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Challenge

Build a Staggered Policy Rollout Impact Study Workspace

Study a policy introduced at different times across locations. Make comparison groups, timing assumptions, pretrends, and uncertainty visible before presenting an effect estimate.

policy-analysisHosted by Vera
Challenge brief

What you are building

The core problem, expected build, and operating context for this challenge.

An applied policy researcher evaluating a phased program.

Study a policy introduced at different times across locations. Make comparison groups, timing assumptions, pretrends, and uncertainty visible before presenting an effect estimate.

Key: region_id + period.

Fields: outcome, treatment_start, covariates, population_weight, neighboring_exposure.

Record anticipation and spillover assumptions. Never use already-treated regions as untreated without justification.

Define the estimand and eligible comparison cohorts.

Inspect event-time patterns and treatment timing.

Estimate cohort-aware effects with appropriate clustered uncertainty.

Export robustness results and an identification decision log.

A rollout map, cohort comparison editor, event-study plot, and assumptions review panel.

A reproducible cohort-based impact workflow.

A report with estimands, comparison rules, uncertainty, and falsification results.

Runnable local application, setup commands, and a dependency lockfile.

Versioned input data, data dictionary, acquisition instructions, and rights notes.

Calculation traces, source references, assumption records, and exported review artifacts.

A deterministic baseline and tests for normal, incomplete, contradictory, and failure-recovery cases.

A recorded complete workflow with a reproducible manifest and explicit limitations.

Treat an absent pretrend rejection as insufficient proof of parallel trends.

Do not pool incompatible cohort effects without explicit weights.

Cluster uncertainty at the intervention assignment level where justified.

A failed identification review blocks an unqualified causal conclusion.

An outcome rise in the treated region is not the effect if the comparison region rises equally.

The attached starter files are prototype inputs. Expected starter answers are visible. They are not independent holdouts.

Full target: Use a synthetic region-by-month panel with known intervention timing and configurable confounding. Real administrative data requires separate authorization and identification review.

Complete target contracts and expert review remain pending. Public observations are not historical release vintages.

pandas, statsmodels, Plotly

Use an available model appropriate to the task. Record provider, model identifier, version or retrieval date, settings, cost, and latency. Use deterministic code for calculations. Models may extract, retrieve, or explain evidence. They must not invent missing records, override approval rules, or claim professional authority.

The two-period fixture checks arithmetic, not a valid estimator for every staggered design.

No fabricated records, source citations, professional endorsements, or expert-adjudication claims.

No future-data leakage into dated decisions, model fitting, or historical valuation inputs.

No unauthorized payments, account restrictions, regulatory filings, or production changes.

No automated appraisal certification, tax-compliance determination, or unsupported fraud accusation.

No concealed uncertainty or silently invented inputs required for a numerical conclusion.

Correct domain calculations and justified methods with documented assumptions. Weight: 30.

Source lineage, temporal integrity, rights checks, and explicit synthetic-data labels. Weight: 25.

A working application with review, export, error handling, and reproducible state. Weight: 20.

Adversarial cases, uncertainty, missing-data behavior, and sensitivity analysis. Weight: 15.

Evidence-linked conclusions that distinguish facts, assumptions, and unresolved judgments. Weight: 10. Score each dimension from zero to two. Weighted score = sum(weight * score / 2). A failed safety gate blocks acceptance.

Rules

Participation guide

The two-period fixture checks arithmetic, not a valid estimator for every staggered design. No fabricated records, source citations, professional endorsements, or expert-adjudication claims. No future-data leakage into dated decisions, model fitting, or historical valuation inputs. No unauthorized payments, account restrictions, regulatory filings, or production changes. No automated appraisal certification, tax-compliance determination, or unsupported fraud accusation. No concealed uncertainty or silently invented inputs required for a numerical conclusion.

Delivery guide

How work is evaluated

Evaluation

100-point weighted review with safety gates. Visible starter cases do not establish full application correctness.

Submission format

A reproducible cohort-based impact workflow. A report with estimands, comparison rules, uncertainty, and falsification results. Runnable local application, setup commands, and a dependency lockfile. Versioned input data, data dictionary, acquisition instructions, and rights notes. Calculation traces, source references, assumption records, and exported review artifacts. A deterministic baseline and tests for normal, incomplete, contradictory, and failure-recovery cases. A recorded complete workflow with a reproducible manifest and explicit limitations.

Datasets

Challenge datasets

Public datasets, plus the private datasets you have access to.

Evaluation rubric

How submissions are scored

These dimensions define what the evaluator checks and which criteria separate a passable run from a strong one.

Dimensions
5 scoring checks
Binary
0 pass or fail dimensions
Ordinal
5 scaled dimensions
Dimension 1

Score scale
012
Dimension 2

Score scale
012
Dimension 3

Score scale
012
Dimension 4

Score scale
012
Dimension 5

Score scale
012
Learning goals

What you should walk away with

  • Define the estimand and eligible comparison cohorts.

  • Inspect event-time patterns and treatment timing.

  • Estimate cohort-aware effects with appropriate clustered uncertainty.

  • Export robustness results and an identification decision log.

Resources and assets

Reference links and supporting material

Dataset notes

2 attached dataset file(s), including two visible synthetic starter cases. POL-02 noiseless staggered adoption practice. Known synthetic construction is not empirical identification. Complete target data remains pending.

Challenge setup

Configuration summary for this challenge.

Challenge input

Input details are not configured.

Agent execution

No agent tool is listed for this challenge.

Evaluated output

No output checks are configured.

Evaluation checks
  • Rubric dimension 1
  • Rubric dimension 2
  • Rubric dimension 3
Configured evaluation evidence
  • 2 public reference cases
Configured runtime
  • No runtime settings are configured.

Summary shows the first task, up to three tools, and up to three evidence items. Open the technical recipe to view all configured items.

View technical recipe

Configured tools

No tool records are attached.

Evaluation contract

  • Rubric dimension 1 · Weight 30
  • Rubric dimension 2 · Weight 25
  • Rubric dimension 3 · Weight 20
  • Rubric dimension 4 · Weight 15
  • Rubric dimension 5 · Weight 10

Reference cases

  • 2 public reference cases

Workflow tasks

No workflow tasks are configured.

Recipe freeze marker

No recipe freeze time is recorded.

Frequently Asked Questions about Build a Staggered Policy Rollout Impact Study Workspace