Matthew A Masten

Journal article American Economic Review · July 1, 2026 We show that, depending on how the impact of omitted variables is measured, it can be substantially easier for omitted variables to flip coefficient signs than to drive them to zero. This behavior occurs with “Oster’s delta” (Oster 2019a), a widely reporte ... Full text Cite

Assessing Sensitivity to Unconfoundedness: Estimation and Inference

Journal article Journal of Business and Economic Statistics · January 1, 2024 This article provides a set of methods for quantifying the robustness of treatment effects estimated using the unconfoundedness assumption. Specifically, we estimate and do inference on bounds for various treatment effect parameters, like the Average Treat ... Full text Cite

Minimax-regret treatment rules with many treatments

Journal article Japanese Economic Review · October 1, 2023 Statistical treatment rules map data into treatment choices. Optimal treatment rules maximize social welfare. Although some finite sample results exist, it is generally difficult to prove that a particular treatment rule is optimal. This paper develops asy ... Full text Cite

Choosing exogeneity assumptions in potential outcome models

Journal article Econometrics Journal · September 1, 2023 There are many kinds of exogeneity assumptions. How should researchers choose among them? When exogeneity is imposed on an unobservable like a potential outcome, we argue that the form of exogeneity should be chosen based on the kind of selection on unobse ... Full text Cite

ivcrc: An instrumental-variables estimator for the correlated random-coefficients model

Journal article Stata Journal · September 1, 2022 We discuss the ivcrc command, which implements an instrumental-variables (IV) estimator for the linear correlated random-coefficients model. The correlated random-coefficients model is a natural generalization of the standard linear IV model that allows fo ... Full text Cite

Inference on breakdown frontiers

Journal article Quantitative Economics · January 1, 2020 Given a set of baseline assumptions, a breakdown frontier is the boundary between the set of assumptions which lead to a specific conclusion and those which do not. In a potential outcomes model with a binary treatment, we consider two conclusions: First, ... Full text Cite

A practical guide to compact infinite dimensional parameter spaces

Journal article Econometric Reviews · October 21, 2019 Compactness is a widely used assumption in econometrics. In this article, we gather and review general compactness results for many commonly used parameter spaces in nonparametric estimation, and we provide several new results. We consider three kinds of f ... Full text Cite

Random coefficients on endogenous variables in simultaneous equations models

Journal article Review of Economic Studies · April 1, 2018 This article considers a classical linear simultaneous equations model with random coefficients on the endogenous variables. Simultaneous equations models are used to study social interactions, strategic interactions between firms, and market equilibrium. ... Full text Cite

Identification of Treatment Effects Under Conditional Partial Independence

Journal article Econometrica · January 1, 2018 Conditional independence of treatment assignment from potential outcomes is a commonly used but nonrefutable assumption. We derive identified sets for various treatment effect parameters under nonparametric deviations from this conditional independence ass ... Full text Cite

Identification of Treatment Effects Under Conditional Partial Independence

Journal article Econometrica · January 2018 Conditional independence of treatment assignment from potential outcomes is a commonly used but nonrefutable assumption. We derive identified sets for various treatment effect parameters under nonparametric deviations from this conditional independence a ... Open Access Cite

Identification of instrumental variable correlated random coefficients models

Journal article Review of Economics and Statistics · December 1, 2016 We study identification and estimation of the average partial effect in an instrumental variable correlated random coefficients model with continuously distributed endogenous regressors. This model allows treatment effects to be correlated with the level o ... Full text Cite

Partial Independence in Nonseparable Models

Journal article · June 17, 2016 Cite

A specification test for discrete choice models

Journal article Economics Letters · November 1, 2013 In standard discrete choice models, adding options cannot increase the choice probability of an existing alternative. We use this observation to construct a simple nonparametric specification test by exploiting variation in the choice sets individuals face ... Full text Cite

Instrumental Variables Estimation of a Generalized Correlated Random Coefficients Model

Journal article · October 24, 2013 We study identification and estimation of the average treatment effect in a correlated random coefficients model that allows for first stage heterogeneity and binary instruments. The model also allows for multiple endogenous variables and interactions betw ... Link to item Cite

How should the graduate economics core be changed?

Journal article Journal of Economic Education · December 1, 2011 The authors present suggestions by graduate students from a range of economics departments for improving the first-year core sequence in economics. The students identified a number of elements that should be added to the core: more training in building mic ... Full text Cite