9.3 Basics 2

• Underlying any statistical model is a joint distribution (remember!)
• Panel data: We get an additional dimension that benefits in drawing causal inferences → Time
• Figure 9.2 visualizes the joint distribution of our treatment (threat), outcome (trust) and time.
  • Research question: What is the causal effect of victimization (threat) on trust?

Figure 9.2: Panel of countries

• Q: What would be a cross-section in the data in Figure 9.2?
• Q: Why is the distinction between unit und observation essential here? Where would we find several observations of the same individual in this graph (if any)?
• Q: How can we built our treatment and control group?