Dynamic caliper matching

Abstract

Matched sampling is a methodology used to estimate treatment effects. A caliper mechanism is used to achieve better similarity among matched pairs. We investigate finite sample properties of matching with calipers and propose a slight modification to the existing mechanism. The simulation study compares the performance of both methods and shows that a standard caliper performs well only in case of constant treatment or uniform propensity score distribution. Secondly, in a case of non-uniform distribution or non-uniform treatment the dynamic caliper method outperforms standard caliper matching.propensity score matching, caliper, efficiency, Monte Carlo study, finite sample properties