Applied economics

Purpose and scope¶

Empirical settings¶

Roe and Just (2009) suggests a spectrum of empirical settings:

Field/Market Data → Natural Experiments → Field Experiments → Laboratory Experiments

Observational studies¶

Natural experiments¶

Field experiments¶

Lab experiments¶

Core empirical approaches¶

Descriptive analysis¶

Reduced-form approaches¶

Structural approaches¶

Hybrid approaches¶

Key considerations¶

Internal validity¶

Internal validity is concerned with the credibility of causal inference within the specific study context.

External validity¶

External validity refers to the extent to which the findings of a study can be generalized to other contexts, populations, or settings beyond the specific study conditions.

Policy relevance¶

Micro-macro linkages¶

References¶

Journal articles:

Roe, B. E., & Just, D. R. (2009). Internal and External Validity in Economics Research: Tradeoffs between Experiments, Field Experiments, Natural Experiments, and Field Data. American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 91(5), 1266–1271.