Score contribution per author:
α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count
A random shock excludes reverse causality and reduces omitted variable bias. Yet a natural experiment does not identify random exposure to treatment, but the reaction to a random change from baseline to treatment. A lab experiment comparing higher certainty with higher severity of punishment for stealing (holding the expected value of the intervention constant) shows that the difference between the effects of a random shock and random assignment can be pronounced.