TY  - JOUR
AU  - McCrary,Justin
TI  - Manipulation of the Running Variable in the Regression Discontinuity Design: A Density Test
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Technical Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 334
PY  - 2007
Y2  - January 2007
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/t0334
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/t0334.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Justin McCrary
School of Law
University of California, Berkeley
586 Simon Hall
Berkeley, CA 94720-7200
Tel: (510) 643-6252
E-Mail: jmccrary@law.berkeley.edu
AB  - Standard sufficient conditions for identification in the regression discontinuity design are continuity of the conditional expectation of counterfactual outcomes in the running variable.  These continuity assumptions may not be plausible if agents are able to manipulate the running variable.  This paper develops a test of manipulation related to continuity of the running variable density function.  The methodology is applied to popular elections to the House of Representatives, where sorting is neither expected nor found, and to roll-call voting in the House, where sorting is both expected and found.
ER  -