Instrumental variable analyses often rely on the assumption that instruments affect the outcome only through the endogenous regressor. In many applications, researchers can defend only a plausible range for direct effects of instruments, while conventional sensitivity analyses may be unreliable when instruments are weak. This paper proposes the profiled Anderson--Rubin (pAR) test, which considers all direct effects within a prespecified range and retains a candidate effect whenever at least one admissible direct effect is consistent with the data. Under the maintained sampling assumptions, the procedure controls false rejection for each compatible candidate without requiring strong instruments. The paper provides practical methods for constructing confidence sets and distinguishes substantive bounds from bounds tied to the realized instrument design. Simulations and applications to retirement saving and returns to schooling show that the procedure resembles conventional sensitivity analysis when instruments are strong but preserves substantially more uncertainty when identification is weak.
Two frequent approaches for identifying structural VARs are external instruments, which carry economic content but are often weak, and non-Gaussianity of the shocks which provides statistical identification but carries no economic meaning. We combine the two strategies in a single generalized method of moments framewor...
We develop a bias-robust causal inference method for observational panel data settings. Such methods typically impute untreated outcomes, so counterfactual error passes straight into the estimated treatment effect while conventional standard errors ignore it. We adapt bias-aware minimax methods, developed for estimatin...
This paper studies identification and inference in a triangular system with an endogenous regressor when exclusion restrictions are unavailable and the dependence between structural disturbances is modeled through an unrestricted control function. In this setting, standard orthogonality conditions do not deliver point...
When comparison units may also respond to treatment, panel comparisons reflect both the treatment effect and spillovers. If the interference pattern is unknown, observed outcomes alone do not separate the two. I characterize what can nevertheless be learned from panel outcomes under general restrictions, without requir...
Recent work encourages political scientists to move from post-only toward within-subject designs for improved precision from repeated measurements. We formalize a potential-outcomes framework for two-period within-subject designs that allows for unequal allocation and heterogeneous treatment and carryover effects. We c...
Econometric models offer parsimonious but inexact approximations to data-generating processes. This paper studies the generalized method of moments (GMM) when exchangeable specification errors of order $n^{-1/2}$ contaminate the moment conditions. I develop estimators for the mean and variance of these specification er...
Patrick M. Kline· 0 citations
We use cookies to run the site and, with your consent, for analytics and to show ads.
See our Cookie Policy.
