ERIC Number: EJ1170697
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2018-Mar
Pages: 33
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0049-1241
EISSN: N/A
Nonparametric Identification of Causal Effects under Temporal Dependence
Dafoe, Allan
Sociological Methods & Research, v47 n2 p136-168 Mar 2018
Social scientists routinely address temporal dependence by adopting a simple technical fix. However, the correct identification strategy for a causal effect depends on causal assumptions. These need to be explicated and justified; almost no studies do so. This article addresses this shortcoming by offering a precise general statement of the (nonparametric) causal assumptions required to identify causal effects under temporal dependence. In particular, this article clarifies when one should condition or not condition on lagged dependent variables (LDVs) to identify causal effects: one should not condition on LDVs, if there is no reverse causation "and" no outcome autocausation; one should condition on LDVs if there are no unobserved common causes of treatment and the lagged outcome, "or" no unobserved persistent causes of the outcome. When only one of these is true (with one exception), the incorrect decision will induce bias. Absent a well-justified identification strategy, inferences should be appropriately qualified.
Descriptors: Nonparametric Statistics, Influences, Social Science Research, Time, Identification, Case Studies, Graphs, Generalization
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
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