The phantom menace: Omitted variable bias in econometric research
The phantom menace: Omitted variable bias in econometric research
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DOI：
10.1080/07388940500339183
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发表时间：
2005-12-01
影响因子：
2.1
通讯作者：
Clarke, KA
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Clarke, KA
定量政治学充斥着控制变量。这些膨胀的规范的理由通常是害怕遗漏变量偏差。一个关键的基本假设是，遗漏变量偏差所造成的危险可以通过纳入相关的控制变量来改善。不幸的是，正如本文所展示的，回归分析的数学中没有任何东西支持这一结论。包含额外的控制变量可能会增加或减少偏倚，我们无法确定在任何特定情况下是哪种情况。在主要结果之后，简要讨论了实现实验控制的替代策略。
Quantitative political science is awash in control variables. The justification for these bloated specifications is usually the fear of omitted variable bias. A key underlying assumption is that the danger posed by omitted variable bias call be ameliorated by the inclusion of relevant control variables. Unfortunately, as this article demonstrates, there is nothing in the mathematics of regression analysis that supports this conclusion. The inclusion of additional control variables may increase or decrease the bias, and we cannot know for sure which is the case in any particular situation. A brief discussion of alternative strategies for achieving experimental con trot follows the main result.