Huber, Martin Schelker, Mark Strittmatter, Anthony 2019-09-01 We propose a novel approach for causal mediation analysis based on changes-in- changes assumptions restricting unobserved heterogeneity over time. This allows disentangling the causal effect of a binary treatment on a continuous outcome into an indirect effect operating through a binary intermediate variable (called mediator) and a direct effect running via other causal mechanisms. We identify average and quantile direct and indirect effects for various subgroups under the condition that the outcome is monotonic in the unobserved heterogeneity and that the distribution of the latter does not change over time conditional on the treatment and the mediator. We also provide a simulation study and an empirical application to the Jobs II programme. application/pdf https://sonar.ch/global/documents/307960 https://sonar.ch/documents/307960/files/WP_SES_508.pdf eng http://www.unifr.ch/ses/wp info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess License undefined Direct effects indirect effects mediation analysis changes-in-changes causal mechanisms treatment effects info:eu-repo/classification/udc/33 Direct and indirect effects based on changes-in-changes http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_18ws