论文标题
实验数据中的溢出效应
Spillover Effects in Experimental Data
论文作者
论文摘要
我们提出了当前在“干扰”下估算治疗效果和溢出效应的方法,该术语涵盖了一系列情况,其中单位的结果不仅取决于该单位接受的治疗方法,还取决于其他单位接受的处理。在单位相互反应,相互作用或以其他方式传递治疗的效果的范围内,有效的推断需要我们解释这种干扰,这与传统假设背道而驰,即单位的结果仅受其自身治疗分配的影响。干扰和相关的溢出可能是令人讨厌的,或者它们可能对研究人员具有实质性的兴趣。在本章中,我们专注于对随机实验的上下文的干扰。我们回顾了在通用网络设置中进行干扰时的方法。然后,我们考虑在层次结构内包含干扰的特殊情况。最后,我们讨论干扰与传染之间的关系。我们使用干扰R软件包和模拟数据来说明关键点。我们考虑有效的设计,可以估算治疗和溢出效应,并讨论试图捕获这种影响的最新经验研究。
We present current methods for estimating treatment effects and spillover effects under "interference", a term which covers a broad class of situations in which a unit's outcome depends not only on treatments received by that unit, but also on treatments received by other units. To the extent that units react to each other, interact, or otherwise transmit effects of treatments, valid inference requires that we account for such interference, which is a departure from the traditional assumption that units' outcomes are affected only by their own treatment assignment. Interference and associated spillovers may be a nuisance or they may be of substantive interest to the researcher. In this chapter, we focus on interference in the context of randomized experiments. We review methods for when interference happens in a general network setting. We then consider the special case where interference is contained within a hierarchical structure. Finally, we discuss the relationship between interference and contagion. We use the interference R package and simulated data to illustrate key points. We consider efficient designs that allow for estimation of the treatment and spillover effects and discuss recent empirical studies that try to capture such effects.