Estimating Group Effects Using Averages of Observables to Control for Sorting on Unobservables: School and Neighborhood Effects

S-Tier
Journal: American Economic Review
Year: 2018
Volume: 108
Issue: 10
Pages: 2902-46

Score contribution per author:

4.022 = (α=2.01 / 2 authors) × 4.0x S-tier

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

Abstract

We consider the classic problem of estimating group treatment effects when individuals sort based on observed and unobserved characteristics. Using a standard choice model, we show that controlling for group averages of observed individual characteristics potentially absorbs all the across-group variation in unobservable individual characteristics. We use this insight to bound the treatment effect variance of school systems and associated neighborhoods for various outcomes. Across multiple datasets, we find that a 90th versus 10th percentile school/neighborhood increases the high school graduation probability and college enrollment probability by at least 0.04 and 0.11 and permanent wages by 13.7 percent.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:aea:aecrev:v:108:y:2018:i:10:p:2902-46
Journal Field
General
Author Count
2
Added to Database
2026-01-24