American Economic Review
ISSN 0002-8282 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7981 (Online)
Design-Based Research in Empirical Microeconomics
American Economic Review
vol. 112,
no. 6, June 2022
(pp. 1773–81)
Abstract
I briefly review the emergence of "design-based" research methods in labor economics in the 1980s and early 1990s. These methods were seen as a partial solution to the problems of credible inference identified by Ashenfelter (1974), Leamer (1978), Hendry (1980), and others. Designed-based studies typically use a simplified one-equation model of the outcome of interest—in contrast to model-based studies that specify a data generating process for all factors determining the outcome. I discuss some of the strengths and weaknesses of the design-based approach and the value of such research in the field.Citation
Card, David. 2022. "Design-Based Research in Empirical Microeconomics." American Economic Review 112 (6): 1773–81. DOI: 10.1257/aer.112.6.1773JEL Classification
- C20 Single Equation Models; Single Variables: General
- J01 Labor Economics: General
- J24 Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
- J31 Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
- J38 Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs: Public Policy
- J51 Trade Unions: Objectives, Structure, and Effects
- J53 Labor-Management Relations; Industrial Jurisprudence