Testing Missing at Random using Instrumental Variables

Abstract

This paper proposes a test for missing at random (MAR). TheMARassumption is shown to be testable given instrumental variables which are independent of response given potential outcomes. A nonparametric testing procedure based on integrated squared distance is proposed. The statistic’s asymptotic distribution under the MAR hypothesis is derived. We demonstrate that our results can be easily extended to a test of missing completely at random (MCAR) and missing completely at random conditional on covariates X (MCAR(X)). A Monte Carlo study examines finite sample performance of our test statistic. An empirical illustration concerns pocket prescription drug spending with missing values; we reject MCAR but fail to reject MAR.