Natural-Experiments-Using-R-Project

Natural Experiments Using R: Replication Project

Authors: Andri O. Gerber¹, Stefan Durrer²

This repository contains the course assessment for Natural Experiments Using R at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts. It provides a full replication of Andersson (2019), which evaluates the impact of Sweden’s 1991 carbon tax on transport sector emissions using the Synthetic Control Method.

Getting Started

1. Install the required R packages:

   install.packages(c("tidyverse", "DataExplorer", "ggplot2", "psych", "Synth", "dplyr", "knitr", "kableExtra", "gridExtra"))
   

2. Open Natural-Experiments-Using-R-Project.Rproj in RStudio.
3. Knit Main.Rmd to produce the reproducible HTML report.

The resulting report Main.html includes descriptive statistics, implementation of the Synthetic Control Method and a discussion of the carbon tax effect.

Directory Structure

📦 Natural-Experiments-Using-R-Project
 ┣ 📂 data
 ┃ ┣ 📜 andersson_2019.csv
 ┣ 📂 pdf
 ┃ ┣ 📜 6.3_Andersson_2019.pdf
 ┃ ┣ 📜 Appendix.pdf
 ┃ ┣ 📜 Assignment.pdf
 ┃ ┣ 📜 Höhle.pdf
 ┃ ┣ 📜 Koch.pdf
 ┃ ┗ 📜 Pretis.pdf
 ┣ 📂 pictures
 ┃ ┣ 🖼️ hslu-logo.jpg
 ┃ ┗ 🖼️ pic_1.png
 ┣ 📂 video
 ┃ ┗ 🎥 Replication_of_Andersson_2019_by_Gerber.mp4
 ┣ 📜 .gitignore
 ┣ 📜 .RData
 ┣ 📜 .Rhistory
 ┣ 📜 Natural-Experiments-Using-R-Project.Rproj
 ┣ 📜 Main.Rmd
 ┣ 📜 README.md
 ┣ 📜 knitr_configuration.Rmd
 ┗ 🌐 Main.html

Components of the Project

• Main Replication Analysis: The replication of Andersson (2019) is detailed in the Main.Rmd/html file. The file contains the data import, descriptive statistics, the synthetic control method application, and the results.

• Video: The folder video/ contains a video recording of the replication process, providing a visual walkthrough of the project.

• Assignment Details: The Assignment.pdf located in the pdf/ folder outlines the task requirements, including the creation of a voice-over presentation and submission of the R code. The goal is to document the acquired skills through the replication of a research paper.

• Study and Reference Materials: The study being replicated is stored as 6.3_Andersson_2019.pdf. Additional reference studies and their analyses can be found in the pdf/ folder, such as the papers by Höhle, Koch, and Pretis.

• Data: The data file used for analysis is located in the data/ folder. The dataset is andersson_2019.csv, which provides the data for replicating the findings of Andersson (2019).

Citation

When using this material, please cite Andersson (2019) as the original study and reference this replication project accordingly.

1. Email: andri.gerber@stud.hslu.ch. Department of Business, Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Lucerne, Switzerland. HSLU. ORCiD ID. ↩

2. Email: stefan.durrer@stud.hslu.ch. Department of Business, Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Lucerne, Switzerland. HSLU. ↩