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University of Michigan School of Information

Social, Behavioral and Experimental Economics Seminar: Yuehao Bai

“SBEE Seminar Series. Guest speakers on topics of social, behavioral, and experimental economics. Co-sponsored by the School of Information, the Ross School of Business and the LSA Economics Dept. Optimality of Matched-Pair Designs in Randomized Controlled Trials. Yuehao Bai. University of Michigan. Tuesday, November 8. 4-5:15 pm. In-person: Blau B3560, Ross School of Business and online.”
Location: Blau B3560, Ross School of Business and online
Tuesday, Nov 8, 2022 4:00 p.m. - 5:15 p.m.

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Optimality of Matched-Pair Designs in Randomized Controlled Trials

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Abstract: In randomized controlled trials (RCTs), treatment is often assigned by stratified randomization. I show that among all stratified randomization schemes which treat all units with probability one half, a certain matched-pair design achieves the maximum statistical precision for estimating the average treatment effect (ATE). In an important special case, the optimal design pairs units according to the baseline outcome. In a simulation study based on datasets from 10 RCTs, this design lowers the standard error for the estimator of the ATE by 10% on average, and by up to 34%, relative to the original designs. 

Yuehao Bai

Speaker bio: Yuehao Bai is an econometrician in the Department of Economics at the University of Michigan. His recent research concerns the design and analysis of experiments as well as inference under partial identification. His papers have been published in the American Economic Review, Journal of the American Statistical Association, Journal of Econometrics and Journal of Business and Economic Statistics.