COWLES FOUNDATION FOR RESEARCH IN
ECONOMICS Box 208281
COWLES FOUNDATION DISCUSSION PAPER NO. 1799 Empirical Likelihood for Regression Discontinuity Design Taisuke Otsu and Ke-Li Xu May 2011 This paper proposes empirical likelihood based inference methods for
causal effects identified from regression discontinuity designs. We consider both the
sharp and fuzzy regression discontinuity designs and treat the regression functions as
nonparametric. The proposed inference procedures do not require asymptotic variance
estimation and the confidence sets have natural shapes, unlike the conventional Wald-type
method. These features are illustrated by simulations and an empirical example which
evaluates the effect of class size on pupils' scholastic achievements. Bandwidth selection
methods, higher-order properties, and extensions to incorporate additional covariates and
parametric functional forms are also discussed. |
