Manipulation of the Running Variable in the Regression Discontinuity Design: A Density Test / Justin McCrary.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

McCrary, Justin.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Series:

Technical Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. t0334.

NBER technical working paper series no. t0334

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Other Title:

Manipulation of the Running Variable in the Regression Discontinuity Design

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2007.

Summary:

Standard sufficient conditions for identification in the regression discontinuity design are continuity of the conditional expectation of counterfactual outcomes in the running variable. These continuity assumptions may not be plausible if agents are able to manipulate the running variable. This paper develops a test of manipulation related to continuity of the running variable density function. The methodology is applied to popular elections to the House of Representatives, where sorting is neither expected nor found, and to roll-call voting in the House, where sorting is both expected and found.

Notes:

Print version record

January 2007.