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A note on endogenous control variables in causal studies

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  • Lechner, Michael

Abstract

The issue of potentially endogenous control variables in causal studies based on the assumption of no selection bias conditional on observables (conditional independence assumption, CIA) is discussed. The paper shows that the standard formulation of the CIA obscures the endogeneity problem. It suggests a CIA based on potential variables together with explicit exogeneity conditions, which allows a separate assessment of the endogeneity bias and the plausibility of the CIA.

Suggested Citation

  • Lechner, Michael, 2008. "A note on endogenous control variables in causal studies," Statistics & Probability Letters, Elsevier, vol. 78(2), pages 190-195, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:stapro:v:78:y:2008:i:2:p:190-195
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    2. Michael Gerfin & Michael Lechner, 2002. "A Microeconometric Evaluation of the Active Labour Market Policy in Switzerland," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 112(482), pages 854-893, October.
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    15. Carolina Caetano & Brantly Callaway, 2022. "Difference-in-Differences with Time-Varying Covariates in the Parallel Trends Assumption," Papers 2202.02903, arXiv.org, revised May 2023.
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