Randomized Evaluation of Institutions: Theory with Applications to Voting and Deliberation Experiments

Abstract

We study causal inference in randomized experiments where the treatment is a decision making process or an institution such as voting, deliberation or decentralized governance. We provide a statistical framework for the estimation of the intrinsic e¤ect of the institution. The proposed framework builds on a standard set-up for estimating causal e¤ects in randomized experiments with noncompliance (Hirano-Imbens-Rubin-Zhou [2000]). We use the model to reanalyze the e¤ect of deliberation on voting for programmatic platforms in Benin (Wantchekon [2008]), and provide practical suggestions for estimating intrinsic causal e¤ects of institutions.