Matias D Cattaneo
Biographic Data
| ID | 1455409 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Matias D Cattaneo |
| GIVEN NAMES | Matias D |
| FAMILY NAME | Cattaneo |
| SIGNATURE | CATTANEO M D |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Michigan |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-0493-7506 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 19 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 49 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 19 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2010 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Uncertainty Quantification in Synthetic Controls with Staggered Treatment Adoption
We propose principled prediction intervals to quantify the uncertainty of a large class of synthetic control predictions (or estimators) in settings with staggered treatment adoption, offering precise non-asymptotic coverage probability guarantees. From a methodological perspective, we provide a detailed discussion of different causal quantities to be predicted, which we call causal predictands, allowing for multiple treated units with treatment …
Context-Dependent Heterogeneous Preferences: A Comment on Barseghyan and Molinari (2023)
Barseghyan and Molinari give sufficient conditions for semi-nonparametric point identification of parameters of interest in a mixture model of decision-making under risk, allowing for unobserved heterogeneity in utility functions and limited consideration. A key assumption in the model is that the heterogeneity of risk preferences is unobservable but context-independent. In this comment, we build on their insights and present identification resul…
Regression Discontinuity Designs
The regression discontinuity (RD) design is one of the most widely used nonexperimental methods for causal inference and program evaluation. Over the last two decades, statistical and econometric methods for RD analysis have expanded and matured, and there is now a large number of methodological results for RD identification, estimation, inference, and validation. We offer a curated review of this methodological literature organized around the tw…
Optimal bandwidth choice for robust bias-corrected inference in regression discontinuity designs
Modern empirical work in regression discontinuity (RD) designs often employs local polynomial estimation and inference with a mean square error (MSE) optimal bandwidth choice. This bandwidth yields an MSE-optimal RD treatment effect estimator, but is by construction invalid for inference. Robust bias-corrected (RBC) inference methods are valid when using the MSE-optimal bandwidth, but we show that they yield suboptimal confidence intervals in ter…
Characteristic-Sorted Portfolios: Estimation and Inference
Portfolio sorting is ubiquitous in the empirical finance literature, where it has been widely used to identify pricing anomalies. Despite its popularity, little attention has been paid to the statistical properties of the procedure. We develop a general framework for portfolio sorting by casting it as a nonparametric estimator. We present valid asymptotic inference methods and a valid mean square error expansion of the estimator leading to an opt…
A Practical Introduction to Regression Discontinuity Designs: Foundations
In this Element and its accompanying second Element, A Practical Introduction to Regression Discontinuity Designs: Extensions, Matias Cattaneo, Nicolás Idrobo, and Rocıìo Titiunik provide an accessible and practical guide for the analysis and interpretation of regression discontinuity (RD) designs that encourages the use of a common set of practices and facilitates the accumulation of RD-based empirical evidence. In this Element, the authors disc…
Regression Discontinuity Designs Using Covariates
We study regression discontinuity designs when covariates are included in the estimation. We examine local polynomial estimators that include discrete or continuous covariates in an additive separable way, but without imposing any parametric restrictions on the underlying population regression functions. We recommend a covariate-adjustment approach that retains consistency under intuitive conditions and characterize the potential for estimation a…
A Random Attention Model
This paper illustrates how one can deduce preference from observed choices when attention is not only limited but also random. In contrast to earlier approaches, we introduce a Random Attention Model (RAM) where we abstain from any particular attention formation, and instead consider a large class of nonparametric random attention rules. Our model imposes one intuitive condition, termed Monotonic Attention, which captures the idea that each consi…
Econometric Methods for Program Evaluation
Program evaluation methods are widely applied in economics to assess the effects of policy interventions and other treatments of interest. In this article, we describe the main methodological frameworks of the econometrics of program evaluation. In the process, we delineate some of the directions along which this literature is expanding, discuss recent developments, and highlight specific areas where new research may be particularly fruitful.
Manipulation Testing Based on Density Discontinuity
In this article, we introduce two community-contributed commands, rddensity and rdbwdensity, that implement automatic manipulation tests based on density discontinuity and are constructed using the results for local-polynomial density estimators in Cattaneo, Jansson, and Ma (2017b, Simple local polynomial density estimators, Working paper, University of Michigan). These new tests exhibit better size properties (and more power under additional ass…
On the Effect of Bias Estimation on Coverage Accuracy in Nonparametric Inference
Nonparametric methods play a central role in modern empirical work. While they provide inference procedures that are more robust to parametric misspecification bias, they may be quite sensitive to tuning parameter choices. We study the effects of bias correction on confidence interval coverage in the context of kernel density and local polynomial regression estimation, and prove that bias correction can be preferred to undersmoothing for minimizi…
Rdrobust: Software for Regression-discontinuity Designs
We describe a major upgrade to the Stata (and R) rdrobust package, which provides a wide array of estimation, inference, and falsification methods for the analysis and interpretation of regression-discontinuity designs. The main new features of this upgraded version are as follows: i) covariate-adjusted bandwidth selection, point estimation, and robust bias-corrected inference, ii) cluster–robust bandwidth selection, point estimation, and robust …
Comparing Inference Approaches for RD Designs: A Reexamination of the Effect of Head Start on Child Mortality
The regression discontinuity (RD) design is a popular quasi-experimental design for causal inference and policy evaluation. The most common inference approaches in RD designs employ “flexible” parametric and nonparametric local polynomial methods, which rely on extrapolation and large-sample approximations of conditional expectations using observations somewhat near the cutoff that determines treatment assignment. An alternative inference approac…
Interpreting Regression Discontinuity Designs with Multiple Cutoffs
We consider a regression discontinuity (RD) design where the treatment is received if a score is above a cutoff, but the cutoff may vary for each unit in the sample instead of being equal for all units. This multi-cutoff regression discontinuity design is very common in empirical work, and researchers often normalize the score variable and use the zero cutoff on the normalized score for all observations to estimate a pooled RD treatment effect. W…
Optimal Data-Driven Regression Discontinuity Plots
Exploratory data analysis plays a central role in applied statistics and econometrics. In the popular regression-discontinuity (RD) design, the use of graphical analysis has been strongly advocated because it provides both easy presentation and transparent validation of the design. RD plots are nowadays widely used in applications, despite its formal properties being unknown: these plots are typically presented employing ad hoc choices of tuning …
Randomization Inference in the Regression Discontinuity Design: An Application to Party Advantages in the U.S. Senate
In the Regression Discontinuity (RD) design, units are assigned a treatment based on whether their value of an observed covariate is above or below a fixed cutoff. Under the assumption that the distribution of potential confounders changes continuously around the cutoff, the discontinuous jump in the probability of treatment assignment can be used to identify the treatment effect. Although a recent strand of the RD literature advocates interpreti…
Robust Data-Driven Inference in the Regression-Discontinuity Design
In this article, we introduce three commands to conduct robust data-driven statistical inference in regression-discontinuity (RD) designs. First, we present rdrobust, a command that implements the robust bias-corrected confidence intervals proposed in Calonico, Cattaneo, and Titiunik (2014d, Econometrica 82: 2295–2326) for average treatment effects at the cutoff in sharp RD, sharp kink RD, fuzzy RD, and fuzzy kink RD designs. This command also im…
Robust Nonparametric Confidence Intervals for Regression-Discontinuity Designs: Robust Nonparametric Confidence Intervals
In the regression-discontinuity (RD) design, units are assigned to treatment based on whether their value of an observed covariate exceeds a known cutoff. In this design, local polynomial estimators are now routinely employed to construct confidence intervals for treatment effects. The performance of these confidence intervals in applications, however, may be seriously hampered by their sensitivity to the specific bandwidth employed. Available ba…
Efficient semiparametric estimation of multi-valued treatment effects under ignorability
Interpreting Regression Discontinuity Designs with Multiple Cutoffs
We consider a regression discontinuity (RD) design where the treatment is received if a score is above a cutoff, but the cutoff may vary for each unit in the sample instead of being equal for all units. This multi-cutoff regression discontinuity design is very common in empirical work, and researchers often normalize the score variable and use the zero cutoff on the normalized score for all observations to estimate a pooled RD treatment effect. W…
Comparing Inference Approaches for RD Designs: A Reexamination of the Effect of Head Start on Child Mortality
The regression discontinuity (RD) design is a popular quasi-experimental design for causal inference and policy evaluation. The most common inference approaches in RD designs employ “flexible” parametric and nonparametric local polynomial methods, which rely on extrapolation and large-sample approximations of conditional expectations using observations somewhat near the cutoff that determines treatment assignment. An alternative inference approac…
A Random Attention Model
This paper illustrates how one can deduce preference from observed choices when attention is not only limited but also random. In contrast to earlier approaches, we introduce a Random Attention Model (RAM) where we abstain from any particular attention formation, and instead consider a large class of nonparametric random attention rules. Our model imposes one intuitive condition, termed Monotonic Attention, which captures the idea that each consi…
Efficient semiparametric estimation of multi-valued treatment effects under ignorability
Robust Data-Driven Inference in the Regression-Discontinuity Design
In this article, we introduce three commands to conduct robust data-driven statistical inference in regression-discontinuity (RD) designs. First, we present rdrobust, a command that implements the robust bias-corrected confidence intervals proposed in Calonico, Cattaneo, and Titiunik (2014d, Econometrica 82: 2295–2326) for average treatment effects at the cutoff in sharp RD, sharp kink RD, fuzzy RD, and fuzzy kink RD designs. This command also im…
Robust Nonparametric Confidence Intervals for Regression-Discontinuity Designs: Robust Nonparametric Confidence Intervals
In the regression-discontinuity (RD) design, units are assigned to treatment based on whether their value of an observed covariate exceeds a known cutoff. In this design, local polynomial estimators are now routinely employed to construct confidence intervals for treatment effects. The performance of these confidence intervals in applications, however, may be seriously hampered by their sensitivity to the specific bandwidth employed. Available ba…
Optimal Data-Driven Regression Discontinuity Plots
Exploratory data analysis plays a central role in applied statistics and econometrics. In the popular regression-discontinuity (RD) design, the use of graphical analysis has been strongly advocated because it provides both easy presentation and transparent validation of the design. RD plots are nowadays widely used in applications, despite its formal properties being unknown: these plots are typically presented employing ad hoc choices of tuning …
Randomization Inference in the Regression Discontinuity Design: An Application to Party Advantages in the U.S. Senate
In the Regression Discontinuity (RD) design, units are assigned a treatment based on whether their value of an observed covariate is above or below a fixed cutoff. Under the assumption that the distribution of potential confounders changes continuously around the cutoff, the discontinuous jump in the probability of treatment assignment can be used to identify the treatment effect. Although a recent strand of the RD literature advocates interpreti…
Interpreting Regression Discontinuity Designs with Multiple Cutoffs
We consider a regression discontinuity (RD) design where the treatment is received if a score is above a cutoff, but the cutoff may vary for each unit in the sample instead of being equal for all units. This multi-cutoff regression discontinuity design is very common in empirical work, and researchers often normalize the score variable and use the zero cutoff on the normalized score for all observations to estimate a pooled RD treatment effect. W…
Rdrobust: Software for Regression-discontinuity Designs
We describe a major upgrade to the Stata (and R) rdrobust package, which provides a wide array of estimation, inference, and falsification methods for the analysis and interpretation of regression-discontinuity designs. The main new features of this upgraded version are as follows: i) covariate-adjusted bandwidth selection, point estimation, and robust bias-corrected inference, ii) cluster–robust bandwidth selection, point estimation, and robust …
Comparing Inference Approaches for RD Designs: A Reexamination of the Effect of Head Start on Child Mortality
The regression discontinuity (RD) design is a popular quasi-experimental design for causal inference and policy evaluation. The most common inference approaches in RD designs employ “flexible” parametric and nonparametric local polynomial methods, which rely on extrapolation and large-sample approximations of conditional expectations using observations somewhat near the cutoff that determines treatment assignment. An alternative inference approac…
Econometric Methods for Program Evaluation
Program evaluation methods are widely applied in economics to assess the effects of policy interventions and other treatments of interest. In this article, we describe the main methodological frameworks of the econometrics of program evaluation. In the process, we delineate some of the directions along which this literature is expanding, discuss recent developments, and highlight specific areas where new research may be particularly fruitful.
Manipulation Testing Based on Density Discontinuity
In this article, we introduce two community-contributed commands, rddensity and rdbwdensity, that implement automatic manipulation tests based on density discontinuity and are constructed using the results for local-polynomial density estimators in Cattaneo, Jansson, and Ma (2017b, Simple local polynomial density estimators, Working paper, University of Michigan). These new tests exhibit better size properties (and more power under additional ass…
On the Effect of Bias Estimation on Coverage Accuracy in Nonparametric Inference
Nonparametric methods play a central role in modern empirical work. While they provide inference procedures that are more robust to parametric misspecification bias, they may be quite sensitive to tuning parameter choices. We study the effects of bias correction on confidence interval coverage in the context of kernel density and local polynomial regression estimation, and prove that bias correction can be preferred to undersmoothing for minimizi…
A Practical Introduction to Regression Discontinuity Designs: Foundations
In this Element and its accompanying second Element, A Practical Introduction to Regression Discontinuity Designs: Extensions, Matias Cattaneo, Nicolás Idrobo, and Rocıìo Titiunik provide an accessible and practical guide for the analysis and interpretation of regression discontinuity (RD) designs that encourages the use of a common set of practices and facilitates the accumulation of RD-based empirical evidence. In this Element, the authors disc…
Regression Discontinuity Designs Using Covariates
We study regression discontinuity designs when covariates are included in the estimation. We examine local polynomial estimators that include discrete or continuous covariates in an additive separable way, but without imposing any parametric restrictions on the underlying population regression functions. We recommend a covariate-adjustment approach that retains consistency under intuitive conditions and characterize the potential for estimation a…
A Random Attention Model
This paper illustrates how one can deduce preference from observed choices when attention is not only limited but also random. In contrast to earlier approaches, we introduce a Random Attention Model (RAM) where we abstain from any particular attention formation, and instead consider a large class of nonparametric random attention rules. Our model imposes one intuitive condition, termed Monotonic Attention, which captures the idea that each consi…
Optimal bandwidth choice for robust bias-corrected inference in regression discontinuity designs
Modern empirical work in regression discontinuity (RD) designs often employs local polynomial estimation and inference with a mean square error (MSE) optimal bandwidth choice. This bandwidth yields an MSE-optimal RD treatment effect estimator, but is by construction invalid for inference. Robust bias-corrected (RBC) inference methods are valid when using the MSE-optimal bandwidth, but we show that they yield suboptimal confidence intervals in ter…
Characteristic-Sorted Portfolios: Estimation and Inference
Portfolio sorting is ubiquitous in the empirical finance literature, where it has been widely used to identify pricing anomalies. Despite its popularity, little attention has been paid to the statistical properties of the procedure. We develop a general framework for portfolio sorting by casting it as a nonparametric estimator. We present valid asymptotic inference methods and a valid mean square error expansion of the estimator leading to an opt…
Regression Discontinuity Designs
The regression discontinuity (RD) design is one of the most widely used nonexperimental methods for causal inference and program evaluation. Over the last two decades, statistical and econometric methods for RD analysis have expanded and matured, and there is now a large number of methodological results for RD identification, estimation, inference, and validation. We offer a curated review of this methodological literature organized around the tw…
Context-Dependent Heterogeneous Preferences: A Comment on Barseghyan and Molinari (2023)
Barseghyan and Molinari give sufficient conditions for semi-nonparametric point identification of parameters of interest in a mixture model of decision-making under risk, allowing for unobserved heterogeneity in utility functions and limited consideration. A key assumption in the model is that the heterogeneity of risk preferences is unobservable but context-independent. In this comment, we build on their insights and present identification resul…
Uncertainty Quantification in Synthetic Controls with Staggered Treatment Adoption
We propose principled prediction intervals to quantify the uncertainty of a large class of synthetic control predictions (or estimators) in settings with staggered treatment adoption, offering precise non-asymptotic coverage probability guarantees. From a methodological perspective, we provide a detailed discussion of different causal quantities to be predicted, which we call causal predictands, allowing for multiple treated units with treatment …
Mathematics (17 works) · Statistics (17 works) · Computer Science (16 works) · Econometrics (14 works) · Statistical Methods and Inference (13 works) · Advanced Causal Inference Techniques (12 works) · Artificial Intelligence (11 works) · Regression discontinuity design (11 works) · Inference (10 works) · Statistical Methods and Bayesian Inference (9 works)