Estimation and inference for the counterfactual distribution and quantile functions in continuous treatment models

A-Tier
Journal: Journal of Econometrics
Year: 2022
Volume: 228
Issue: 1
Pages: 39-61

Authors (3)

Ai, Chunrong (not in RePEc) Linton, Oliver (University of Cambridge) Zhang, Zheng (not in RePEc)

Score contribution per author:

1.341 = (α=2.01 / 3 authors) × 2.0x A-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

Donald and Hsu (2014) studied the estimation and inference for the counterfactual distribution and quantile functions in a binary treatment model. We extend their work to the continuous treatment model. Specifically, we propose a weighted regression estimator for the counterfactual distribution but we estimate the weighting function from a covariate balancing equation by maximizing a globally concave criterion function. We estimate the quantile function by inverting the estimated counterfactual distribution. To test the distributional effect, we consider the (uniform) confidence bands, the sup and L2 distance, and the Mann–Whitney test. We also consider the stochastic dominance test for the distributional effect and the L2 test for constant quantiles. A simulation study reveals that our tests exhibit a satisfactory finite-sample performance, and an application shows their practical value.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:eee:econom:v:228:y:2022:i:1:p:39-61
Journal Field
Econometrics
Author Count
3
Added to Database
2026-01-25