Author: Xu Mengyao, Zhang Qiongwen, Liu Jieyi 

Publisher: Institute of Economic and Social Research 

Date: July 9, 2025 

Jinan University welcomed Nobel laureate Joshua Angrist, the 2021 Economics winner, for a public lecture titled “Intentions are Good but Instrumental Variables are Better: Escaping Real World Randomized Trials” as part of the Nobel Prize Masters’ Jinan Tour. The event, hosted by the School of Economics and Social Sciences and the Innovation and Talent Introduction Base for Population Mobility and Labor Economics, drew faculty, students, and researchers from across campus and beyond.

A cordial exchange followed the main lecture, with Xing Feng, a CAE member and president of Jinan University, engaging Angrist in a discussion about international talent introduction and talent cultivation.

Speeches and introductions

•Gu Naihua, Vice President of Jinan University, welcomed Angrist on behalf of the university and provided a concise overview of Jinan University’s history, development, and the Institute of Economics and Social Research.

•Feng Shuaizhang, Dean of the Institute, introduced Angrist and reflected on the collaboration between Jinan University and the Nobel laureate, highlighting past engagements dating back to a June 2019 invitation.

Lecture highlights

•Angrist argued that real-world randomized controlled trials often confront non-compliance issues, such as treated subjects not receiving the intended treatment and control subjects receiving treatment. He emphasized that intention-to-treat analyses can underestimate true effects in such cases.

•He contrasted this with the instrumental variable (IV) approach, which, when its three core assumptions hold—relevance (correlation), monotonicity, and exclusion—can yield more stable estimates in the presence of non-compliance. He illustrated how IV can be used to estimate local average treatment effects (LATE) using examples from ISCHEMIA trials and cancer screening studies.

•The discussion underscored IV methods as valuable tools for causal inference in clinical and applied research, offering a pathway to more accurately gauge treatment effects under imperfect adherence.

Audience engagement

•After the lecture, students posed questions that spurred a lively exchange. Angrist responded by weaving classic examples with contemporary research, earning sustained applause from attendees.

About the speaker

•Joshua Angrist is the Ford Professor of Economics at MIT and co-founder/director of the MIT Blueprint Lab. A renowned figure in econometrics, he focuses on developing causal analysis tools and has contributed extensively to the literature on econometrics and causal inference. He previously visited Jinan University in June 2019.

Caption for images

•Xing Feng (left) and Joshua Angrist during the event, which concluded with a Q&A session that energized the audience.

Lecture venue

•Shipai Campus, Jinan University.