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Tree-based Synthetic Control Methods: Consequences of moving the US Embassy

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  • Nicolaj S{o}ndergaard Muhlbach
  • Mikkel Slot Nielsen

Abstract

We recast the synthetic controls for evaluating policies as a counterfactual prediction problem and replace its linear regression with a nonparametric model inspired by machine learning. The proposed method enables us to achieve accurate counterfactual predictions and we provide theoretical guarantees. We apply our method to a highly debated policy: the relocation of the US embassy to Jerusalem. In Israel and Palestine, we find that the average number of weekly conflicts has increased by roughly 103\% over 48 weeks since the relocation was announced on December 6, 2017. By using conformal inference and placebo tests, we justify our model and find the increase to be statistically significant.

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  • Nicolaj S{o}ndergaard Muhlbach & Mikkel Slot Nielsen, 2019. "Tree-based Synthetic Control Methods: Consequences of moving the US Embassy," Papers 1909.03968, arXiv.org, revised Feb 2021.
    • Handle: RePEc:arx:papers:1909.03968
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    3. Victor Chernozhukov & Kaspar Wüthrich & Yinchu Zhu, 2021. "An Exact and Robust Conformal Inference Method for Counterfactual and Synthetic Controls," Journal of the American Statistical Association, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 116(536), pages 1849-1864, October.
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    5. Victor Chernozhukov & Kaspar Wuthrich & Yinchu Zhu, 2018. "Debiasing and $t$-tests for synthetic control inference on average causal effects," Papers 1812.10820, arXiv.org, revised May 2025.
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