Having combined data on Quebec scientists’ funding and journal publication, this paper tests the effect of having a research chair on the scientists’ performance. The novelty of this paper is to use matching technique to understand whether having a research chair is a real cause for better scientific performance. This method compares two different sets of regressions, which are conducted on dif...

In a randomized study, subjects are randomly assigned to either a treated group or a control group. Random assignment ensures that the distribution of the covariates is the same in both groups and that the treatment effect can be estimated by directly comparing the outcomes for the subjects in the two groups. In contrast, subjects in an observational study are not randomly assigned. In order to...

This paper examines whether receipt of an RSA grant has a causal impact on plant TFP. To tackle the problem of self-selection into the treatment group, propensity score matching is employed. In order to control for the endogeneity of other variables in the model, estimations are performed using the system GMM estimator. The results show that for low technology manufacturing, receipt of an RSA g...

We apply propensity score matching estimators with multiple outcomes to evaluate the impacts of exchange rate regimes (fixed, intermediate, and flexible without inflation targeting) and inflation targeting on inflation rates in emerging and developing countries. An inflation-targeting regime does better than or at least as good work as a fixed regime in lowering inflation rates when compared wi...

This study uses the Propensity Score Matching to examine the income impact of different credit sources on accessed households in the Northern Mountains of Vietnam. Results show that overall rural credit serves an important role in improving household income with respect to total income, per capita income and nonfarm income. However, different credit affects recipients heterogeneously. Whereas a...

Abstract The Food for Education (FFE) program was introduced to Bangladesh in 1993. This paper evaluates the effect of this program on school participation and duration of schooling using household survey data collected in 2000. Using propensity score matching combined with differencein-differences methodologies, we find that the program is successful in that eligible children on average have 1...

The propensity score is defined as the probability of each individual study subject being assigned to a group of interest for comparison purposes. Propensity score adjustment is a method of ensuring an even distribution of confounders between groups, thereby increasing between group comparability. Propensity score analysis is therefore an increasingly applied statistical method in observational...

In this paper, we investigate regional differences in the gender pay gap both theoretically and empirically. Within a spatial oligopsony model, we show that more densely populated labour markets are more competitive and constrain employers’ ability to discriminate against women. Utilising a large administrative data set for western Germany and a flexible semi-parametric propensity score matchin...

Having created a tentative matched design for an observational study, diagnostic checks are performed to see whether observed covariates exhibit reasonable balance, or alternatively whether further effort is required to improve the match. We illustrate the use of the cross-match test as an aid to appraising balance on high-dimensional covariates, and we discuss its close logical connections to ...