Notes on Regression Discontinuity Methods - [athena.sas.upenn ...

RD Examples: Card, D., Dobkin, C.,(2008,AER)
Effect of health insurance coverage on health care utilization
• Medicare eligibility at age 65 leads to sharp changes in the health
insurance coverage of the U.S. population and health care
utilization increases after age 65.
• Paper compares health-related outcomes (such as different kinds of
doctor visits and proceures) among people just before and just after
65, also examining results disaggregated according to group
characteristics.
• It follows DiNardo and Lee (2004) and assumes the age profiles in
equations (1), (2a) and (2b) are continuous polynomials with
potential discontinuities in the derivatives at age 65.
• They also fit many of the models using local linear regression (as
suggested by Hahn, Todd and van der Klaauw, 2001) and find
results to be relatively robust.