A new bandwidth selection rule that uses different bandwidths for the local linear regression estimators on the left and the right of the cut-off point is proposed for the sharp regression discontinuity estimator of the mean program impact at the cut-off point. The asymptotic mean squared error of the estimator using the proposed bandwidth selection rule is shown to be smaller than other bandwidth selection rules proposed in the literature. An extensive simulation study shows that the proposed method's performances for the sample sizes 500, 2000, and 5000 closely match the theoretical predictions.
A new bandwidth selection method for the fuzzy regression discontinuity estimator is proposed. The method chooses two bandwidths simultaneously, one for each side of the cut-off point by using a criterion based on the estimated asymptotic mean square error taking into account a second-order bias term. A simulation study demonstrates the usefulness of the proposed method.
The practical importance of inference with robustness against large bandwidths for causal effects in regression discontinuity and kink designs is widely recognized. Existing robust methods cover many cases, but do not handle uniform inference for CDF and quantile processes in fuzzy designs, despite its use in the recent literature in empirical microeconomics. In this light, this paper extends the literature by developing a unified framework of inference with robustness against large bandwidths that applies to uniform inference for quantile treatment effects in fuzzy designs, as well as all the…
Modern empirical work in Regression Discontinuity (RD) designs often employs local polynomial estimation and inference with a mean square error (MSE) optimal bandwidth choice. This bandwidth yields an MSE-optimal RD treatment effect estimator, but is by construction invalid for inference. Robust bias corrected (RBC) inference methods are valid when using the MSE-optimal bandwidth, but we show they yield suboptimal confidence intervals in terms of coverage error. We establish valid coverage error expansions for RBC confidence interval estimators and use these results to propose new inference-op…
The Regression Discontinuity Design (RDD) is a quasi-experimental design that estimates the causal effect of a treatment when its assignment is defined by a threshold value for a continuous assignment variable. The RDD assumes that subjects with measurements within a bandwidth around the threshold belong to a common population, so that the threshold can be seen as a randomising device assigning treatment to those falling just above the threshold and withholding it from those who fall just below. Bandwidth selection represents a compelling decision for the RDD analysis as the results may be hig…
Improved inference for nonparametric regression and regression-discontinuity designs
University of Bologna（博洛尼亚大学）；Exeter Business School（埃克塞特商学院）；McGill University（麦吉尔大学）；CIREQ（魁北克经济学研究中心）；Aarhus Center for Econometrics（奥胡斯计量经济学中心）；Aarhus University（奥胡斯大学）
This paper introduces an intuitive and easy-to-implement nonparametric density estimator based on local polynomial techniques. The estimator is fully boundary adaptive and automatic, but does not require pre-binning or any other transformation of the data. We study the main asymptotic properties of the estimator, and use these results to provide principled estimation, inference, and bandwidth selection methods. As a substantive application of our results, we develop a novel discontinuity in density testing procedure, an important problem in regression discontinuity designs and other program ev…
On Robust Empirical Likelihood for Nonparametric Regression with Application to Regression Discontinuity Designs
University of Sydney Business School（悉尼大学商学院）；Institute of Statistics and Big Data, Renmin University of China（中国人民大学统计与大数据研究院）；School of Mathematics, Renmin University of China（中国人民大学数学学院）；Faculty of Business and Economics, The University of Hong Kong（香港大学工商管理学院）
We study regression discontinuity designs in which many predetermined covariates, possibly much more than the number of observations, can be used to increase the precision of treatment effect estimates. We consider a two-step estimator which first selects a small number of "important" covariates through a localized Lasso-type procedure, and then, in a second step, estimates the treatment effect by including the selected covariates linearly into the usual local linear estimator. We provide an in-depth analysis of the algorithm's theoretical properties, showing that, under an approximate sparsit…
Kernel-based estimators such as local polynomial estimators in regression discontinuity designs are often evaluated at multiple bandwidths as a form of sensitivity analysis. However, if in the reported results, a researcher selects the bandwidth based on this analysis, the associated confidence intervals may not have correct coverage, even if the estimator is unbiased. This paper proposes a simple adjustment that gives correct coverage in such situations: replace the normal quantile with a critical value that depends only on the kernel and ratio of the maximum and minimum bandwidths the resear…
An exact, closed form, and easy to compute expression for the mean integrated squared error (MISE) of a kernel estimator of a normal mixture cumulative distribution function is derived for the class of arbitrary order Gaussian-based kernels. Comparisons are made with MISE of the empirical distribution function, the infeasible minimum MISE of kernel estimators, and the asymptotically optimal second order uniform kernel. The results afford straightforward extensions to other classes of kernel functions and distributions. The analysis also offers a guide on when to use higher order kernels in dis…
We investigate the issue of bandwidth estimation in a nonparametric functional regression model with function-valued, continuous real-valued and discrete-valued regressors under the framework of unknown error density. Extending from the recent work of Shang (2013, Computational Statistics & Data Analysis), we approximate the unknown error density by a kernel density estimator of residuals, where the regression function is estimated by the functional Nadaraya-Watson estimator that admits mixed types of regressors. We derive a kernel likelihood and posterior density for the bandwidth parameters …
Free Discontinuity Regression: With an Application to the Economic Effects of Internet Shutdowns
Department of Economics, Emory University（埃默里大学经济学系）；Department of Economics, University of Michigan（密歇根大学经济学系）；Risk Analytics Division, Ipsos Public Affairs（Ipsos公共事务风险分析部）
This paper presents a Bayesian sampling approach to bandwidth estimation for the local linear estimator of the regression function in a nonparametric regression model. In the Bayesian sampling approach, the error density is approximated by a location-mixture density of Gaussian densities with means the individual errors and variance a constant parameter. This mixture density has the form of a kernel density estimator of errors and is referred to as the kernel-form error density (c.f., Zhang et al., 2014). While Zhang et al. (2014) use the local constant (also known as the Nadaraya- Watson) est…
This study examines the optimal selections of bandwidth and semi-metric for a functional partial linear model. Our proposed method begins by estimating the unknown error density using a kernel density estimator of residuals, where the regression function, consisting of parametric and nonparametric components, can be estimated by functional principal component and functional Nadayara-Watson estimators. The estimation accuracy of the regression function and error density crucially depends on the optimal estimations of bandwidth and semi-metric. A Bayesian method is utilized to simultaneously est…
We consider the problem of bandwidth selection by cross-validation from a sequential point of view in a nonparametric regression model. Having in mind that in applications one often aims at estimation, prediction and change detection simultaneously, we investigate that approach for sequential kernel smoothers in order to base these tasks on a single statistic. We provide uniform weak laws of large numbers and weak consistency results for the cross-validated bandwidth. Extensions to weakly dependent error terms are discussed as well. The errors may be α-mixing or L2-near epoch dependent, which …
