Quasi-experimental Evidence Research Articles

The role of schools in transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus: quasi-experimental evidence from Germany

Abstract This paper considers the role of school closures in the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. To isolate the impact of the closures from other containment measures and identify a causal effect, we exploit variation in the start and end dates of the summer and fall school holidays across the 16 federal states in Germany using a difference-in-differences design with staggered adoption. We show that neither the summer closures nor the closures in the fall had a significant containing effect on the spread of SARS-CoV-2 among children or a spill-over effect on older generations. There is also no evidence that the return to school at full capacity after the summer holidays increased infections among children or adults. Instead, we find that the number of children infected increased during the last weeks of the summer holiday and decreased in the first weeks after schools reopened, a pattern we attribute to travel returnees.

Reinforcement sensitivity predicts affective psychopathology via emotion regulation: Cross-sectional, longitudinal and quasi-experimental evidence

The current article presents a model wherein reinforcement sensitivity predicts depression and anxiety via trait preferences for concomitant emotion regulation strategies. In Study 1 (N = 593), BAS sensitivity positively predicted reappraisal and BIS sensitivity negatively predicted it. Reappraisal then negatively predicted depression. BIS sensitivity also predicted rumination, which predicted both depression and anxiety. Study 2a confirmed the model developed in Study 1 with an independent sample (N = 513) and examined the relationships longitudinally. While the cross-sectional relationships were generally maintained, reinforcement sensitivity did not predict reappraisal. In Study 2b, participants (N = 218) were assessed a third time one year later, at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. During this stressful time, BAS sensitivity did longitudinally predict reappraisal. These studies highlight the role of emotion regulation in mediating the relationship between reinforcement sensitivity and affective pathology, particularly during times of high stress.

The impact of democratic elections on taxation: Quasi-experimental evidence from subnational Indonesia

I examine the impact of direct mayoral elections on taxation in Indonesia. I find that districts led by directly elected mayors tax less than districts with council appointed executives. Uniquely in the literature, I also determine that districts with directly elected mayors and, by implication, districts with council appointed heads both tax more than their counterparts with central government appointed executives.

Can Local Content Requirements in Solar Auctions Promote Domestic Innovation and Production? Quasi-experimental Evidence From India

Can Local Content Requirements in Solar Auctions Promote Domestic Innovation and Production? Quasi-experimental Evidence From India

Intimate Partner Violence and Income: Quasi-Experimental Evidence from the Earned Income Tax Credit

Intimate Partner Violence and Income: Quasi-Experimental Evidence from the Earned Income Tax Credit

Do Behavioral Nudges Interact with Prevailing Economic Incentives? Pairing Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Evidence from Water Consumption

Do Behavioral Nudges Interact with Prevailing Economic Incentives? Pairing Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Evidence from Water Consumption

Short-Term Rental Bans and Housing Prices: Quasi-Experimental Evidence from Lisbon

Short-Term Rental Bans and Housing Prices: Quasi-Experimental Evidence from Lisbon

Does Human Capital Expansion Improve Urban Innovation? Quasi-Experimental Evidence from China's Higher Education Expansion Policy

Does Human Capital Expansion Improve Urban Innovation? Quasi-Experimental Evidence from China's Higher Education Expansion Policy

Chiefs, Courts, and Upholding Property Rights Quasi-Experimental Evidence from Sierra Leone

Chiefs, Courts, and Upholding Property Rights Quasi-Experimental Evidence from Sierra Leone

Domestic Violence and Income: Quasi-Experimental Evidence from the Earned Income Tax Credit

Domestic Violence and Income: Quasi-Experimental Evidence from the Earned Income Tax Credit

More than a Ban on Smoking? Behavioural Spillovers of Smoking Bans in the Workplace

Are workplace smoking bans (WSBs) more than a ban on smoking? We study whether WSBs influence smoking cessation and exert behavioural spillover effects on (i) a number of health behaviours, and (ii) on individuals not directly affected by the bans. Drawing upon quasi-experimental evidence from Russia (a country where about half of the population smokes), which introduced a WBS (in addition to a smoking ban on public places), and adopting a difference-in-differences (DiD) strategy, which compares employed individuals (exposed to the work and public place ban) to those unemployed (exposed only to the ban in public places), we document three sets of findings. First, unlike previous studies (focusing on smoking bans in public places), we find robust evidence that WSBs increase smoking cessation in 2.9 percentage points (pp) among men. Second, we find that upon the WSB, quitters are less likely to use alcohol (6.7pp reduction among men and 3.5 pp among women), reduce their alcohol consumption (10 percent among men) and increase their physical activity (in 4.3 percentage points among men). WSBs are found to influence health behaviours of those not directly affected by the reform, such as never smokers. Our findings are consistent with a model of joint formation of health behaviours, and suggest of the needs to account for a wider set of spillover effects when estimating the welfare effect of WSBs.

Energy Transition of the Poor: Quasi-Experimental Evidence from China

Energy Transition of the Poor: Quasi-Experimental Evidence from China

The Causal Effect of Maternal Education on Fertility Desire: Quasi-Experimental Evidence from China’s Compulsory Schooling Law

The Causal Effect of Maternal Education on Fertility Desire: Quasi-Experimental Evidence from China’s Compulsory Schooling Law

Government Speculation on Spillover Effect in the Housing Market: Quasi-Experimental Evidence from House Purchase Restrictions in China

Government Speculation on Spillover Effect in the Housing Market: Quasi-Experimental Evidence from House Purchase Restrictions in China

Impact of newly constructed primary healthcare centres on antenatal care attendance, facility delivery and all-cause mortality: quasi-experimental evidence from Taabo health and demographic surveillance system, Côte d’Ivoire

ObjectivesAccess to quality care remains limited, particularly in low-income and middle-income countries. Although better health outcomes for families living in close proximity to healthcare facilities have been documented in cross-sectional...

Outcome Bias in Self-evaluations: Quasi-experimental Field Evidence of Swiss Driving License Exams

Outcome Bias in Self-evaluations: Quasi-experimental Field Evidence of Swiss Driving License Exams

Estimating the price elasticity of demand for urban mass rapid transit ridership: A quasi-experimental evidence from Jakarta, Indonesia

This study estimated the price elasticity of demand for newly opened mass rapid transit in Jakarta. We exploited a tariff change event in mid-May 2019 using the Regression Discontinuity in Time (RDiT) framework with a high intensity data. The preferred estimate showed that the event reduced the ridership by 7.4 per cent, implying price inelastic demand to a 100 per cent price increase. The estimates suggest a substantial variation within a day. The demand in the off-peak is more sensitive than in the peak period. Our results justify the necessity of supply-side expansion to promote more ridership and the need for peak-load pricing in pricing strategy.

Economic interventions, economic perceptions and political support during the Eurozone crisis

AbstractWhat is the effect of external economic intervention on political support and economic evaluations? We argue that economic interventions systematically worsen support for governing institutions and much of this is mediated through updating economic perceptions, at least during the Eurozone crisis. We evidence this with two analyses. First, we provide the first quasi-experimental evidence to show that intervention worsened both political support and economic evaluations. Second, we conduct a mediation analysis using Eurobarometer data to quantify how much of the effect of intervention is mediated by economic evaluations. This has broader implications for understanding how citizens react to international integration, international cues, and the process of forming judgements of political support.

The micro persistence of layouts and design: Quasi-experimental evidence from the United States Housing Corporation

Neighborhood plans have been a crucial tool used by urban planners to control developments' type and character. This paper examines whether the initial plan of neighborhoods and their design features have a causal and persistent effect on a neighborhood's physical form. I explore this question in the context of the United States Housing Corporation—the first large-scale urban planning housing initiative in the United States. I show that the plans introduced by the USHC persisted and continue to influence the structure of neighborhoods today. To disentangle the role of location fundamentals (e.g., geography) from the causal effect of plans, I exploit a sharp natural experiment where I compare USHC neighborhoods that were planned but canceled with others that were planned and constructed and show that this persistence is causal and reflects the path dependence of plans. I then decompose plans into their design features and show that the configuration of blocks and the street layout persist via path dependence and are, therefore, characteristics that urban planners can influence in the long-run. Finally, I discuss potential mechanisms and provide suggestive evidence pointing to the role of coordination failures in generating path dependence.

Prenatal famine exposure and adult health outcomes: an epigenetic link.

Numerous human chronic pathological conditions depend on epigenetic modifications induced by environmental triggers throughout sensitive stages early in development. Developmental malnutrition is regarded as one of the most important risk factors in these processes. We present an overview of studies that the initiation and progression of many diseases are largely dependent on persisting epigenetic dysregulation caused by environmental insults early in life. For particular disorders, candidate genes were identified that underlie these associations. The current study assessed the most convincing evidence for the epigenetic link between developmental malnutrition and adult-life disease in the human population. These findings were obtained from quasi-experimental studies (so-called ‘natural experiments’), i.e. naturally occurring environmental conditions in which certain subsets of the population have differing levels of exposure to a supposed causal factor. Most of this evidence was derived on the DNA methylation level. We discussed DNA methylation as a key player in epigenetic modifications that can be inherited through multiple cell divisions. In this Perspective article, an overview of the quasi-experimental epidemiological evidence for the role of epigenetic mechanisms in the developmental programming by early-life undernutrition is provided.