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Estimating a Continuous Treatment Model with Spillovers: A Control Function Approach

Econometrics 2023-01-12 v3 Methodology

Abstract

We study a continuous treatment effect model in the presence of treatment spillovers through social networks. We assume that one's outcome is affected not only by his/her own treatment but also by a (weighted) average of his/her neighbors' treatments, both of which are treated as endogenous variables. Using a control function approach with appropriate instrumental variables, we show that the conditional mean potential outcome can be nonparametrically identified. We also consider a more empirically tractable semiparametric model and develop a three-step estimation procedure for this model. As an empirical illustration, we investigate the causal effect of the regional unemployment rate on the crime rate.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2112.15114,
  title  = {Estimating a Continuous Treatment Model with Spillovers: A Control Function Approach},
  author = {Tadao Hoshino},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2112.15114},
  year   = {2023}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-24T08:35:59.573Z