Bounds on distributional treatment effect parameters using panel data with an application on job displacement

Brantly Callaway

Journal of Econometrics, 2021, vol. 222, issue 2, 861-881

Abstract: This paper develops new techniques to bound distributional treatment effect parameters that depend on the joint distribution of potential outcomes — an object not identified by standard identifying assumptions such as selection on observables or even when treatment is randomly assigned. I show that panel data and an additional assumption on the dependence between untreated potential outcomes for the treated group over time (i) provide more identifying power for distributional treatment effect parameters than existing bounds and (ii) provide a more plausible set of conditions than existing methods that obtain point identification. I apply these bounds to study heterogeneity in the effect of job displacement during the Great Recession. Using standard techniques, I find that workers who were displaced during the Great Recession lost on average 34% of their earnings relative to their counterfactual earnings had they not been displaced. Using the methods developed in the current paper, I also show that the average effect masks substantial heterogeneity across workers.

Keywords: Joint distribution of potential outcomes; Distribution of the treatment effect; Quantile of the treatment effect; Copula stability assumption; Panel data; Job displacement (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C14 C31 C33 J63 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Working Paper: Bounds on Distributional Treatment Effect Parameters using Panel Data with an Application on Job Displacement (2020)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:econom:v:222:y:2021:i:2:p:861-881

DOI: 10.1016/j.jeconom.2020.02.005

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