A framework for separating individual treatment effects from spillover, interaction, and general equilibrium effects

Martin Huber and Andreas Steinmayr

No 481, FSES Working Papers from Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences, University of Freiburg/Fribourg Switzerland

Abstract: This paper suggests a causal framework for disentangling individual level treatment effects and interference effects, i.e., general equilibrium, spillover, or interaction effects related to treatment distribution. Thus, the framework allows for a relaxation of the Stable Unit Treatment Value Assumption (SUTVA), which assumes away any form of treatment-dependent interference between study participants. Instead, we permit interference effects within aggregate units, for example, regions or local labor markets, but need to rule out interference effects between these aggregate units. Borrowing notation from the causal mediation literature, we define a range of policy-relevant effects and formally discuss identification based on randomization, selection on observables, and difference-in-differences. We also present an application to a policy intervention extending unemployment benefit durations in selected regions of Austria that arguably affected ineligibles in treated regions through general equilibrium effects in local labor markets.

Keywords: treatment effect; general equilibrium effects; spillover effects; interaction effects; interference effects; inverse probability; weighting; propensity score; mediation analysis; difference-in-differences (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C21 C31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 39 pages
Date: 2017-03-23
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ecm and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://doc.rero.ch/record/288125/files/WP_SES_481.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: A Framework for Separating Individual Treatment Effects from Spillover, Interaction, and General Equilibrium Effects (2017)
Working Paper: A Framework for Separating Individual Treatment Effects From Spillover, Interaction, and General Equilibrium Effects (2017)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:fri:fribow:fribow00481

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
http://doc.rero.ch/record/288125

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in FSES Working Papers from Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences, University of Freiburg/Fribourg Switzerland Bd de Pérolles 90, CH-1700 Fribourg. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Mustapha Obbad ().