The difference in difference (DID) design is a quasi-experimental research design that
researchers often use to study causal relationships in public health settings where …

This paper reviews some of the most popular policy evaluation methods in empirical
microeconomics: social experiments, natural experiments, matching, instrumental variables …

This chapter seeks to set out what economists have learned about the effects of early
childhood influences on later life outcomes, and about ameliorating the effects of negative …

This paper provides an introduction and “user guide” to Regression Discontinuity (RD)
designs for empirical researchers. It presents the basic theory behind the research design …

A regression discontinuity (RD) research design is appropriate for program evaluation
problems in which treatment status (or the probability of treatment) depends on whether an …

This paper offers a review of recent literature regarding the take up of social programs in the
US and UK A few general conclusions are drawn: First, take up is enhanced by automatic or …

The onset of Medicare eligibility at age 65 leads to sharp changes in the health insurance
coverage of the US population. These changes lead to increases in the use of medical …

This paper provides new evidence that Medicaid's introduction reduced infant and child
mortality in the 1960s and 1970s. Mandated coverage of all cash welfare recipients induced …

Conventional tests of the regression discontinuity design's identifying restrictions can
perform poorly when the running variable is discrete. This paper proposes a test for …

This paper provides new estimates of the medium-and long-term impacts of Head Start on
health and behavioral problems. We identify these impacts using discontinuities in the …