University of Warwick, UK, and IZA, Germany
IZA World of Labor role
Author
Current position
Professor of Economics, University of Warwick, UK
Research interest
Economic history, labor economics, education economics, public economics
Website
Past positions
Professor, University of Stirling, 2008–2010; Assistant Professor, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, 2002–2008
Qualifications
PhD Economics, European University Institute, 2001
Selected publications
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“The empire is dead, long live the empire! Long-run persistence of trust and corruption in the bureaucracy.” The Economic Journal 126:590 (2016): 40–74 (with K. Boeckh, C. Hainz, and L. Woessmann).
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“Absorptive capacity and the growth effects of regional transfers: A regression discontinuity design with heterogeneous treatment effects.” American Economic Journal: Economic Policy 5:4 (2013): 29–77 (with P. H. Egger and M. von Ehrlich).
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“Offshoring and the onshore composition of tasks and skills.” Journal of International Economics 90:1 (2013): 91–106 (with K. Ekholm and M.-A. Muendler).
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“Margins of multinational labor substitution.” American Economic Review 100:5 (2010): 1999–2030 (with M.-A. Muendler).
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“Was Weber wrong? A human capital theory of protestant economic history.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics 124:2 (2009): 531–596 (with L. Woessmann).
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Using instrumental variables to establish causality
Even with observational data, causality can be recovered with the help of instrumental variables estimation
Sascha O. Becker, April 2016Randomized control trials are often considered the gold standard to establish causality. However, in many policy-relevant situations, these trials are not possible. Instrumental variables affect the outcome only via a specific treatment; as such, they allow for the estimation of a causal effect. However, finding valid instruments is difficult. Moreover, instrumental variables estimates recover a causal effect only for a specific part of the population. While those limitations are important, the objective of establishing causality remains; and instrumental variables are an important econometric tool to achieve this objective.MoreLess