A Locally Linear Estimation of Regression Discontinuity

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a locally linear estimation of a regression discontinuity model. The proposed estimator is applicable to evaluation of the effectiveness of the program treatment, and it improves upon the existing literature by providing not just the treatment effect at discontinuity but also insight of the treatment effect on those near discontinuity. Under some familiar conditions, we establish the consistency and asymptotic normality of the proposed estimator. We also provide an easy to compute consistent covariance matrix.

Keywords

Regression discontinuity / treatment effect / local linear / consistency / asymptotic normality

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

2014 Higher Education Press and Brill