IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/econom/v211y2019i2p589-618.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Robust uniform inference for quantile treatment effects in regression discontinuity designs

Author

Listed:
  • Chiang, Harold D.
  • Hsu, Yu-Chin
  • Sasaki, Yuya

Abstract

The practical importance of inference with robustness against large bandwidths for causal effects in regression discontinuity and kink designs is widely recognized. Existing robust methods cover many cases, but do not handle uniform inference for CDF and quantile processes in fuzzy designs. In this light, this paper extends the literature by developing a unified framework of inference with robustness against large bandwidths that applies to uniform inference for quantile treatment effects in fuzzy designs, as well as all the other cases. We present Monte Carlo simulation studies and an empirical application for evaluations of the Oklahoma pre-K program.

Suggested Citation

  • Chiang, Harold D. & Hsu, Yu-Chin & Sasaki, Yuya, 2019. "Robust uniform inference for quantile treatment effects in regression discontinuity designs," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 211(2), pages 589-618.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:econom:v:211:y:2019:i:2:p:589-618
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jeconom.2019.03.006
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304407619300569
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jeconom.2019.03.006?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Yoichi Arai & Hidehiko Ichimura, 2018. "Simultaneous selection of optimal bandwidths for the sharp regression discontinuity estimator," Quantitative Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 9(1), pages 441-482, March.
    2. Frandsen, Brigham R. & Frölich, Markus & Melly, Blaise, 2012. "Quantile treatment effects in the regression discontinuity design," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 168(2), pages 382-395.
    3. Camille Landais, 2015. "Assessing the Welfare Effects of Unemployment Benefits Using the Regression Kink Design," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 7(4), pages 243-278, November.
    4. David Card & David S. Lee & Zhuan Pei & Andrea Weber, 2015. "Inference on Causal Effects in a Generalized Regression Kink Design," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 83, pages 2453-2483, November.
    5. Fan, Yanqin & Liu, Ruixuan, 2016. "A direct approach to inference in nonparametric and semiparametric quantile models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 191(1), pages 196-216.
    6. Helena Skyt Nielsen & Torben Sørensen & Christopher Taber, 2010. "Estimating the Effect of Student Aid on College Enrollment: Evidence from a Government Grant Policy Reform," NBER Chapters, in: Income Taxation, Trans-Atlantic Public Economics Seminar (TAPES), pages 185-215, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Otsu, Taisuke & Xu, Ke-Li & Matsushita, Yukitoshi, 2015. "Empirical likelihood for regression discontinuity design," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 186(1), pages 94-112.
    8. Arai, Yoichi & Ichimura, Hidehiko, 2016. "Optimal bandwidth selection for the fuzzy regression discontinuity estimator," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 103-106.
    9. Bernal, Noelia & Carpio, Miguel A. & Klein, Tobias J., 2017. "The effects of access to health insurance: Evidence from a regression discontinuity design in Peru," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 154(C), pages 122-136.
    10. Sebastian Calonico & Matias D. Cattaneo & Max H. Farrell & Rocío Titiunik, 2019. "Regression Discontinuity Designs Using Covariates," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 101(3), pages 442-451, July.
    11. David S. Lee & Thomas Lemieux, 2010. "Regression Discontinuity Designs in Economics," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 48(2), pages 281-355, June.
    12. Kosorok, Michael R., 2003. "Bootstraps of sums of independent but not identically distributed stochastic processes," Journal of Multivariate Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 84(2), pages 299-318, February.
    13. Sebastian Calonico & Matias D. Cattaneo & Rocio Titiunik, 2014. "Robust Nonparametric Confidence Intervals for Regression‐Discontinuity Designs," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 82, pages 2295-2326, November.
    14. Garry F. Barrett & Stephen G. Donald, 2003. "Consistent Tests for Stochastic Dominance," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 71(1), pages 71-104, January.
    15. Donna Feir & Thomas Lemieux & Vadim Marmer, 2016. "Weak Identification in Fuzzy Regression Discontinuity Designs," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(2), pages 185-196, April.
    16. Hitoshi Shigeoka, 2014. "The Effect of Patient Cost Sharing on Utilization, Health, and Risk Protection," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(7), pages 2152-2184, July.
    17. Imbens, Guido & Lemieux, Thomas, 2008. "Special issue editors' introduction: The regression discontinuity design--Theory and applications," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 142(2), pages 611-614, February.
    18. Sebastian Calonico & Matias D. Cattaneo & Max H. Farrell, 2018. "On the Effect of Bias Estimation on Coverage Accuracy in Nonparametric Inference," Journal of the American Statistical Association, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 113(522), pages 767-779, April.
    19. Marcelo J. Moreira, 2003. "A Conditional Likelihood Ratio Test for Structural Models," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 71(4), pages 1027-1048, July.
    20. Cook, Thomas D., 2008. ""Waiting for Life to Arrive": A history of the regression-discontinuity design in Psychology, Statistics and Economics," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 142(2), pages 636-654, February.
    21. Marianne Simonsen & Lars Skipper & Niels Skipper, 2016. "Price Sensitivity of Demand for Prescription Drugs: Exploiting a Regression Kink Design," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(2), pages 320-337, March.
    22. Kong, Efang & Linton, Oliver & Xia, Yingcun, 2010. "Uniform Bahadur Representation For Local Polynomial Estimates Of M-Regression And Its Application To The Additive Model," Econometric Theory, Cambridge University Press, vol. 26(5), pages 1529-1564, October.
    23. Donald W. K. Andrews & Marcelo J. Moreira & James H. Stock, 2006. "Optimal Two-Sided Invariant Similar Tests for Instrumental Variables Regression," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 74(3), pages 715-752, May.
    24. Guido Imbens & Karthik Kalyanaraman, 2012. "Optimal Bandwidth Choice for the Regression Discontinuity Estimator," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 79(3), pages 933-959.
    25. Manasi Deshpande, 2016. "Does Welfare Inhibit Success? The Long-Term Effects of Removing Low-Income Youth from the Disability Rolls," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 106(11), pages 3300-3330, November.
    26. Qu, Zhongjun & Yoon, Jungmo, 2015. "Nonparametric estimation and inference on conditional quantile processes," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 185(1), pages 1-19.
    27. Koichiro Ito, 2015. "Asymmetric Incentives in Subsidies: Evidence from a Large-Scale Electricity Rebate Program," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 7(3), pages 209-237, August.
    28. Guido W. Imbens & Jeffrey M. Wooldridge, 2009. "Recent Developments in the Econometrics of Program Evaluation," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 47(1), pages 5-86, March.
    29. Hansen, Bruce E, 1996. "Inference When a Nuisance Parameter Is Not Identified under the Null Hypothesis," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 64(2), pages 413-430, March.
    30. Lee, David S., 2008. "Randomized experiments from non-random selection in U.S. House elections," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 142(2), pages 675-697, February.
    31. Guerre, Emmanuel & Sabbah, Camille, 2012. "Uniform Bias Study And Bahadur Representation For Local Polynomial Estimators Of The Conditional Quantile Function," Econometric Theory, Cambridge University Press, vol. 28(1), pages 87-129, February.
    32. Yangin Fan & Emmanuel Guerre, 2016. "Multivariate Local Polynomial Estimators: Uniform Boundary Properties and Asymptotic Linear Representation," Advances in Econometrics, in: Essays in Honor of Aman Ullah, volume 36, pages 489-537, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    33. Hahn, Jinyong & Todd, Petra & Van der Klaauw, Wilbert, 2001. "Identification and Estimation of Treatment Effects with a Regression-Discontinuity Design," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 69(1), pages 201-209, January.
    34. Stephen G. Donald & Yu‐Chin Hsu & Garry F. Barrett, 2012. "Incorporating covariates in the measurement of welfare and inequality: methods and applications," Econometrics Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 15(1), pages 1-30, February.
    35. Otávio Bartalotti & Gray Calhoun & Yang He, 2017. "Bootstrap Confidence Intervals for Sharp Regression Discontinuity Designs," Advances in Econometrics, in: Regression Discontinuity Designs, volume 38, pages 421-453, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    36. Frank Kleibergen, 2002. "Pivotal Statistics for Testing Structural Parameters in Instrumental Variables Regression," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 70(5), pages 1781-1803, September.
    37. Otávio Bartalotti & Quentin Brummet, 2017. "Regression Discontinuity Designs with Clustered Data," Advances in Econometrics, in: Regression Discontinuity Designs, volume 38, pages 383-420, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    38. Chiang, Harold D. & Sasaki, Yuya, 2019. "Causal inference by quantile regression kink designs," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 210(2), pages 405-433.
    39. Elias Masry, 1996. "Multivariate Local Polynomial Regression For Time Series:Uniform Strong Consistency And Rates," Journal of Time Series Analysis, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 17(6), pages 571-599, November.
    40. Damon Clark & Paco Martorell, 2014. "The Signaling Value of a High School Diploma," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 122(2), pages 282-318.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Yoichi Arai & Yu‐Chin Hsu & Toru Kitagawa & Ismael Mourifié & Yuanyuan Wan, 2022. "Testing identifying assumptions in fuzzy regression discontinuity designs," Quantitative Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 13(1), pages 1-28, January.
    2. Matias D. Cattaneo & Rocío Titiunik, 2022. "Regression Discontinuity Designs," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 14(1), pages 821-851, August.
    3. Yang He & Otávio Bartalotti, 2020. "Wild bootstrap for fuzzy regression discontinuity designs: obtaining robust bias-corrected confidence intervals [Using Maimonides’ rule to estimate the effect of class size on scholastic achievemen," The Econometrics Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 23(2), pages 211-231.
    4. Mauricio Villamizar‐Villegas & Freddy A. Pinzon‐Puerto & Maria Alejandra Ruiz‐Sanchez, 2022. "A comprehensive history of regression discontinuity designs: An empirical survey of the last 60 years," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(4), pages 1130-1178, September.
    5. Yingying DONG & Ying-Ying LEE & Michael GOU, 2019. "Regression Discontinuity Designs with a Continuous Treatment," Discussion papers 19058, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    6. Blaise Melly & Rafael Lalive, 2020. "Estimation, Inference, and Interpretation in the Regression Discontinuity Design," Diskussionsschriften dp2016, Universitaet Bern, Departement Volkswirtschaft.
    7. Jun Ma & Zhengfei Yu, 2020. "Empirical Likelihood Covariate Adjustment for Regression Discontinuity Designs," Papers 2008.09263, arXiv.org, revised May 2022.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Chiang, Harold D. & Sasaki, Yuya, 2019. "Causal inference by quantile regression kink designs," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 210(2), pages 405-433.
    2. Matias D. Cattaneo & Rocío Titiunik, 2022. "Regression Discontinuity Designs," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 14(1), pages 821-851, August.
    3. Xu, Ke-Li, 2017. "Regression discontinuity with categorical outcomes," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 201(1), pages 1-18.
    4. Mauricio Villamizar‐Villegas & Freddy A. Pinzon‐Puerto & Maria Alejandra Ruiz‐Sanchez, 2022. "A comprehensive history of regression discontinuity designs: An empirical survey of the last 60 years," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(4), pages 1130-1178, September.
    5. Blaise Melly & Rafael Lalive, 2020. "Estimation, Inference, and Interpretation in the Regression Discontinuity Design," Diskussionsschriften dp2016, Universitaet Bern, Departement Volkswirtschaft.
    6. Yoichi Arai & Yu‐Chin Hsu & Toru Kitagawa & Ismael Mourifié & Yuanyuan Wan, 2022. "Testing identifying assumptions in fuzzy regression discontinuity designs," Quantitative Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 13(1), pages 1-28, January.
    7. Jin-young Choi & Myoung-jae Lee, 2017. "Regression discontinuity: review with extensions," Statistical Papers, Springer, vol. 58(4), pages 1217-1246, December.
    8. Bertanha, Marinho & Moreira, Marcelo J., 2020. "Impossible inference in econometrics: Theory and applications," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 218(2), pages 247-270.
    9. Deng, Taotao & Hu, Yukun & Ma, Mulan, 2019. "Regional policy and tourism: A quasi-natural experiment," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 1-16.
    10. Jun Ma & Zhengfei Yu, 2020. "Empirical Likelihood Covariate Adjustment for Regression Discontinuity Designs," Papers 2008.09263, arXiv.org, revised May 2022.
    11. Yang He & Otávio Bartalotti, 2020. "Wild bootstrap for fuzzy regression discontinuity designs: obtaining robust bias-corrected confidence intervals [Using Maimonides’ rule to estimate the effect of class size on scholastic achievemen," The Econometrics Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 23(2), pages 211-231.
    12. Xu, Ke-Li, 2020. "Inference of local regression in the presence of nuisance parameters," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 218(2), pages 532-560.
    13. Xu, Ke-Li, 2018. "A semi-nonparametric estimator of regression discontinuity design with discrete duration outcomes," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 206(1), pages 258-278.
    14. Xiao Huang & Zhaoguo Zhan, 2022. "Local Composite Quantile Regression for Regression Discontinuity," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(4), pages 1863-1875, October.
    15. Huber, Martin, 2019. "An introduction to flexible methods for policy evaluation," FSES Working Papers 504, Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences, University of Freiburg/Fribourg Switzerland.
    16. Yingying DONG & Ying-Ying LEE & Michael GOU, 2019. "Regression Discontinuity Designs with a Continuous Treatment," Discussion papers 19058, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    17. Tuvaandorj, Purevdorj, 2020. "Regression discontinuity designs, white noise models, and minimax," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 218(2), pages 587-608.
    18. Yang Lixiong, 2019. "Regression discontinuity designs with unknown state-dependent discontinuity points: estimation and testing," Studies in Nonlinear Dynamics & Econometrics, De Gruyter, vol. 23(2), pages 1-18, April.
    19. Susan Athey & Guido W. Imbens, 2017. "The State of Applied Econometrics: Causality and Policy Evaluation," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 31(2), pages 3-32, Spring.
    20. Bartalotti Otávio, 2019. "Regression Discontinuity and Heteroskedasticity Robust Standard Errors: Evidence from a Fixed-Bandwidth Approximation," Journal of Econometric Methods, De Gruyter, vol. 8(1), pages 1-26, January.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Bias correction; Local Wald estimator; Multiplier bootstrap; Quantile; Regression discontinuity design; Regression kink design; Robustness;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C01 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - General - - - Econometrics
    • C14 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Semiparametric and Nonparametric Methods: General
    • C21 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Cross-Sectional Models; Spatial Models; Treatment Effect Models

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:econom:v:211:y:2019:i:2:p:589-618. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jeconom .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.