Treatment evaluation in the case of interactions within markets

We extend the standard evaluation framework to allow for interactions between individuals within segmented markets. An individualâs outcome depends not only on the assigned treatment status but also on (features of) the distribution of the assigned treatments in his market. To evaluate how the distribution of treatments within a market causally affects the average effect within the market, averaged over the full population, we develop an identification and estimation method in two steps. The first one focuses on the distribution of the treatment within markets and between individuals and the second step addresses the distribution of the treatment between markets. We apply our method to data on training programs for unemployed workers in France. We use a rich administrative register of unemployment and training spells as well as the information on local labor demand that is used by unemployment agencies to allocate training programs. The results show that the average treatment effect on the employment rate causally decreases with respect to the proportion of treated in the market. Our analysis accounts for unobserved heterogeneity between markets (using the longitudinal dimension of the data) and, in a robustness check, between individuals.Treatment evaluation; equilibrium effects; matching estimators

Introduction - Bodies on Trial: Performances and Politics in Medicine and Biology

This special issue, devoted to the question of the body in medicine and biology, brings together a group of authors whose roots lie within the field of science and technology studies (STS), and at the intersections of STS with medical sociology and medical anthropology. As testified by the vitality of Body & Society, ‘the body' is in the center of revived attention in the social sciences and humanities. Medical sociology and anthropology has produced important contributions to the renewal of the body's conceptualisation , and feminist studies have put the construction of ‘sex' and its relationships to gender center stage. Some authors even argue that social theory should be re-centered around the notion of ‘embodiment' or a similar concept. What kind of insights can STS studies bring into this set of interrogations? Briefly said, STS approaches may help escape the pull between two powerful theoretical/philosophical positions that have, for some time, been at work in conceptualizing the body: phenomenological approaches on one side, and constructivist approaches on the other

Analyzing the Anticipation of Treatments Using Data on Notification Dates

When treatments may occur at different points in time, most evaluation methods assume – implicitly or explicitly – that all the information used by subjects about the occurrence of a future treatment is available to the researcher. This is often called the “no anticipation” assumption. In reality, subjects may receive private signals about the date when a treatment may start. We provide a methodological and empirical analysis of this issue in a setting where the outcome of interest as well as the moment of information arrival (notification) and the start of the treatment can all be characterized by duration variables. Building on the "Timing of Events" approach, we show that the causal effects of notification and of the treatment on the outcome are identified. We estimate the model on an administrative data set of unemployed workers in France which provides the date when job seekers receive information from caseworkers about their future treatment status. We find that notification has a significant and positive effect on unemployment duration. This result violates the standard "no anticipation" assumption and rules out a "threat effect" of training programs in France.evaluation of labor market programs, training, duration model, timing of events, anticipation

Active Labor Market Policy Effects in a Dynamic Setting

This paper implements a method to identify and estimate treatment effects in a dynamic setting where treatments may occur at any point in time. By relating the standard matching approach to the timing-of-events approach, it demonstrates that effects of the treatment on the treated at a given date can be identified even though non-treated may be treated later in time. The approach builds on a "no anticipation" assumption and the assumption of conditional independence between the duration until treatment and the counterfactual durations until exit. To illustrate the approach, the paper studies the effect of training for unemployed workers in France, using a rich register data set. Training has little impact on unemployment duration. The contamination of the standard matching estimator due to later entries into treatment is large if the treatment probability is high.treatment, program participation, unemployment duration, matching, training, propensity score, contamination bias

Active labor market policy effects in a dynamic setting

This paper implements a method to identify and estimate treatment effects in a dynamic setting where treatments may occur at any point in time. By relating the standard matching approach to the timing-of-events approach, it demonstrates that effects of the treatment on the treated at a given date can be identified even though non-treated may be treated later in time. The approach builds on a "no anticipation" assumption and the assumption of conditional independence between the duration until treatment and the counterfactual durations until exit. To illustrate the approach, the paper studies the effect of training for unemployed workers in France, using a rich register data set. Training has little impact on unemployment duration. The contamination of the standard matching estimator due to later entries into treatment is large if the treatment probability is high.Treatment; program participation; unemployment duration; training; propensity score; matching; contamination bias

DAREnet, DRIVER & nextgen repositories

DRFIC2008 Session 3. Various initiatives driving institutional repositories forwardDRFIC2008 セッション3:機関リポジトリを推進する多様なイニシャチブ 報告

AN ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF GENETIC INFORMATION: LEPTIN GENOTYPING IN FED CATTLE

The use of genetic knowledge is widespread in crop production but is just recently being utilized in livestock production. This study investigates the economic value to feedlots of a polymorphism in the bovine leptin gene. Previous studies indicate that this polymorphism is associated with fat deposition. Since fed cattle are often priced on a grid that considers both yield and quality grades, fat deposition is an important factor in the value and profitability of fed cattle. Using data from 590 crossbred steers and heifers, we estimate growth curves for relevant biological traits, both with and without genotypic information. Using the resulting functions, we then simulate carcass traits to various days-on-feed and compute the associated profit under three price grids. Maximum profits are determined in an unconstrained profit maximization model and in a model that constrains cattle to be marketed in 45-head "potloads." Results indicate that leptin genotypic knowledge has little impact on optimal days-on-feed but may play a role in valuing feeder cattle. The differences in value of cattle varied by as much as $37 per head between genotypes.genetics, leptin genotype, beef cattle, value of information, Livestock Production/Industries,

Supporting deconstruction practices with information systems using ethnographic-action research

Socio-environmental pressures motivate the construction industry to adopt working practices that enable the reuse of building elements. Deconstruction, as an alternative to demolition, is a major lever for more efficient resource management and enables closed-loop material cycles. Information systems have potential benefits for deconstruction practices, but their implementations are limited by a lack of understanding on how demolition workers create, exchange and communicate information and what artefacts they thereby use. This research has therefore two goals: understanding on-site information requirements in deconstruction projects and exploring how information systems can be iteratively developed and implemented into these project contexts. Through applying an ethnographic-action research methodology on a real-world deconstruction project, two information systems are iteratively developed and implemented: (I) a virtual environment to support tagging façade elements, and (II) a 4D model to support deconstruction planning. Insights are provided – firstly – into deconstruction routines and the tacit knowledge that demolition workers possess and use to deal with these routines, and – secondly – into how the two information systems supported the practitioners in their ongoing project works. These ethnographic-action perspectives provide new ways for researchers and practitioners to support deconstruction practices with information systems