Sep 2024,

Revise & Resubmit,
Journal of American Statistical Association

Most work on treatment choice and policy learning focuses on utilitarian welfare (i.e., average welfare), which can be sensitive to skewed heterogeneity. We propose a robust policy learning framework that enables the policymaker to act with prudence/negligence and to be influenced by vote shares.



Shapes as Product Differentiation︎︎︎


with Eric Schulman, Kristen Grauman, Santhosh Ramakrishnan


arxiv︎︎︎  slides︎︎︎

Nov 2022,
Revise & Resubmit,
RAND Journal of Economics

Many differentiated products have key attributes that are high-dimensional (e.g., design, text). We consider one of the simplest design products, fonts, and quantify their shapes by constructing neural network embeddings. Using the embeddings and data from the world's largest online market place for fonts, we study the causal effect of a merger on the merging firm's creative decisions of product differentiation.

*This project is featured in a typography magazine ︎︎︎ and included in the MIT graduate machine learning course ︎︎︎.



Feb 2025


The classic control function approach requires invertibility or point-identified controls, which limits its applicability (e.g., discrete treatments, controls as intervals). We allow the control function to be set-valued and derive sharp bounds on structural parameters.


Jan 2025

To understand the role of copyright policy in markets for products with visual attributes, we estimate a structural model of supply (e.g., product positioning) and demand (e.g., tastes for visual attributes) using image data. Visual similarity, calculated using neural network embeddings, serves as a crucial metric for the analysis.


Mar 2025

Finding IVs is a heuristic and creative process, and justifying exclusion restrictions is largely rhetorical. We propose using large language models (LLMs) to systematically search for new IVs through narratives and counterfactual reasoning.



Dec 2024

We identify average and quantile treatment effects for binary, ordered and continuous treatments with only binary IV under local copula invariance. The resulting semiparametric estimation procedures are very easy to implement.


Mar 2025

We develop new inference tools for interval-identified welfare at a policy chosen from an estimated set (e.g., an estimated identified set).


Aug 2023

We provide a novel interpretation for rank similarity, which motivates us to relax it in a way that is useful to bound the QTEs using multi-valued IVs. The bounds are easy to calculate in practice and are shown to be informative.


Aug 2023


We propose a class of semiparametric models using copula to point identify and efficiently estimate dynamic treatment effects and dynamic mediator effects under treatment endogeneity.


Feb 2024

We develop a test of information ordering to examine if the true information structure is at least as informative as a proposed baseline. We utilize the notion of Bayes Correlated Equilibrium (BCE).



Effects of New Good Entry in Complementarity Markets: The Case of Font Market


with Matt Shum


in progress


2024

Journal of Econometrics
Vol. 240, 105680

We propose a computational framework to calculate sharp nonparametric bounds (using binary IV that satisfies full independence) on various policy-relevant treatment parameters that are defined as weighted averages of the MTE.



2023
Journal of American Statistical Association

Vol. 119, pp. 2000-2010
*Editor’s Choice 2023

We partially identify the optimal dynamic regime from observational data, relaxing sequential randomization but instead using IVs. As a first step, we establish the sharp partial ordering of welfares, which summarizes the signs of dynamic treatment effects.



2023
Journal of Econometrics
Vol. 234, pp. 732-757

Treatments are determined by strategic interaction, which poses interesting identification problems.


2021
Journal of American Statistical Association
Vol. 116, pp. 192-195

I discuss identification of optimal treatment rules under treatment endogeneity and propose a novel identifying condition.


2021
Journal of Econometrics
Vol. 225, pp. 132-147

Time-varying treatment effects are considered in a nonparametric model with treatment endogeneity.


2020
Quantitative Economics
Vol. 11, pp. 161-202

Using a control function approach, weak instruments are characterized as a concurvity problem.


2019
Quantitative Economics
Vol. 10, pp. 1019-1068

In a set of nonlinear models, we propose reparametrization that facilitates robust inference under weak identification.


2019
Journal of Applied Econometrics
Vol. 34, pp. 994-1015

We develop sieve estimation for semiparametric models in Han & Vyltacil (2017).


2019
Stata Journal
Vol. 19, pp. 768-781

We develop “cqiv” command for Stata.


2017
Journal of Econometrics
Vol. 199, pp. 63-73

A copula ordering condition is useful for identification in semiparametric binary choice models with endogeneity.


2016
Journal of Cybersecurity
Vol. 2, pp. 99-118

We conduct a randomized control trial to understand informational treatments.


2009
Econometrics Journal
Vol. 12, pp. S172–S199

Certain bootstrap procedures are invalid in conducting inference for moment inequalities.


© Sukjin Han