The (mis)estimation of neighborhood effects: causal inference for a practicable social epidemiology

dc.contributor.authorOakes, J Michael
dc.date.accessioned2019-08-14T14:59:15Z
dc.date.available2019-08-14T14:59:15Z
dc.date.issued2004
dc.description.abstractThe resurgence of interest in the effect of neighborhood contexts on health outcomes, motivated by advances in social epidemiology, multilevel theories and sophisticated statistical models, too often fails to confront the enormous methodological problems associated with causal inference. This paper employs the counterfactual causal framework to illuminate fundamental obstacles in the identification, explanation, and usefulness of multilevel neighborhood effect studies. We show that identifying useful independent neighborhood effect parameters, as currently conceptualized with observational data, to be impossible. Along with the development of a dependency-based methodology and theories of social interaction, randomized community trials are advocated as a superior research strategy, one that may help social epidemiology answer the causal questions necessary for remediating disparities and otherwise improving the public’s health.
dc.description.urihttps://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0277953603004131
dc.identifierhttps://doi.org/10.13016/nks2-ly1o
dc.identifier.citationOakes, J Michael (2004) The (mis)estimation of neighborhood effects: causal inference for a practicable social epidemiology. Social Science and Medicine, 58 (10). pp. 1929-1952.
dc.identifier.otherEprint ID 425
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/22529
dc.subjectDisparities
dc.subjectPublic Health
dc.subjectstudies
dc.subjectmethodologies
dc.subjectHLM
dc.subjectMixed model
dc.subjectCluster trial
dc.subjectCommunity trial
dc.subjectCounterfactual
dc.subjectAssignment mechanism
dc.subjectPropensity score
dc.subjecthealth outcomes
dc.subjectneighborhood effects
dc.subjectsocial epidemiology
dc.titleThe (mis)estimation of neighborhood effects: causal inference for a practicable social epidemiology
dc.typeArticle

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