Regression-Discontinuity Design - Institute for Policy Research

Examples
• Black, Galdo, and Smith (2007)
– AV: Profiling score between 1 and 20
– For each employment office each week, applicants at most risk for were assigned to
services until the number of slots were nearly filled. Those with tie profiling scores were
randomly assigned to treatment and control conditions. All remaining applicants
assigned to comparison condition.
– 32 employment offices, with 272 RDD cutoff groups (ranging in size from 4 to 241)
• Buddelmeyer and Skoufias (2007)
– AV: Score on scale of material wealth
– Scale was based on a discriminant score analysis conducted separately for different
geographic regions in Mexico. Each region had its own cutoff score.
– Seven regions, with each region having between 383 and 10,790 households
• Reading First (2007)
– AV: Scale used by district to assign Reading First funds
– Assignment variable and cutoff varied by site. Assignment variables included rankings
based on student achievement, poverty, ratings on proposals, and other.
– 18 sites, with each site having between 5 and 32 schools