Causal effects of foster care: An instrumental-variables approach
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Author(s)
Doyle, Joseph J
Date Issued
March 2011
Journal
Children and Youth Services Review
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Citation
Doyle, Joseph J. “Causal Effects of Foster Care: An Instrumental-Variables Approach.” Children and Youth Services Review 35, 7 (July 2013): 1143–1151 © 2011 Elsevier Ltd
Version
Original manuscript
Abstract
This paper describes the use of instrumental-variables (IV) to estimate causal effects of foster care on long- and short-term outcomes. This estimation strategy provides a tool to evaluate what are known as "natural experiments": settings that mimic randomization usually associated with a controlled trial. The proposed natural experiment involves the effective randomization of investigators to child-protection cases. The results suggest that foster care placement increases like likelihood of delinquency and emergency healthcare episodes. Care must be taken when interpreting IV estimates. The results apply to cases that are part of the natural experiment-"marginal cases" where the investigators may disagree about the placement recommendation. Keywords: Foster care; Instrumental variables; Causal effects
MIT Department
Sloan School of Management
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2011.03.014
