2008•The New Palgrave Dictionary of EconomicsRequires access
natural experiments and quasi-natural experiments
J. DiNardo
Open publisher page 35 citations
Abstract
Natural experiments or quasi-natural experiments in economics are serendipitous situations in which persons are assigned randomly to a treatment (or multiple treatments) and a control group, and outcomes are analysed for the purposes of putting a hypothesis to a severe test; they are also serendipitous situations where assignment to treatment ‘approximates’ randomized design or a well-controlled experiment.