stata, Monte Carlo simulation (bias analysis)

  Faculty:  Justin White
  

  
  Location: MH 1407

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  • Select activity Required Reading:Freedman DA (1991). Statistical ...

    Required Reading:

    • Freedman DA (1991). Statistical models and shoe leather. Sociological Methodology 21, 291–313.
    • Baum CF (2011). Introduction to Stata. Presentation. August 2011.

    • Baum CF (2007). Monte Carlo Simulation in Stata. Presentation. July 2007.

      
      

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  • Select activity Optional Reading:Arnold BF, Hogan DR, Colford JM,...

    Optional Reading:

    • Arnold BF, Hogan DR, Colford JM, Hubbard AE (2011). Simulation methods to estimate design power: An overview for applied research. BMC Medical Research Methodology 11(94): 1-10.
    • Kennedy P (2008). A Guide to Econometrics, 8^th Edition. Wiley-Blackwell. Ch. 2.
      

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  • Select activity Epi268 Week2 Fall2017 update

    

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• Select section Friday, October 13, 2017, 1:30 PM - 4:00 PM

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  Friday, October 13, 2017, 1:30 PM - 4:00 PM

  Lecture: Difference-in-Differences I

  Topics: introduction to panel data, difference-in-differences analysis, DiD assumptions, clustering standard errors in DiD

  Faculty:  Justin White
  

  
  Location: MH 1407

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  • Select activity Week3 Slides Epi268 Fa2017

    

    Week3 Slides Epi268 Fa2017 File

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  • Select activity Required Reading:MM, Ch. 5Rajaram R, et al. (2014)...

    Required Reading:

    • MM, Ch. 5
    • Rajaram R, et al. (2014). Association of the 2011 ACGME resident duty hour reform with general surgery patient outcomes and with resident examination performance. JAMA 312(22): 2374-2384.

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  • Select activity Optional Reading:Bertrand M, Duflo E, Mullainatha...

    Optional Reading:

    • Bertrand M, Duflo E, Mullainathan S (2004). How much should we trust difference-in-differences estimates? Quarterly Journal of Economics 119(1): 249-275.

    • Ryan AM, Burgess Jr., JF, Dimick JB (2015). Why we should not be indifferent to specification choices for difference-in-differences. Health Services Research 50(4): 1211-1235.

    • Wherry LR, Miller S (2016). Early coverage, access, utilization, and health effects associated with the Affordable Care Act Medicaid expansions: A quasi-experimental study. Annals of Internal Medicine 164(12): 795-803.
      

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• Select section Friday, October 20, 2017, 1:30 PM - 4:00 PM

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  Friday, October 20, 2017, 1:30 PM - 4:00 PM

  Lecture: Difference-in-Differences II

  Topics: DiD analyses in Stata, triple differences estimator, case studies with synthetic controls

  Faculty:  Justin White
  

  
  Location: MH 1407

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  • Select activity Week4 Slides Epi268 Fa2017

    

    Week4 Slides Epi268 Fa2017 File

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  • Select activity Required Reading:Joyce T (2004). Did legalized ab...

    Required Reading:

    • Joyce T (2004). Did legalized abortion lower crime? Journal of Human Resources 39(1): 1-28.

    • Rudolph KE, Stuart EA, Vernick JS, Webster DW (2015). Association between Connecticut’s permit-to-purchase handgun law and homicides. American Journal of Public Health, 105(8): e49-e54.

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  • Select activity Optional Reading:Abadie A, Diamond A, Hainmueller...

    Optional Reading:

    • Abadie A, Diamond A, Hainmueller J (2010). Synthetic control methods for comparative case studies: Estimating the effect of California’s tobacco control program. Journal of the American Statistical Association 105(490), 493–505.

    • Basu S, Rehkopf DH, Siddiqi A, Glymour MM, Kawachi I. (2016). Health behaviors, mental health, and health care utilization among single mothers after welfare reforms in the 1990s. American Journal of Epidemiology 183(6): 531-538.

    • Gruber J (1994). The incidence of mandated maternity benefits. American Economic Review 84(3): 622-641.

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  • Select activity Epi268 Week4 Fall2017 update

    

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  • Select activity example DID data nhanesIII, 19Oct2017.dta

    

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• Select section Friday, October 27, 2017, 1:30 PM - 4:00 PM

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  Friday, October 27, 2017, 1:30 PM - 4:00 PM

  Lecture: Fixed Effects

  Topics: dummy variable version, first difference estimator, deviations from means estimator, FE vs. random effects, specification tests

  Faculty:  Justin White
  

  
  Location: MH 1407

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  • Select activity Week5 Slides Epi268 Fa2017

    

    Week5 Slides Epi268 Fa2017 File

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  • Select activity Required Reading:Allison, PD (2009). Fixed Effect...

    Required Reading:

    • Allison, PD (2009). Fixed Effects Regression Models. SAGE Publications. Ch 2.

    • Cylus J, Glymour MM, Avendano M (2014). Do generous unemployment benefit programs reduce suicide rates? A state fixed-effect analysis covering 1968-2008. American Journal of Epidemiology 180(1):45-52.

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  • Select activity Optional Reading:Colen CG, Ramey DM. Is breast tru...

    Optional Reading:

    • Colen CG, Ramey DM. Is breast truly best? Estimating the effects of breastfeeding on long-term child health and wellbeing in the United States using sibling comparisons. Social Science & Medicine 109 (2014): 55-65.

    • Currie J, Thomas D (1995). Medical care for children: public insurance, private insurance, and racial differences in utilization. Journal of Human Resources 30(1): 135-162.

    • Frankenberg E (1995). The effects of access to health care on infant mortality in Indonesia. Health Transition Review 5: 143-163.

    • Wooldridge JM (2013). Introductory Econometrics: A Modern Approach, 5^th Edition. South-Western College Publishers. Ch. 13, 14

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  • Select activity Assignment: Empirical Paper Proposal Due

    Assignment:

    Empirical Paper Proposal Due

  • Select activity Epi268 PS1 fall2017 update

    

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  • Select activity Epi268 PS1 Solutions Fall2017

    

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• Select section Friday, November 3, 2017, 1:30 PM - 4:00 PM

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  Friday, November 3, 2017, 1:30 PM - 4:00 PM

  Lecture: Instrumental Variables

  Topics: IV intuition, IV assumptions, two-stage least squares, local average treatment effects, IV specification testing

  Faculty:  Justin White
  

  
  Location: MH 1407

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  • Select activity Week6 Slides Epi268 Fa2017

    

    Week6 Slides Epi268 Fa2017 File

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  • Select activity Required Reading:MM, Ch. 3Hearst N, Newman TB, Hul...

    Required Reading:

    • MM, Ch. 3
    • Hearst N, Newman TB, Hulley SB (1986). Delayed effects of the military draft on mortality. New England Journal of Medicine 314(10): 620-624.

    • Angrist JD (1990). Lifetime earnings and the Vietnam era draft lottery: Evidence from social security administrative records. American Economic Review 80(3): 313-336.

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  • Select activity Optional Reading:Angrist JD, Imbens GW, Rubin DB ...

    Optional Reading:

    • Angrist JD, Imbens GW, Rubin DB (1996). Identification of causal effects using instrumental variables. Journal of the American Statistical Association 91(434), 444–455.

    • Baiocchi M, Cheng J, Small DS. (2014). Instrumental variable methods for causal inference. Statistics in Medicine 33: 2297-2340.

    • Glymour MM, Tchetgen Tchetgen EJ, Robins JM (2012). Credible Mendelian randomization studies: approaches for evaluating the instrumental variable assumptions. American Journal of Epidemiology 175(4): 332-9.

    • Harris KM, Remler DK (1998). Who is the marginal patient? Understanding instrumental variables estimates of treatment effects. Health Services Research 33(5): 1337-1360.

    • McClellan M, McNeil BJ, Newhouse JP (1994). Does more intensive treatment of acute myocardial infarction in the elderly reduce mortality? Analysis using instrumental variables. JAMA 272: 859-866.

    • Pizer SD (2015). Falsification testing of instrumental variables methods for comparative effectiveness research. Health Services Research. 51(2): 790-811.

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• Select section Friday, November 10, 2017

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  Friday, November 10, 2017

  No Class -- Veteran's Day
  
• Select section Friday, November 17, 2017, 1:30 PM - 4:00 PM

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  Friday, November 17, 2017, 1:30 PM - 4:00 PM

  Lecture: Regression Discontinuity Designs I

  Topics: RD graphical intuition, forcing variable, sharp RD, sharp RD estimation

  Faculty:  Justin White
  

  
  Location: MH 1407

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  • Select activity Week7 Slides Epi268 Fa2017

    

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  • Select activity Required Reading:MM, Ch. 4.1Bor J, Moscoe E, Bärni...

    Required Reading:

    • MM, Ch. 4.1
    • Bor J, Moscoe E, Bärnighausen T (2015). Three approaches to causal inference in regression discontinuity designs. Epidemiology 26(2): e28-30.
    • Hansen B. (2015). Punishment and deterrence: Evidence from drunk driving. American Economic
      Review 105(4): 1581-1617.

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  • Select activity Optional Reading:Green DP, Leong TY, Kern HL, Gerb...

    Optional Reading:

    • Green DP, Leong TY, Kern HL, Gerber AS, Larimer CW (2009). Testing the accuracy of regression
      discontinuity analysis using experimental benchmarks. Political Analysis 17(4), 400–417.

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• Select section Friday, November 24, 2017

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  Friday, November 24, 2017

  No Class -- Thanksgiving
  
• Select section Friday, December 1, 2017, 1:30 PM - 4:00 PM

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  Friday, December 1, 2017, 1:30 PM - 4:00 PM

  Lecture: Regression Discontinuity Designs II

  Topics: Fuzzy RD, fuzzy RD estimation, RD specification testing, RD in Stata

  Faculty:  Justin White
  

  
  Location: MH 1407

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  • Select activity Week8 Slides Epi268 Fa2017

    

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  • Select activity Required Reading:MM, Ch. 4.2 (linked above in RD 1...

    Required Reading:

    • MM, Ch. 4.2 (linked above in RD 1 required reading list)
      
    • Lee DS, Lemieux T (2010). Regression discontinuity designs in economics. Journal of Economic
      Literature 48: 281–355.
    • NEW: Miller G, Pinto, D, Vera-Hernández M. (2013). Risk Protection, Service Use,
      and Health Outcomes under Colombia’s Health Insurance Program for the Poor. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics. 5(4): 61–91.
      

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  • Select activity Optional Reading:Card D, Dobkin C, Maestas N (2009...

    Optional Reading:

    • Card D, Dobkin C, Maestas N (2009). Does Medicare save lives? Quarterly Journal of Economics
      124(2): 597-636.
    • Imbens GW, Lemieux T (2008). Regression discontinuity designs: A guide to practice. Journal of
      Econometrics 142(2), 615–635.

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  • Select activity Assignment: Problem Set #2

    Assignment: Problem Set #2
    

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• Select section Friday, Decemeber 8, 2017; 1:30 PM - 4:00 PM

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  Friday, Decemeber 8, 2017; 1:30 PM - 4:00 PM

  Lecture: Student Presentations

  Faculty:  Justin White
  

  
  Location: MH 1407
• Select section Friday, Decemeber 15, 2017; 1:30 PM - 4:00PM

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  Friday, Decemeber 15, 2017; 1:30 PM - 4:00PM

  • Select activity Assignment: Empirical Paper dueProblem Set 2 due

    Assignment:

    • Empirical Paper due
    • Problem Set 2 due