Valid t-Ratio Inference for IV
- (pp. 3260-90)
Abstract
In the single-IV model, researchers commonly rely on t-ratio-based inference, even though the literature has quantified its potentially severe large-sample distortions. Building on Stock and Yogo (2005), we introduce the tF critical value function, leading to a standard error adjustment that is a smooth function of the first-stage F-statistic. For one-quarter of specifications in 61 AER papers, corrected standard errors are at least 49 and 136 percent larger than conventional 2SLS standard errors at the 5 percent and 1 percent significance levels, respectively. tF confidence intervals have shorter expected length than those of Anderson and Rubin (1949), whenever both are bounded.Citation
Lee, David S., Justin McCrary, Marcelo J. Moreira, and Jack Porter. 2022. "Valid t-Ratio Inference for IV." American Economic Review, 112 (10): 3260-90. DOI: 10.1257/aer.20211063Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- C13 Estimation: General
- C26 Single Equation Models: Single Variables: Instrumental Variables (IV) Estimation