Hawkins Summer Sherburne, Baum Christopher F
Am J Epidemiol. 2016 Mar 15;183(6):539-41. doi: 10.1093/aje/kwv237. Epub 2016 Mar 5.
Evidence-based policymaking is becoming the norm, but how do we acquire the evidence to inform policies? In their article in the present issue of the Journal, Basu et al. (Am J Epidemiol. 2016;183(6):531-538) used difference-in-difference-in-differences models and a synthetic control approach to examine the effects of the 1996 welfare reforms on health outcomes among single mothers. In the present commentary, we discuss the limitations of observational studies for policy evaluation. Difference-in-differences models, from the field of economics, offer a rigorous approach to cope with those limitations.
基于证据的政策制定正成为常态,但我们如何获取为政策提供依据的证据呢?在本期《期刊》上发表的文章中,巴苏等人(《美国流行病学杂志》。2016年;183(6):531 - 538)使用了三重差分模型和合成控制法来研究1996年福利改革对单身母亲健康结果的影响。在本评论中,我们讨论了观察性研究用于政策评估的局限性。来自经济学领域的差分模型提供了一种严谨的方法来应对这些局限性。