simulate_data_synth: Simulate data according to synthetic control model

In pensynth: Penalized Synthetic Control Estimation

Simulate data according to synthetic control model

Description

This function simulates a basic form of synthetic control data, mainly for testing purposes.

Usage

simulate_data_synth(
  N_donor = 50,
  N_treated = 1,
  N_covar = 5,
  N_pre = 12,
  N_post = 6,
  N_nonzero = 4,
  treatment_effect = 1,
  sd_resid_X = 0.1,
  sd_resid_ZY = 0.1,
  ar1_outcome = 0.8
)

simulate_data(
  N_donor = 50,
  N_treated = 1,
  N_covar = 5,
  N_pre = 12,
  N_post = 6,
  N_nonzero = 4,
  treatment_effect = 1,
  sd_resid_X = 0.1,
  sd_resid_ZY = 0.1,
  ar1_outcome = 0.8
)

Arguments

N_donor	number of donors
N_treated	number of treated units
N_covar	number of covariates
N_pre	number of pre-intervention timepoints
N_post	number of post-intervention timepoints
N_nonzero	number of true nonzero weights
treatment_effect	the size of the true treatment effect
sd_resid_X	the residual standard deviation of X1
sd_resid_ZY	the residual standard deviation of Z1 and Y1
ar1_outcome	autoregressive effect of the outcome

Details

Note that treatment effect can be a single number, but it may also be a vector of length N_post, indicating the effect size at each post-intervention measurement. occasion. It may also be a matrix of size N_post by N_treated.

Value

A list with the following elements

• W the true unit weights

• X0 the donor unit covariates

• X1 the treated unit covariates

• Z0 the donor unit pre-intervention outcomes

• Z1 the treated unit pre-intervention outcomes

• Y0 the donor unit post-intervention outcomes

• Y1 the treated unit post-intervention outcomes

See Also

pensynth(), cv_pensynth(), placebo_test(), simulate_data_factor()

Examples

# simulate data with an effect of 0.8 SD
dat <- simulate_data_synth(treatment_effect = 0.8)

plot(
  NA,
  ylim = c(-3, 3),
  xlim = c(1, 18),
  main = "Simulated data",
  ylab = "Outcome value",
  xlab = "Timepoint"
)
for (n in 1:ncol(dat$Z0))
  lines(1:18, c(dat$Z0[, n], dat$Y0[, n]), col = "grey")
lines(1:18, c(dat$Z1, dat$Y1), lwd = 2)
lines(1:18, rbind(dat$Z0, dat$Y0) %*% dat$W, lty = 2, lwd = 2)
abline(v = length(dat$Z1) + 0.5, lty = 3)
legend(
  x = "bottomleft",
  legend = c(
    "Donor units",
    "Treated unit",
    "Synth. control"
  ),
  lty = c(1, 1, 2),
  lwd = c(1, 2, 2),
  col = c("grey", "black", "black")
)
text(length(dat$Z1) + 0.5, -3, "Intervention\ntimepoint", pos = 4, font = 3)

pensynth documentation built on May 7, 2026, 9:06 a.m.