The regression discontinuity design

Denis Fougère (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) , Nicolas Jacquemet (6, 7)

1 CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
2 LIEPP - Laboratoire interdisciplinaire d'évaluation des politiques publiques (Sciences Po)
3 CEPR - Center for Economic Policy Research
4 IZA - Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit - Institute of Labor Economics
5 CRIS - Centre de recherche sur les inégalités sociales (Sciences Po, CNRS)
6 PSE - Paris School of Economics
7 CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne

The regression discontinuity design is a quasi-experimental quantitative method that assesses the impact of an intervention by comparing observations that are close to an eligibility threshold fixed by the authorities in charge of the policy under study. The existence of such a threshold (for instance, becoming eligible to a policy at a certain age or below a certain income level) generates a treatment group and a control group, in a manner similar to an experimental approach.

Keywords: quasi-experimental methods; eligibility threshold; forcing variable; sharp vs fuzzy regression discontinuity design; optimal bandwidth; monotonicity; compliers; Quantitative methods

Domains: Economics and Finance; Political science

Denis Fougère, Nicolas Jacquemet. The regression discontinuity design. LIEPP Methods Brief n°14, 2023. ⟨hal-04103359⟩