Synthetic control method
The synthetic control method is a statistical method used to evaluate the effect of an intervention in comparative case studies. It involves the construction of a weighted combination of groups used as controls, to which the treatment group is compared. This comparison is used to estimate what would have happened the treatment group if it had not received the treatment. Unlike difference in differences approaches, this method can account for the effects of confounders changing over time, by weighting the control group to better match the treatment group before the intervention.[1] Another advantage of the synthetic control method is that it allows researchers to systematically select comparison groups.[2] It has been applied to the fields of health policy,[1] criminology,[3] politics,[2] and economics.[4]
References
- ^ a b Kreif, Noémi; Grieve, Richard; Hangartner, Dominik; Turner, Alex James; Nikolova, Silviya; Sutton, Matt (December 2016). "Examination of the Synthetic Control Method for Evaluating Health Policies with Multiple Treated Units". Health Economics. 25 (12): 1514–1528. doi:10.1002/hec.3258.
- ^ a b Abadie, Alberto; Diamond, Alexis; Hainmueller, Jens (February 2015). "Comparative Politics and the Synthetic Control Method". American Journal of Political Science. 59 (2): 495–510. doi:10.1111/ajps.12116.
- ^ Saunders, Jessica; Lundberg, Russell; Braga, Anthony A.; Ridgeway, Greg; Miles, Jeremy (3 June 2014). "A Synthetic Control Approach to Evaluating Place-Based Crime Interventions". Journal of Quantitative Criminology. 31 (3): 413–434. doi:10.1007/s10940-014-9226-5.
- ^ Billmeier, Andreas; Nannicini, Tommaso (July 2013). "Assessing Economic Liberalization Episodes: A Synthetic Control Approach". Review of Economics and Statistics. 95 (3): 983–1001. doi:10.1162/REST_a_00324.