Instrumental Variables Regressions with Honestly Uncertain Exclusion Restrictions

The validity of instrumental variables (IV) regression models depends crucially on fundamentally untestable exclusion restrictions. Typically exclusion restrictions are assumed to hold exactly in the relevant population, yet in many empirical appli...

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Main Author: Kraay, Aart
Format: Policy Research Working Paper
Language:English
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2012
Subjects:
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2008/05/9473668/instrumental-variables-regressions-honestly-uncertain-exclusion-restrictions
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/6693
id okr-10986-6693
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-66932021-04-23T14:02:32Z Instrumental Variables Regressions with Honestly Uncertain Exclusion Restrictions Kraay, Aart ABSOLUTE VALUE BAYESIAN ANALYSIS BENCHMARK BILATERAL TRADE CAUSATION CONFIDENCE INTERVALS CONSUMERS CONTROL VARIABLES CORRELATIONS COUNTRY DUMMIES COVARIANCE DEGREES OF FREEDOM DEPENDENT VARIABLE DISTRIBUTIONAL ASSUMPTIONS DUMMY VARIABLE ECONOMETRIC THEORY ECONOMIC ACTIVITY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ECONOMIC GROWTH ENDOGENOUS VARIABLE ENDOGENOUS VARIABLES EQUATIONS ERROR ERROR TERM ERROR TERMS EXCLUSION EXPERIMENTAL DATA FINANCIAL DEVELOPMENT FINANCIAL SERVICES FITTED VALUES GAMMA DISTRIBUTION GDP GDP PER CAPITA GROWTH RATE GROWTH RATES HUMAN CAPITAL INFLATION INSTRUMENTAL VARIABLE INSTRUMENTAL VARIABLES INSTRUMENTAL VARIABLES ESTIMATOR INSTRUMENTAL VARIABLES REGRESSION INTERNATIONAL BANK LIKELIHOOD FUNCTION LINEAR FUNCTION LINEAR REGRESSION LINEAR REGRESSION MODEL MACROECONOMICS MATRIX MORTALITY NORMAL DISTRIBUTION 0 HYPOTHESIS PER CAPITA INCOMES PRECISION PROBABILITY PROBABILITY DISTRIBUTION PROPERTY RIGHTS RANDOM VARIABLE RANDOM VARIABLES REGRESSION MODEL ROBUSTNESS CHECKS SAMPLE MEAN SAMPLE SIZE SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS SLOPE COEFFICIENT SLOPE COEFFICIENTS STANDARD DEVIATION STANDARD ERRORS STRUCTURAL PARAMETERS TEST STATISTICS TRADE EQUATION TRADE OPENNESS TRADE POLICY TRADE SHARE UNCERTAINTY UNKNOWN PARAMETER VALIDITY VARIABLE ESTIMATION VARIANCE-COVARIANCE MATRIX The validity of instrumental variables (IV) regression models depends crucially on fundamentally untestable exclusion restrictions. Typically exclusion restrictions are assumed to hold exactly in the relevant population, yet in many empirical applications there are reasonable prior grounds to doubt their literal truth. In this paper I show how to incorporate prior uncertainty about the validity of the exclusion restriction into linear IV models, and explore the consequences for inference. In particular I provide a mapping from prior uncertainty about the exclusion restriction into increased uncertainty about parameters of interest. Moderate prior uncertainty about exclusion restrictions can lead to a substantial loss of precision in estimates of structural parameters. This loss of precision is relatively more important in situations where IV estimates appear to be more precise, for example in larger samples or with stronger instruments. The author illustrates these points using several prominent recent empirical papers that use linear IV models. 2012-05-30T19:27:15Z 2012-05-30T19:27:15Z 2008-05 http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2008/05/9473668/instrumental-variables-regressions-honestly-uncertain-exclusion-restrictions http://hdl.handle.net/10986/6693 English Policy Research Working Paper No. 4632 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/ World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper Publications & Research
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
topic ABSOLUTE VALUE
BAYESIAN ANALYSIS
BENCHMARK
BILATERAL TRADE
CAUSATION
CONFIDENCE INTERVALS
CONSUMERS
CONTROL VARIABLES
CORRELATIONS
COUNTRY DUMMIES
COVARIANCE
DEGREES OF FREEDOM
DEPENDENT VARIABLE
DISTRIBUTIONAL ASSUMPTIONS
DUMMY VARIABLE
ECONOMETRIC THEORY
ECONOMIC ACTIVITY
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
ECONOMIC GROWTH
ENDOGENOUS VARIABLE
ENDOGENOUS VARIABLES
EQUATIONS
ERROR
ERROR TERM
ERROR TERMS
EXCLUSION
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
FINANCIAL DEVELOPMENT
FINANCIAL SERVICES
FITTED VALUES
GAMMA DISTRIBUTION
GDP
GDP PER CAPITA
GROWTH RATE
GROWTH RATES
HUMAN CAPITAL
INFLATION
INSTRUMENTAL VARIABLE
INSTRUMENTAL VARIABLES
INSTRUMENTAL VARIABLES ESTIMATOR
INSTRUMENTAL VARIABLES REGRESSION
INTERNATIONAL BANK
LIKELIHOOD FUNCTION
LINEAR FUNCTION
LINEAR REGRESSION
LINEAR REGRESSION MODEL
MACROECONOMICS
MATRIX
MORTALITY
NORMAL DISTRIBUTION
0 HYPOTHESIS
PER CAPITA INCOMES
PRECISION
PROBABILITY
PROBABILITY DISTRIBUTION
PROPERTY RIGHTS
RANDOM VARIABLE
RANDOM VARIABLES
REGRESSION MODEL
ROBUSTNESS CHECKS
SAMPLE MEAN
SAMPLE SIZE
SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS
SLOPE COEFFICIENT
SLOPE COEFFICIENTS
STANDARD DEVIATION
STANDARD ERRORS
STRUCTURAL PARAMETERS
TEST STATISTICS
TRADE EQUATION
TRADE OPENNESS
TRADE POLICY
TRADE SHARE
UNCERTAINTY
UNKNOWN PARAMETER
VALIDITY
VARIABLE ESTIMATION
VARIANCE-COVARIANCE MATRIX
spellingShingle ABSOLUTE VALUE
BAYESIAN ANALYSIS
BENCHMARK
BILATERAL TRADE
CAUSATION
CONFIDENCE INTERVALS
CONSUMERS
CONTROL VARIABLES
CORRELATIONS
COUNTRY DUMMIES
COVARIANCE
DEGREES OF FREEDOM
DEPENDENT VARIABLE
DISTRIBUTIONAL ASSUMPTIONS
DUMMY VARIABLE
ECONOMETRIC THEORY
ECONOMIC ACTIVITY
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
ECONOMIC GROWTH
ENDOGENOUS VARIABLE
ENDOGENOUS VARIABLES
EQUATIONS
ERROR
ERROR TERM
ERROR TERMS
EXCLUSION
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
FINANCIAL DEVELOPMENT
FINANCIAL SERVICES
FITTED VALUES
GAMMA DISTRIBUTION
GDP
GDP PER CAPITA
GROWTH RATE
GROWTH RATES
HUMAN CAPITAL
INFLATION
INSTRUMENTAL VARIABLE
INSTRUMENTAL VARIABLES
INSTRUMENTAL VARIABLES ESTIMATOR
INSTRUMENTAL VARIABLES REGRESSION
INTERNATIONAL BANK
LIKELIHOOD FUNCTION
LINEAR FUNCTION
LINEAR REGRESSION
LINEAR REGRESSION MODEL
MACROECONOMICS
MATRIX
MORTALITY
NORMAL DISTRIBUTION
0 HYPOTHESIS
PER CAPITA INCOMES
PRECISION
PROBABILITY
PROBABILITY DISTRIBUTION
PROPERTY RIGHTS
RANDOM VARIABLE
RANDOM VARIABLES
REGRESSION MODEL
ROBUSTNESS CHECKS
SAMPLE MEAN
SAMPLE SIZE
SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS
SLOPE COEFFICIENT
SLOPE COEFFICIENTS
STANDARD DEVIATION
STANDARD ERRORS
STRUCTURAL PARAMETERS
TEST STATISTICS
TRADE EQUATION
TRADE OPENNESS
TRADE POLICY
TRADE SHARE
UNCERTAINTY
UNKNOWN PARAMETER
VALIDITY
VARIABLE ESTIMATION
VARIANCE-COVARIANCE MATRIX
Kraay, Aart
Instrumental Variables Regressions with Honestly Uncertain Exclusion Restrictions
relation Policy Research Working Paper No. 4632
description The validity of instrumental variables (IV) regression models depends crucially on fundamentally untestable exclusion restrictions. Typically exclusion restrictions are assumed to hold exactly in the relevant population, yet in many empirical applications there are reasonable prior grounds to doubt their literal truth. In this paper I show how to incorporate prior uncertainty about the validity of the exclusion restriction into linear IV models, and explore the consequences for inference. In particular I provide a mapping from prior uncertainty about the exclusion restriction into increased uncertainty about parameters of interest. Moderate prior uncertainty about exclusion restrictions can lead to a substantial loss of precision in estimates of structural parameters. This loss of precision is relatively more important in situations where IV estimates appear to be more precise, for example in larger samples or with stronger instruments. The author illustrates these points using several prominent recent empirical papers that use linear IV models.
format Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper
author Kraay, Aart
author_facet Kraay, Aart
author_sort Kraay, Aart
title Instrumental Variables Regressions with Honestly Uncertain Exclusion Restrictions
title_short Instrumental Variables Regressions with Honestly Uncertain Exclusion Restrictions
title_full Instrumental Variables Regressions with Honestly Uncertain Exclusion Restrictions
title_fullStr Instrumental Variables Regressions with Honestly Uncertain Exclusion Restrictions
title_full_unstemmed Instrumental Variables Regressions with Honestly Uncertain Exclusion Restrictions
title_sort instrumental variables regressions with honestly uncertain exclusion restrictions
publisher World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate 2012
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2008/05/9473668/instrumental-variables-regressions-honestly-uncertain-exclusion-restrictions
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/6693
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