• Table of Contents
    • Abstract
    • Keywords
    • Article
      • The philosophy of experimentation in natural science
      • Randomization: an attempt to evade the problems of imperfect ‘control’
      • Social experiments: why not do a ‘real’ randomized trial?
      • Types of natural experiments
        • Natural experiments in natural science
        • Natural experiments as serendipitous randomized trials
        • The regression discontinuity design as a natural experiment
        • ‘Natural natural experiments’?
        • Other research designs. quasi-experiments
      • Controversies: concluding remarks
    • See Also
    • Bibliography
    • How to cite this article

natural experiments and quasi-natural experiments

J. DiNardo
From The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics, Second Edition, 2008
Edited by Steven N. Durlauf and Lawrence E. Blume
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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.
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Keywords

experiment; natural experiments; quasi-natural experiments; randomization; regression discontinuity design; returns to schooling; social experiments; treatment effect
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Article

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How to cite this article

DiNardo, J. "natural experiments and quasi-natural experiments." The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. Second Edition. Eds. Steven N. Durlauf and Lawrence E. Blume. Palgrave Macmillan, 2008. The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics Online. Palgrave Macmillan. 19 May 2013 <http://www.dictionaryofeconomics.com/article?id=pde2008_N000142> doi:10.1057/9780230226203.1162

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