In this analysis, I will ask you to use data from the Alvarez et al. data set on regimes and economic performance worldwide. The data are available as aclppanel.csv, and you can also access the codebook in the data directory as ACLP codebook.
Using these data, try to determine whether dictatorship/democracy (REG) has a positive or negative causal effect on average education levels (EDT). Structure the analysis as a difference-in-differences setup using a two‑way fixed effects model (feols from fixest). Describe your findings.
Create a plot of the mean education level over time for democracies and dictatorships. Run a pre‑treatment trend test by interacting time with treatment indicator using only pre‑regime-change data for countries that transition from dictatorship to democracy and countries that are continuously dicatorships. What do you conclude?
The cross-national data have a staggered treatment (countries change regimes at different times). Use the did package (Callaway & Sant’Anna) to estimate the group‑time average treatment effects. Aggregate to an overall ATT. Compare with the TWFE estimate.
If time permits, use fect to estimate the ATT with interactive fixed effects. Compare the results to the previous estimators.