Causal Econometrics Resources

Kevin's Resources on Causal Inference Methods for Political Economy

Difference-in-Differences Resources

Kevin's Main Github Page

About

This is a collection of resources on Causal econometric methods - with a specific focus on methods used in Political Science and Political Economy (PSPE). These resources are a collection of the content I learned during my postgraduate degree at the London School of Economics.

For implementation of difference-in-differences in R and Python, see my repository on DiD. For more about me, see my github page.

 

Resources

Background: Regression Review

1. Causal Frameworks I: Exogeneity

Topics: confounders in causal identification, and how it relates to randomness/exogeneity.

2. Causal Frameworks II: Potential Outcomes

Topics: potential outcomes framework for causal inference, and introduce the main estimands: ATE, ATT, and LATE.

3. Difference-in-Differences I: Classical DiD

Topics: introduce the classical 2-period Difference-in-Differences design used for causal identification, and the parallel trends assumption.

4. Difference-in-Differences II: Generalised DiD

Topics: expand DiD to multiple pre-and-post periods, introduce the two-way fixed effects estimator, and discuss conditioning for parallel trends.

5. Difference-in-Differences III: Staggered DiD

Topics: expand DiD to staggered treatment settings, discuss the issues with TWFE in staggered settings, and discuss modern advances in DiD.

6. Difference-in-Differences IV: Extensions

Topics: extending Difference-in-differences to scenarios where parallel trends does not hold, including IFEct, MC, and synthetic controls.

7. Instrumental Variables and 2SLS

Topics: the theory behind instrumental variables and why they can find causal effects, as well as the 2-stage least squares estimator.

8. Regression Discontinuity I: Sharp RDD

Topics: the regression discontinuity design and its sharp variant, as well as the key identification assumptions and design of RDD.

9. Regression Discontinuity II: Extensions

Topics: extensions of the RDD design, including fuzzy RDD for non-compliance with cutoffs, and regression kink design.

10. Randomised Controlled Trials

Topics: design of randomised experiments, including blocked experiments, non-compliance, and survey experiments.

11. Selection on Observables

Topics: selection on observables. I discuss regression and matching strategies.