persuasio4ytz.sthlp

{smcl}


{title:Title}

{phang}{cmd:persuasio4ytz} {hline 2} Conduct causal inference on persuasive effects 
for binary outcomes {it:y}, binary treatments {it:t} and binary instruments {it:z}


{title:Syntax}

{p 8 8 2} {cmd:persuasio4ytz} {it:depvar} {it:treatvar} {it:instrvar} [{it:covariates}] [{it:if}] [{it:in}] [, {cmd:level}(#) {cmd:model}({it:string}) {cmd:method}({it:string}) {cmd:nboot}(#) {cmd:title}({it:string})]

{p 4 4 2}{bf:Options}

{col 5}{it:option}{col 24}{it:Description}
{space 4}{hline 44}
{col 5}{cmd:level}(#){col 24}Set confidence level; default is {cmd:level}(95)
{col 5}{cmd:model}({it:string}){col 24}Regression model when {it:covariates} are present
{col 5}{cmd:method}({it:string}){col 24}Inference method; default is {cmd:method}("normal")
{col 5}{cmd:nboot}(#){col 24}Perform # bootstrap replications
{col 5}{cmd:title}({it:string}){col 24}Title
{space 4}{hline 44}

{title:Description}

{cmd:persuasio4ytz} conducts causal inference on persuasive effects.

{p 4 4 2}
It is assumed that binary outcomes {it:y}, binary treatments {it:t}, and binary instruments {it:z} are observed. 
This command is for the case when persuasive treatment ({it:t}) is observed, 
using estimates of the lower and upper bounds on the average persuasion rate (APR) via 
this package{c 39}s commands {cmd:aprlb} and {cmd:aprub}.

{p 4 4 2}
{it:varlist} should include {it:depvar} {it:treatvar} {it:instrvar} {it:covariates} in order. 
Here, {it:depvar} is binary outcomes ({it:y}), {it:treatvar} is binary treatments,
{it:instrvar} is binary instruments ({it:z}), and {it:covariates} ({it:x}) are optional. 

{p 4 4 2}
There are two cases: (i) {it:covariates} are absent and (ii) {it:covariates} are present.

{break}    - Without {it:x}, the lower bound ({cmd:theta_L}) on the APR is defined by 

	{cmd:theta_L} = {Pr({it:y}=1|{it:z}=1) - Pr({it:y}=1|{it:z}=0)}/{1 - Pr({it:y}=1|{it:z}=0)},
	
{p 4 4 2}
	and the upper bound ({cmd:theta_U}) on the APR is defined by 

	{cmd:theta_U} = {E[{it:A}|{it:z}=1] - E[{it:B}|{it:z}=0]}/{1 - E[{it:B}|{it:z}=0]},

{p 4 4 2}
	where {it:A} = 1({it:y}=1,{it:t}=1)+1-1({it:t}=1) and 
		  {it:B} = 1({it:y}=1,{it:t}=0).	

{p 4 4 2}
	The lower bound is estimated by the following procedure:
	
{break}    1. Pr({it:y}=1|{it:z}=1) and Pr({it:y}=1|{it:z}=0) are estimated by regressing {it:y} on {it:z}.
{break}    2. {cmd:theta_L} is computed using the estimates obtained above.
{break}    3. The standard error is computed via STATA command {bf:nlcom}. 

{p 4 4 2}
	The upper bound is estimated by the following procedure:
	
{break}    1. E[{it:A}|{it:z}=1] is estimated by regressing {it:A} on {it:z}.
{break}    2. E[{it:B}|{it:z}=0] is estimated by regressing {it:B} on {it:z}.
{break}    3. {cmd:theta_U} is computed using the estimates obtained above.
{break}    4. The standard error is computed via STATA command {bf:nlcom}. 

{p 4 4 2}
	Then, a confidence interval for the APR is set by 

{p 8 8 2}		[ {it:est_lb} - {it:cv} * {it:se_lb} , {it:est_ub} + {it:cv} * {it:se_ub} ],
	
{p 4 4 2}
where {it:est_lb} and {it:est_ub} are the estimates of the lower and upper bounds, 
{it:se_lb} and {it:se_ub} are the corresponding standard errors, and 
{it:cv} is the critical value obtained via the method of Stoye (2009).
	
{break}    - With {it:x}, the lower bound ({cmd:theta_L}) on the APR is defined by 

	{cmd:theta_L} = E[{cmd:theta_L}(x)],
	
{p 4 4 2}
	where

	{cmd:theta_L}(x) = {Pr({it:y}=1|{it:z}=1,{it:x}) - Pr({it:y}=1|{it:z}=0,{it:x})}/{1 - Pr({it:y}=1|{it:z}=0,{it:x})},
	
{space 2}and the upper bound ({cmd:theta_U}) on the APR is defined by 

	{cmd:theta_U} = E[{cmd:theta_U}({it:x})],
	
{p 4 4 2}
	where

	{cmd:theta_U}({it:x}) = {E[{it:A}|{it:z}=1,{it:x}] - E[{it:B}|{it:z}=0,{it:x}]}/{1 - E[{it:B}|{it:z}=0,{it:x}]}.
			
{p 4 4 2}
The lower bound is estimated by the following procedure:
	
{p 4 4 2}
If {cmd:model}("no_interaction") is selected (default choice),
	
{break}    1. Pr({it:y}=1|{it:z},{it:x}) is estimated by regressing {it:y} on {it:z} and {it:x}.
	
{p 4 4 2}
Alternatively, if {cmd:model}("interaction") is selected,
	
{break}    1a. Pr({it:y}=1|{it:z}=1,{it:x}) is estimated by regressing {it:y} on {it:x} given {it:z} = 1.
{break}    1b. Pr({it:y}=1|{it:z}=0,{it:x}) is estimated by regressing {it:y} on {it:x} given {it:z} = 0.
	
{p 4 4 2}
After step 1, both options are followed by:
	
{break}    2. For each x in the estimation sample, {cmd:theta_L}(x) is evaluated.
{break}    3. The estimates of {cmd:theta_L}(x) are averaged to estimate {cmd:theta_L}.

{p 4 4 2}
The upper bound is estimated by the following procedure:
	
{p 4 4 2}
If {cmd:model}("no_interaction") is selected (default choice),
	
{break}    1. E[{it:A}|{it:z}=1,{it:x}] is estimated by regressing {it:A} on {it:z} and {it:x}.
{break}    2. E[{it:B}|{it:z}=0,{it:x}] is estimated by regressing {it:B} on {it:z} and {it:x}.
	
{p 4 4 2}
Alternatively, if {cmd:model}("interaction") is selected,
	
{break}    1. E[{it:A}|{it:z}=1,{it:x}] is estimated by regressing {it:A} on {it:x} given {it:z} = 1.
{break}    2. E[{it:B}|{it:z}=0,{it:x}] is estimated by regressing {it:B} on {it:x} given {it:z} = 0.
	
{p 4 4 2}
After step 1, both options are followed by:
	
{break}    3. For each {it:x} in the estimation sample, {cmd:theta_U}({it:x}) is evaluated.
{break}    4. The estimates of {cmd:theta_U}({it:x}) are averaged to estimate {cmd:theta_U}.

{p 4 4 2}
Then, a bootstrap confidence interval for the APR is set by 

{p 8 8 2}		[ bs_est_lb({it:alpha}) , bs_est_ub(1 - {it:alpha}) ],
		
{p 4 4 2}
where bs_est_lb({it:alpha}) is the {it:alpha} quantile of the bootstrap estimates of {cmd:theta_L},
	  bs_est_ub({it:alpha}) is the 1 - {it:alpha} quantile of the bootstrap estimates of {cmd:theta_U},
and 1 - {it:alpha} is the confidence level. 

{p 4 4 2}
The resulting coverage probability is 1 - {it:alpha} if the identified interval never reduces to a singleton set.
More generally, it will be 1 - 2*{it:alpha} by Bonferroni correction.     {break}
	
{p 4 4 2}
The bootstrap procedure is implemented via STATA command {cmd:bootstrap}. 
		

{title:Options}

{cmd:model}({it:string}) specifies a regression model of {it:y} on {it:z} and {it:x}. 

{p 4 4 2}
This option is only relevant when {it:x} is present.
The default option is "no_interaction" between {it:z} and {it:x}. 
When "interaction" is selected, full interactions between {it:z} and {it:x} are allowed.

{cmd:level}(#) sets confidence level; default is {cmd:level}(95). 

{cmd:method}({it:string}) refers the method for inference.

{p 4 4 2}
The default option is {cmd:method}("normal").
By the nature of identification, one-sided confidence intervals are produced. 

{p 4 8 2}1. When {it:x} is present, it needs to be set as {cmd:method}("bootstrap"); 
otherwise, the confidence interval will be missing.
	
{p 4 8 2}2. When {it:x} is absent, both options yield non-missing confidence intervals.
	
{cmd:nboot}(#) chooses the number of bootstrap replications.

{p 4 4 2}
The default option is {cmd:nboot}(50).
It is only relevant when {cmd:method}("bootstrap") is selected.

{cmd:title}({it:string}) specifies a title.


{title:Remarks}

{p 4 4 2}
It is recommended to use {cmd:nboot}(#) with # at least 1000. 
A default choice of 50 is meant to check the code initially 
because it may take a long time to run the bootstrap part.
The bootstrap confidence interval is based on percentile bootstrap.
Normality-based bootstrap confidence interval is not recommended 
because bootstrap standard errors can be unreasonably large in applications. 


{title:Examples}

{p 4 4 2}
We first call the dataset included in the package.

{p 4 4 2}
		. use GKB, clear

{p 4 4 2}
The first example conducts inference on the APR without covariates, using normal approximation.
		
{p 4 4 2}
		. persuasio4ytz voteddem_all readsome post, level(80) method("normal")
		
{p 4 4 2}
The second example conducts bootstrap inference on the APR.
		
{p 4 4 2}
		. persuasio4ytz voteddem_all readsome post, level(80) method("bootstrap") nboot(1000)	
		
{p 4 4 2}
The third example conducts bootstrap inference on the APR with a covariate, MZwave2, interacting with the instrument, post. 
		
{p 4 4 2}
		. persuasio4ytz voteddem_all readsome post MZwave2, level(80) model("interaction") method("bootstrap") nboot(1000)			
		

{title:Stored results}

{p 4 4 2}{bf:Matrices}

{p 8 8 2} {bf:e(apr_est)}: (1*2 matrix) bounds on the average persuasion rate in the form of [lb, ub]

{p 8 8 2} {bf:e(apr_ci)}: (1*2 matrix) confidence interval for the average persuasion rate in the form of [lb_ci, ub_ci] 


{p 4 4 2}{bf:Macros}

{p 8 8 2} {bf:e(cilevel)}: confidence level

{p 8 8 2} {bf:e(inference_method)}: inference method: "normal" or "bootstrap" 


{title:Authors}

{p 4 4 2}
Sung Jae Jun, Penn State University, <sjun@psu.edu> 

{p 4 4 2}
Sokbae Lee, Columbia University, <sl3841@columbia.edu>


{title:License}

{p 4 4 2}
GPL-3


{title:References}

{p 4 4 2}
Sung Jae Jun and Sokbae Lee (2019), 
Identifying the Effect of Persuasion, 
{browse "https://arxiv.org/abs/1812.02276":arXiv:1812.02276 [econ.EM]} 


{title:Version}

{p 4 4 2}
0.1.0 30 January 2021