IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/arx/papers/2509.01622.html

Sharp Hybrid Confidence Bands for Partially Identified Treatment Effects under Tail Uncertainty with an Application to Workforce Gender Diversity and Firm Performance

Author

Listed:
  • Grace Lordan
  • Kaveh Salehzadeh Nobari

Abstract

Manski's nonparametric bounds partially identify the average treatment effects (ATEs) under minimal assumptions, yielding an interval-valued estimand with endpoints that depend on the outcome support - typically treated as known or fixed. In many empirical settings, however, credible bounds on the outcome support are often unavailable and outcomes may be heavy-tailed, so common empirical implementations that rely on ad-hoc truncation or observed extrema can compromise finite-sample coverage. We develop concATE, a hybrid confidence band for interval-identified ATEs that explicitly accounts for tail uncertainty without imposing parametric assumptions. The inference method combines a distribution-free concentration bound for the outcome distribution based on the Dvoretzky-Kiefer-Wolfowitz inequality with the asymptotic delta-method inference for smooth mean components, and allocates size across bound endpoints using Bonferroni's inequality to guarantee joint coverage. We further extend concATE to a group-sequential procedure that controls the family-wise error rate using Pocock correction. Applying the method to panel data on 901 listed firms (2015Q2--2022Q1), we find that senior-level gender diversity has a statistically significant positive effect on firm value (Tobin's Q) only after crossing substantial representation thresholds: in Growth & Innovation sectors, significance emerges at approximately 55% female leadership, while in Defensive sectors it appears only beyond about 60%.

Suggested Citation

  • Grace Lordan & Kaveh Salehzadeh Nobari, 2025. "Sharp Hybrid Confidence Bands for Partially Identified Treatment Effects under Tail Uncertainty with an Application to Workforce Gender Diversity and Firm Performance," Papers 2509.01622, arXiv.org, revised Apr 2026.
  • Handle: RePEc:arx:papers:2509.01622
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://arxiv.org/pdf/2509.01622
    File Function: Latest version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Joshua D. Angrist & Jörn-Steffen Pischke, 2009. "Mostly Harmless Econometrics: An Empiricist's Companion," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 8769, December.
    2. Mariateresa Torchia & Andrea Calabrò & Morten Huse, 2011. "Women Directors on Corporate Boards: From Tokenism to Critical Mass," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 102(2), pages 299-317, August.
    3. Adams, Renée B. & Ferreira, Daniel, 2009. "Women in the boardroom and their impact on governance and performance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(2), pages 291-309, November.
    4. William C. Brainard & James Tobin, 1968. "Pitfalls in Financial Model-Building," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 244, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University.
    5. James Tobin & William C. Brainard, 1976. "Asset Markets and the Cost of Capital," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 427, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University.
    6. Max Nathan & Neil Lee, 2013. "Cultural Diversity, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship: Firm-level Evidence from London," Economic Geography, Clark University, vol. 89(4), pages 367-394, October.
    7. Horowitz, Joel L. & Manski, Charles F., 1998. "Censoring of outcomes and regressors due to survey nonresponse: Identification and estimation using weights and imputations," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 84(1), pages 37-58, May.
    8. Safiullah, Md & Akhter, Tanzina & Saona, Paolo & Azad, Md. Abul Kalam, 2022. "Gender diversity on corporate boards, firm performance, and risk-taking: New evidence from Spain," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(C).
    9. Manski, Charles F, 1990. "Nonparametric Bounds on Treatment Effects," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 80(2), pages 319-323, May.
    10. Sander Hoogendoorn & Hessel Oosterbeek & Mirjam van Praag, 2013. "The Impact of Gender Diversity on the Performance of Business Teams: Evidence from a Field Experiment," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 59(7), pages 1514-1528, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Joanna Tyrowicz & Siri Terjesen & Jakub Mazurek, 2017. "All on board? New evidence on board gender diversity from a large panel of firms," GRAPE Working Papers 5, GRAPE Group for Research in Applied Economics.
    2. Kuzmina, Olga & Melentyeva, Valentina, 2020. "Gender diversity in corporate boards: Evidence from quota-implied discontinuities," CEPR Discussion Papers 14942, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    3. McGuinness, Paul B. & Vieito, João Paulo & Wang, Mingzhu, 2017. "The role of board gender and foreign ownership in the CSR performance of Chinese listed firms," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 75-99.
    4. Guan, Yuexin & Pan, Wei-Fong & Tang, Siyu, 2024. "Female political leaders and R&D investment," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(PB).
    5. Adeel Mustafa & Abubakr Saeed & Muhammad Awais & Shahab Aziz, 2020. "Board-Gender Diversity, Family Ownership, and Dividend Announcement: Evidence from Asian Emerging Economies," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-20, March.
    6. Paul B. McGuinness & João Paulo Vieito & Mingzhu Wang, 2020. "Proactive government intervention, board gender balance, and stakeholder engagement in China and Europe," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 37(3), pages 719-762, September.
    7. Owen, Ann L. & Temesvary, Judit & Wei, Andrew, 2025. "Board of Directors’ connections, gender, and firm performance in a male-dominated industry: Evidence from U.S. banking," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 47(C).
    8. Huang, Yichu & Fang, Feifei & Fan, Yaoyao & Ly, Kim Cuong, 2024. "Do ‘Lehman Sisters’ work in China? Women on boards and bank risk," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    9. Swarnodeep Homroy & Kwok Tong Soo, 2020. "Team diversity and individual performance," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 88(4), pages 507-530, July.
    10. Mario Daniele Amore & Orsola Garofalo & Alessandro Minichilli, 2014. "Gender Interactions Within the Family Firm," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 60(5), pages 1083-1097, May.
    11. Urs Fischbacher & Dorothea Kübler & Robert Stüber, 2024. "Betting on Diversity—Occupational Segregation and Gender Stereotypes," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 70(8), pages 5502-5516, August.
    12. Josep Garcia-Blandon & Josep Maria Argilés-Bosch & Diego Ravenda & David Castillo-Merino, 2025. "Breaking barriers: assessing the influence of female directors on financial performance beyond the boardroom," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 19(10), pages 3111-3141, October.
    13. Laura Baselga-Pascual & Antonio Trujillo-Ponce & Emilia Vähämaa & Sami Vähämaa, 2018. "Ethical Reputation of Financial Institutions: Do Board Characteristics Matter?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 148(3), pages 489-510, March.
    14. Ishmael Tingbani & Lyton Chithambo & Venancio Tauringana & Nikolaos Papanikolaou, 2020. "Board gender diversity, environmental committee and greenhouse gas voluntary disclosures," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(6), pages 2194-2210, September.
    15. Vincenzo Scafarto & Federica Ricci & Elisabetta Magnaghi & Salvatore Ferri, 2021. "Board structure and intellectual capital efficiency: does the family firm status matter?," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 25(3), pages 841-878, September.
    16. Francisco Díez-Martín & Giorgia Miotto & Cristina Del-Castillo-Feito, 2024. "The intellectual structure of gender equality research in the business economics literature," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 18(6), pages 1649-1680, June.
    17. Nguyen, Tuan & Nguyen, An & Nguyen, Mau & Truong, Thuyen, 2021. "Is national governance quality a key moderator of the boardroom gender diversity–firm performance relationship? International evidence from a multi-hierarchical analysis," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 370-390.
    18. Nthabiseng V. Moraka, 2023. "Breaking the glass ceiling: unveiling the talent management gap in boardrooms and its impact on low women representation," International Journal of Research in Business and Social Science (2147-4478), Center for the Strategic Studies in Business and Finance, vol. 12(8), pages 119-133, November.
    19. Ana Beatriz Hernández-Lara & Juan Pablo Gonzales-Bustos & Amado Alarcón-Alarcón, 2021. "Social Sustainability on Corporate Boards: The Effects of Female Family Members on R&D," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-13, February.
    20. Alice Klettner & Thomas Clarke & Martijn Boersma, 2016. "Strategic and Regulatory Approaches to Increasing Women in Leadership: Multilevel Targets and Mandatory Quotas as Levers for Cultural Change," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 133(3), pages 395-419, February.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • C21 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Cross-Sectional Models; Spatial Models; Treatment Effect Models
    • C14 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Semiparametric and Nonparametric Methods: General
    • M14 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - Corporate Culture; Diversity; Social Responsibility
    • L25 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Firm Performance
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:arx:papers:2509.01622. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: arXiv administrators (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://arxiv.org/ .

    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.