PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Nirav Mehta
TI  - An Economic Approach to Generalizing Findings from Regression-Discontinuity Designs
AID  - 10.3368/jhr.54.4.1115.7497R2
DP  - 2018 Aug 03
TA  - Journal of Human Resources
PG  - 1115-7497R2
4099  - http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/early/2018/08/01/jhr.54.4.1115.7497R2.short
4100  - http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/early/2018/08/01/jhr.54.4.1115.7497R2.full
AB  - Regression-discontinuity (RD) designs estimate treatment effects only around a cutoff. This paper shows what can be learned about average treatment effects for the treated (ATT), untreated (ATUT), and population (ATE) if the cutoff was chosen to maximize the net gain from treatment. Without capacity constraints, the RD estimate bounds the ATT from below and the ATUT from above, implying bounds for the ATE, and optimality of the cutoff rules out constant treatment effects. Bounds are typically looser if the capacity constraint binds. Testable implications of cutoff optimality are derived. The results are demonstrated using previous RD studies.