Comparing IV with structural models : what simple IV can and cannot identify

James J. Heckman; Sergio Urzúay

This paper compares the economic questions addressed by instrumental variables estimators with those addressed by structural approaches. We discuss Marschak's Maxim: estimators should be selected on the basis of their ability to answer well-posed economic problems with minimal assumptions. A key identifying assumption that allows structural methods to be more informative than IV can be tested with data and does not have to be imposed. -- Instrumental Variables ; Structural Approaches ; Marschak's Maxim

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Year of publication:	2009
Authors:	Heckman, James J. ; Urzúay, Sergio
Publisher:	Dublin : UCD Centre for Economic Research
Subject:	IV-Schätzung \| Instrumental variables \| Strukturgleichungsmodell \| Structural equation model \| Schätztheorie \| Estimation theory \| Vergleich \| Comparison