Treatment Effect Accounting for Network Changes

Networks may rewire in response to interventions. We propose a measure of the treatment effect when an intervention affects the structure of a social network. We develop a treatment-response model that incorporates dynamic peer effects and provide its identification conditions and the associated ins...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inThe review of economics and statistics Vol. 103; no. 3; pp. 597 - 604
Main Authors Comola, Margherita, Prina, Silvia
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press (MIT Press) 2021
Subjects
Economics and Finance
Humanities and Social Sciences
Peer effects
Treatment effect
Time-varying networks
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:Networks may rewire in response to interventions. We propose a measure of the treatment effect when an intervention affects the structure of a social network. We develop a treatment-response model that incorporates dynamic peer effects and provide its identification conditions and the associated instrumental-variable strategy. We illustrate our estimation procedure using a panel dataset containing information on a financial network before and after a field experiment that randomized access to savings accounts. Results show that neglecting the network change results in underestimation of the impact of the intervention and the role played by informal networks through which the intervention diffuses.
ISSN:0034-6535
1530-9142
DOI:10.1162/rest_a_00908