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When Can We Ignore Measurement Error in the Running Variable?

Yingying Dong, Michal Kolesár

arXiv 14 Nov 2021 · Econometrics · publishedJournal of Applied Econometrics (2023) · 14 citations (OpenAlex)

arXiv:2111.07388 · PDF · DOI · OpenAlex · Extracted main text

Abstract

In many applications of regression discontinuity designs, the running variable used by the administrator to assign treatment is only observed with error. We show that, provided the observed running variable (i) correctly classifies the treatment assignment, and (ii) affects the conditional means of the potential outcomes smoothly, ignoring the measurement error nonetheless yields an estimate with a causal interpretation: the average treatment effect for units whose observed running variable equals to the cutoff. We show that, possibly after doughnut trimming, these assumptions accommodate a variety of settings where support of the measurement error is not too wide. We propose to conduct inference using bias-aware methods, which remain valid even when discreteness or irregular support in the observed running variable may lead to partial identification. We illustrate the results for both sharp and fuzzy designs in an empirical application.

Citation extraction

36
references
91
in-text mentions
36
distinct cited
4
self-citations
17,272
main-text words

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Most heavily cited references

The works this paper leans on most, across its whole bibliography — not restricted to papers in our corpus. Ranked by composite intensity, which combines how often a work is mentioned, how many sections mention it, and how much of that falls in the main text rather than the appendix.

ReferenceIntensityMentionsSectionsMain text
1Armstrong, Timothy B., Kolesár, Michal (2018) Optimal Inference in a Class of Regression Models self1.00053100%
2Noack, Claudia, Rothe, Christoph (2021) Bias-Aware Inference in Fuzzy Regression Discontinuity Designs0.9416483%
3Armstrong, Timothy B., Kolesár, Michal (2020) Simple and Honest Confidence Intervals in Nonparametric Regression self0.87412467%
4Imbens, Guido W., Wager, Stefan (2019) Optimized Regression Discontinuity Designs0.8229356%
5Kolesár, Michal, Rothe, Christoph (2018) Inference in Regression Discontinuity Designs with a Discrete Running Variable self0.8226283%
6Barreca, Alan I., Lindo, Jason M., Waddell, Glen R (2016) Heaping-Induced Bias in Regression-Discontinuity Designs0.73732100%
7Davezies, Laurent, Le Barbanchon, Thomas (2017) Regression Discontinuity Design with Continuous Measurement Error in the Running Variable0.73732100%
8Hullegie, Patrick, Klein, Tobias J (2010) The Effect of Private Health Insurance on Medical Care Utilization and Self-Assessed Health in Germany0.73732100%
9Pei, Zhuan, Shen, Yi, Cattaneo, Matias D., Escanciano, Juan Carlos (2017) The Devil Is in the Tails: Regression Discontinuity Design with Measurement Error in the Assignment Variable0.73732100%
10Battistin, Erich, Brugiavini, Agar, Rettore, Enrico, Weber, Guglielmo (2009) The Retirement Consumption Puzzle: Evidence from a Regression Discontinuity Approach0.73732100%

Showing the top 10 of 36 scored citations.

Cited by, within the corpus

arXiv econ.EM papers that cite this one, ranked by how heavily they lean on it.

Citing paperIntensityMentionsSections
1Noise-Induced Randomization in Regression Discontinuity Designs0.64422
22009.075510.40511
3Joint Inference for the Regression Discontinuity Effect and Its External Validity0.40511