Building Bridges between Structural and Program Evaluation Approaches to Evaluating Policy

The value of this alternative approach to economic policy analysis is illustrated by making the implicit economics of LATE explicit, thereby extending the interpretability and range of policy questions that LATE can answer.

Abstract

This paper compares the structural approach to economic policy analysis with the program evaluation approach. It offers a third way to do policy analysis that combines the best features of both approaches. We illustrate the value of this alternative approach by making the implicit economics of LATE explicit, thereby extending the interpretability and range of policy questions that LATE can answer.