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We investigate conditions sufficient for identification of average treatment effects using instrumental variables. First we show that the existence of valid instruments is not sufficient to identify any meaningful average treatment effect. We then establish that the combination of an instrument and a condition on the relation between the instrument and the participation status is sufficient for identification of a local average treatment effect for those who can be induced to change their participation status by changing the value of the instrument. Finally we derive the probability limit of the standard IV estimator under these conditions. It is seen to be a weighted average of local average treatment effects.

Human experimentation in medicine. --- Medical ethics.

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Clinical trials --- Human experimentation in medicine

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The average effect of social programs on outcomes such as earnings is a parameter of primary interest in econometric evaluations studies. New results on using exclusion restrictions to identify and estimate average treatment effects are presented. Identification is achieved given a minimum of parametric assumptions, initially without reference to a latent index framework. Most econometric analyses of evaluation models motivate identifying assumptions using models of individual behavior. Our technical conditions do not fit easily into a conventional discrete choice framework, rather they fit into a framework where the source of identifying information is institutional knowledge regarding program administration. This framework also suggests an attractive experimental design for research using human subjects, in which eligible participants need not be denied treatment. We present a simple instrumental variables estimator for the average effect of treatment on program participants, and show that the estimator attains Chamberlain's semi-parametric efficiency bound. The bias of estimators that satisfy only exclusion restrictions is also considered.

Clinical trials --- Human experimentation in medicine. --- Evaluation.

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Human experimentation in medicine --- Clinical trials

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Human experimentation in medicine. --- Drugs --- Testing.