https://macropaperwarehouse.com/authors/susan-athey/Susan AtheyHugo -- gohugo.ioen-ushttps://macropaperwarehouse.com/papers/the-surrogate-index-combining-short-term-proxies-to-estimate-long-term-treatment-effects-more-rapidly-and-precisely/https://macropaperwarehouse.com/papers/the-surrogate-index-combining-short-term-proxies-to-estimate-long-term-treatment-effects-more-rapidly-and-precisely/<p>This paper addresses a fundamental challenge in program evaluation: primary outcomes of interest — such as lifetime earnings or long-term employment — are often observed only with lengthy delays, forcing researchers to rely on short-term outcomes when making timely policy decisions. The authors develop a formal framework for combining multiple short-term proxy outcomes (surrogates) into a single &ldquo;surrogate index&rdquo; that, under stated assumptions, identifies the average treatment effect on the long-run primary outcome.</p>