

The Centre for the Study of Democratic Citizenship, presents:
Marc Bellemare (University of Minnesota)
The Paper of How: Estimating Treatment Effects Using the Front-Door Criterion
You can learn more about Marc Bellemare by clicking here.
Where and When: Thursday, January 28, at 1pm on Zoom.
RSVP: please contact Costin Ciobanu at costin.ciobanu@mail.mcgill.ca
Abstract:We present the first application of Pearl’s (1995) front-door criterion to observational data wherein the required point-identification assumptions plausibly hold. For identification, the front-door criterion exploits exogenous mediator variables on the causal path. We estimate the effect of authorizing a shared Uber or Lyft ride on tipping by exploiting the plausibly exogenous variation in whether one actually shares a ride with a stranger conditional on authorizing sharing, on fare level, and on time and place fixed effects. We find that most of the observed negative effect on tipping is driven by selection. We then explore the consequences of violating the identification
assumptions.
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