Econometrica

Journal Of The Econometric Society

An International Society for the Advancement of Economic
Theory in its Relation to Statistics and Mathematics

Edited by: Guido W. Imbens • Print ISSN: 0012-9682 • Online ISSN: 1468-0262

Econometrica: Jan, 2010, Volume 78, Issue 1

Evaluating Marginal Policy Changes and the Average Effect of Treatment for Individuals at the Margin

https://doi.org/10.3982/ECTA7089
p. 377-394

Pedro Carneiro, James J. Heckman, Edward Vytlacil

This paper develops methods for evaluating marginal policy changes. We characterize how the effects of marginal policy changes depend on the direction of the policy change, and show that marginal policy effects are fundamentally easier to identify and to estimate than conventional treatment parameters. We develop the connection between marginal policy effects and the average effect of treatment for persons on the margin of indifference between participation in treatment and nonparticipation, and use this connection to analyze both parameters. We apply our analysis to estimate the effect of marginal changes in tuition on the return to going to college.


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Supplemental Material

Supplement to "Evaluating Marginal Policy Changes and the Average Effect of Treatment for Individuals at the Margin"

Description of the NLSY data.

Supplement to "Evaluating Marginal Policy Changes and the Average Effect of Treatment for Individuals at the Margin"

Data and programs as well as detailed instructions for replicating the results.

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