Robustness of the encouragement design in a two-treatment randomized control trial

Luc Behaghel, Bruno Crépon and Marc Gurgand

PSE Working Papers from HAL

Abstract: In this paper we discuss how the " encouragement design "used in randomized controlled trials can be extended to a setting with two treatments and one control group. Conditions to interpret the Two-Stage Least Squares (TSLS) estimates causally are stronger than in the case with only one treatment and one control group. A rst case where a causal interpretation holds is when only those assigned to one of the two treatments can e ectively enter the corresponding program. A second case is when there are always takers. In that second case, entry rates into a given program should be the same among those assigned to the control group and those assigned to the other program; this restriction can be tested from the data. In cases where the restriction is rejected, we derive bounds to the Local Average Treatment E ect (LATE) based on weaker monotonicity conditions. We illustrate the results using data from a large randomized experiment where job seekers at risk of long term unemployment can receive a reinforced counseling scheme o ered either by the public or the private sector, or remain on a standard track.

Keywords: Randomized evaluation; Local Average Treatment E ffect; Bounds (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-exp
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-00834169v1
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (14)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Robustness of the encouragement design in a two-treatment randomized control trial (2013)
Working Paper: Robustness of the Encouragement Design in a Two-Treatment Randomized Control Trial (2013)
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