IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/adr/anecst/y2008i91-92p217-235.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Note on the Common Support Problem in Applied Evaluation Studies

Author

Listed:
  • Michael Lechner

Abstract

This paper advocates the use of a nonparametric bounds analysis to check the robustness of the results of applied evaluation studies to the problem of a lack of common support. The typical responses by researchers of either ignoring it, or obtaining estimates only for the subpopulation within the common support, can both be misleading: Ignoring the problem may result in biases because the comparison group may not be comparable. Deleting observations at best yields an estimator that is consistent for the common support only. When treatment effects differ inside and outside the common support this estimator is inconsistent for the parameter of interest. Furthermore, useful information is ignored, because, for example, the response of the treated to the treatment can be estimated even outside the common support. This information can be used to derive bounds with widths depending on the configuration of the data. The application to an evaluation study of Swiss active labour market policies shows that the relevance of the bounds for changing the interpretation of the results depends very much on the particular data configuration.

Suggested Citation

  • Michael Lechner, 2008. "A Note on the Common Support Problem in Applied Evaluation Studies," Annals of Economics and Statistics, GENES, issue 91-92, pages 217-235.
    • Handle: RePEc:adr:anecst:y:2008:i:91-92:p:217-235
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/27917246
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Dudel Christian & Garbuszus Jan Marvin & Ott Notburga & Werding Martin, 2017. "Matching as Non-Parametric Preprocessing for the Estimation of Equivalence Scales," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 237(2), pages 115-141, April.
    2. Phadera,Lokendra & Sharma,Dhiraj & Wai-Poi,Matthew Grant, 2020. "Iraq's Universal Public Distribution System : Utilization and Impacts During Displacement," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9155, The World Bank.
    3. Alfredo Paloyo & Arndt Reichert, 2017. "Biting Back at Malaria: Assessing Health-service Providers' Compliance with Treatment Guidelines," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(3), pages 591-626, August.
    4. Elisa Barbieri & Lauretta Rubini & Chiara Pollio & Alessandra Micozzi, 2018. "What are the trade-offs of academic entrepreneurship? An investigation on the Italian case," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 43(1), pages 198-221, February.
    5. Mary Ying-Fang Wang & Paul Tuss & Lihong Qi, 2019. "Augmented Weighted Estimators Dealing with Practical Positivity Violation to Causal inferences in a Random Coefficient Model," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 84(2), pages 447-467, June.
    6. Michael Lechner & Anthony Strittmatter, 2019. "Practical procedures to deal with common support problems in matching estimation," Econometric Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(2), pages 193-207, February.
    7. Wang-Ly, Nathan & Newell, Ben R., 2022. "Allowing early access to retirement savings: Lessons from Australia," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 716-733.
    8. Barnett, William A. & Hu, Mingzhi & Wang, Xue, 2019. "Does the utilization of information communication technology promote entrepreneurship: Evidence from rural China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 12-21.
    9. Andrea Morescalchi, 2021. "A new career in a new town. Job search methods and regional mobility of unemployed workers," Portuguese Economic Journal, Springer;Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestao, vol. 20(2), pages 223-272, May.
    10. Vincent A. Hildebrand & María Noel Pi Alperin & Philippe Van Kerm, 2017. "Measuring and Accounting for the Deprivation Gap of Portuguese Immigrants in Luxembourg," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 63(2), pages 288-309, June.
    11. Raiteri, Emilio, 2018. "A time to nourish? Evaluating the impact of public procurement on technological generality through patent data," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(5), pages 936-952.
    12. Hagen, Tobias, 2016. "Econometric evaluation of a placement coaching program for recipients of disability insurance benefits in Switzerland," Working Paper Series 10, Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences, Faculty of Business and Law.
    13. Madoń, Karol & Magda, Iga & Palczyńska, Marta & Smoter, Mateusz, 2021. "What Works for Whom? Youth Labour Market Policy in Poland," IZA Discussion Papers 14793, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    14. Patrick Christian Feihle & Jochen Lawrenz, 2017. "The Issuance of German SME Bonds and its Impact on Operating Performance," Schmalenbach Business Review, Springer;Schmalenbach-Gesellschaft, vol. 18(3), pages 227-259, August.
    15. Krishnan, Pramila & Krutikova, Sofya, 2013. "Non-cognitive skill formation in poor neighbourhoods of urban India," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 68-85.
    16. Isabella Dobrescu & Alberto Motta & Richard Holden & Adrian Piccoli, 2021. "Cultural Context in Standardized Tests," Discussion Papers 2021-08, School of Economics, The University of New South Wales.
    17. Huber, Martin & Lechner, Michael & Wunsch, Conny, 2013. "The performance of estimators based on the propensity score," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 175(1), pages 1-21.
    18. Seung-Jin Han & Won-Jae Lee & So-Hee Kim & Sang-Hoon Yoon & Won Shick Ryu & Hyunwoong Pyun & Daehwan Kim, 2022. "Effects of the Olympic Announcement and the Actual Event on Property Values: The Case of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-16, July.
    19. Liang, Wanqi & Li, Wenying, 2023. "Impact of internet usage on the subjective well-being of urban and rural households: Evidence from Vietnam," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(3).
    20. Glauco De Vita & Chengchun Li & Yun Luo, 2022. "Legal origin and financial development: A propensity score matching analysis," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(1), pages 535-553, January.
    21. Adeola Oyenubi, 2020. "A note on Covariate Balancing Propensity Score and Instrument-like variables," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 40(1), pages 202-209.
    22. Fusillo, Fabrizio, 2023. "Green Technologies and diversity in the knowledge search and output phases: Evidence from European Patents," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(4).
    23. Wellalage, Nirosha Hewa & Locke, Stuart, 2020. "Formal credit and innovation: Is there a uniform relationship across types of innovation?," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 1-15.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:adr:anecst:y:2008:i:91-92:p:217-235. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Secretariat General or Laurent Linnemer (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ensaefr.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.