Thursday, May 2, Keller 0001
12:30pm - Brian Curran

Misleading Estimates from Nonlinear Models with a Binary Outcome

Abstract: When estimating nonlinear models for binary outcomes, such as probit and logit models, researchers often calculate an average partial effect (APE) to summarize the effect of a regressor. Because the marginal effect of a variable depends on the values of all other variables in such nonlinear specifications, the value of the APE thus hinges on what part of the sample one averages over. If averaged over parts of the sample that are irrelevant for the identifying variation, then the calculated APE may deviate from the most relevant marginal effect. In this paper, we describe a set of common situations within nonlinear binary outcome models where APEs from nonlinear binary outcome models can be misleading and suggest a simple solution to the problem in some cases. This issue arises when an APE is calculated over the entire sample, but the identifying variation comes from only a subset of the sample. We start by laying out a stylized model of the problem and use simulations to show that the approach used in many papers can yield misleading estimates. We then recalculate estimates from published papers, finding that the published results are often statistically significantly different from the correctly specified estimates.

1:10pm - Matt Stadnicki

What Effect Does the Child Tax Credit Have on College Attendance? Evidence from IRS Tax Data

Abstract: While a large component of the economics literature has examined the effects of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), comparatively less research has been conducted on the Child Tax Credit (CTC). In this proposed study, I plan to investigate the effects of the CTC on the college attendance of recipients' children. Using IRS tax data linked to other administrative data, I first plan to leverage an age discontinuity in when children can be claimed for the CTC to examine the effect of shifting CTC receipt toward earlier in a child's life on future college attendance. I also plan to leverage the implementation of the CTC in 1997, combined with the same previously mentioned age discontinuity to investigate the effect of different years of exposure to the CTC on college attendance.

 


Upcoming Presenters

May 2, 12:30pmBrian Curran Keller 0001
May 2, 1:10pmMatthew StadnickiKeller 0001
May 9, 12:30pmNeila KerkebaneKeller 0001
May 9, 1:10pmSofia GalloKeller 0001
May 16, 12:30pmOskar HouckKeller 0001
May 16, 1:10pmDaisy LuKeller 0001
May 23, 12:30pmSushant BanjaraVirtual
May 23, 1:10pmLucas MationVirtual

Past Presenters

Oct 5

Ruochen Yi, Political structure and Balance of power, evidence from mid-level officials' promotion in China

Oct 12

Angela Wyse, Saved by Medicaid: New Evidence on Health Insurance and Mortality from the Universe of Low-Income Adults

Nov 9

Mythili Vinnakota, Levees: Infrastructure and Insurance as Adaptation to Flood Risk

Nov 30

Wendy Wong, Optimal Monitoring and Bureaucrat Adjustments

Dec 7

Elena Ziege, Educational Spillovers: The Effect of Birthright Citizenship on Siblings' Education

Jan 11

Maya Lozinski, Knowledge Growth and Specialization

Jan 18

Steve Kim,  Industrial Policy: When Does It Work?

Jan 18

Gina Eckhoff, Putting Simplicity Back into New Economic Geography

Jan 25

Ari Anisfeld, "Remind me to go to back to college": The impact of government communications on FAFSA renewal and re-enrollment

Jan 25

Predrag Pandiloski, Social Learning in Diverse Societies

Feb 1

Daniel Sonnenstuhl, The Causes and Implications of the Pentecostal Movement: Evidence from Nigeria

Feb 8

José Miguel Pascual Moreno, Bargaining at the Firm

Feb 15

Danielle Nemschoff, Family Bonds and Recidivism

Feb 22

Goya Razavi Ebrahimi, Who Benefits From Free Colleges?

Feb 29

Haoran Gao, Competition, Market, Supply Chain, and (Dis)engagement: Determinants and Consequences of American Business Community's Lobbying on US-China Engagement

Mar 7

Claire Fan, Dam thy neighbor: Spillovers and coordination on transboundary rivers

Mar 21

Emileigh Harrison, Separation of Church and State Curricula? Examining Public and Religious Private School Textbooks

Mar 21

Rohen Shah, When The Student Becomes the Master: Learning by Creating Math Tutoring Videos

Mar 28

Kisoo Kim , Lame Duck by Primary: Effects of Electoral Incentives on U.S. House Representatives

Mar 28

Keisuke Ito, Is the Adoption of Renewable Energy Technologies Too Fast and Too Much?: Evidence from Solar Systems

Apr 4

Rubina Hundal, From Learning to Earning: Effects of Financial Literacy, Career Information, and Social Learning on Youth Wage Preferences

Apr 11

Alison Doxey, How Much Do Cash Transfers Compensate Children for the Loss of a Father? Evidence from Mining Accidents and Workers' Compensation

Apr 11

Nathan Ausubel, A National Study of the Effect of School Quality on Housing Prices

Apr 18

Smriti Ganapathi, Policing Intimate Partner Violence: Curbing Abuse or Shifting it?

Apr 18

Michael McKelligott, Household Hygienic Infrastructure and Infectious Disease Mortality: Evidence from the 'New Public Health' and the Spanish Flu

Apr 25

Felicity Zhang, Social Learning among Physicians

Apr 25

Peizan Sheng, Sensitivity of Formula Instruments to Shock Design

A photo of Steven Durlauf

Steans Professor in Educational Policy

Steven Durlauf

Steven Durlauf’s research spans many topics in microeconomics and macroeconomics. His most important substantive contributions involve the areas of poverty, inequality and economic growth.