Michael Sobel's statistical research has focused on causal inference, models for categorical data, and structural equation models. His substantive research has been primarily in the area of social stratification. Current interests include neighborhood effects and applications of finance.

Current CV

Selected Publications

Forthcoming - Sobel, M.E., Identification of Causal Parameters in Randomized Studies with Mediating Variables, Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics.

2006 Sobel, M.E. "Spatial Concentration and Social Stratification: Does the Clustering of Disadvantage 'Beget' Bad Outcomes?" Pp. 204-229 in S. Bowles, S.N. Durlauf, and K. Hoff (Eds.), Poverty Traps. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.

2004 Kou, S., and M. E. Sobel. “Forecasting the Vote: An Analytical Comparison of Election Markets and Public Opinion Polls.” Political Analysis 12:277-295.

2004 Winship, C., and M. E. Sobel. “Causal Inference in Sociological Studies.” In M. Hardy (Ed.), The Handbook of Data Analysis, Thousand Oaks, CA:Sage.

2004 M.E. Sobel et al. "Men Matter More: The Social Class Identity of Married British Women; 1985-1991." Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, 167, Part I, 37-52.

2001 Kou, S., and M. E. Sobel. “Hedging Electoral Risk.” Risk 14:95-98. Reprinted (pp. 269-274) in A. Lipton (Ed.), 2003, Exotic Options: The Cutting Edge Collection, Risk Books: London.

2000 Sobel, M.E. "Causal Inference in the Social Sciences" Journal of the American Statistical Association, Vol. 95, No. 450. (June, 2000), pp. 647-651.

1998 Sobel, M.E. "Causal Inference in Statistical Models of the Process of Socioeconomic Achievement." Sociological Methods and Research 27:2, 318-348.

1997 Sobel, M.E. "Modeling Symmetry, Asymmetry, and Change in Ordered Sclases With Midpoints Using Adjacent Category Logit Models for Discrete Data." Sociological Methods and Research 26:2, 213-232.

1996 Sobel, M.E. "An Introduction to Causal Inference." Sociological Methods and Research 24:3, 353-379.

1995 Sobel, M. E. "Causal Inference in the Social and Behavioral Sciences." Pp. 1-38 in G. Arminger, C. C. Clogg and M. E. Sobel (Eds.), Handbook of Statistical Modeling for the Social and Behavioral Sciences. New York: Plenum Press.

1992 Sobel, M.E. and Gerhard Arminger. "Modeling Household Fertility Decisions: A Nonlinear Simultaneous Probit Model." Journal of the American Statistical Association, Vol. 87, No. 417. (March 1992), pp. 38-47.

1990 Arminger, Gerhard and M.E. Sobel. "Pseudo-Maximum Likelihood Estimation of Mean and Covariance Structures with Missing Data," Journal of the American Statistical Association, Vol. 85, No. 409. (March 1990), pp. 195-203.

1987 Sobel, M.E. "Direct and Indirect Effects in Linear Structural Equation Models." Sociological Methods and Research 16:1, 155-176.

1986 Sobel, M.E. and Gerhard Arminger. "Platonic and Operational True Scores in Covariance Structure Analysis: An Invited Comment on Bielby's 'Arbitrary Metrics in Multiple Indicator Models of Latent Variables'." Sociological Methods and Research 15:1-2, 44-58.