[Mediation-information] Mediation

[Kosuke Imai]

Hi Gabriel,

The multilevel model would account for over-time correlation within a country (though it does not recognize time sequence).  If that’s okay with you, then you could go with the multilevel model, which is available in our mediation package.  Unfortunately, the current version of our package does not have other types of models that can handle panel data.

Best,
Kosuke

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Kosuke Imai               Office: Corwin Hall 036
Professor                 Phone: 609-258-6601
Department of Politics    Fax: 609-258-1110
Princeton University      Email: kimai at Princeton.Edu<mailto:kimai at Princeton.Edu>
Princeton, NJ 08544-1012  http://imai.princeton.edu<http://imai.princeton.edu/>
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On Dec 3, 2013, at 7:59 AM, Gabriel Cepaluni <gabi.cepal at gmail.com<mailto:gabi.cepal at gmail.com>> wrote:

Dear Prof. Imai,

I recently read some of your papers on causal mediation and am learning how to use your R package. Congratulations for your excellent and inspiring work.

I was wondering if you could advise me. I have a panel data of countries that are WTO members. I want to understand what motivates them to join into coalitions at the WTO negotiations. My main independent variable is GDP and my mediator is the number of diplomats in Geneva. This is a observational study. I'm arguing that large economies join coalitions more often because they can pay for the high transaction costs of negotiating at the WTO (number of diplomats is a proxy of bureaucratic capability). Joining into coalitions was measure either as a count and a dichotomous dependent variable.

My question is: What outcome statistical model do you think is more appropriated for my data? I have tried linear and probit models. However, I don't want to lose all the temporal information I have. I also considered using a multilevel model, but I wasn't sure if this is the most appropriate mediation model.

Thank you so much for your time.

Best,
--
Gabriel Cepaluni
Professor de Relações Internacionais
Assistant Professor of International Relations
Unesp-Franca


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