Failed Policy? The Effects of Kenya's Education Reform: Use of Natural Experiment and Regression Discontinuity Design

2019 ◽  
Vol 101 (1) ◽  
pp. 406-419
Author(s):  
Hye‐Sung Kim
Keyword(s):  
Education Reform ◽  
Natural Experiment ◽  
Regression Discontinuity ◽  
Regression Discontinuity Design

Political Devolution and Resistance to Foreign Rule: A Natural Experiment

2014 ◽  
Vol 108 (3) ◽  
pp. 642-660 ◽  
Author(s):  
JEREMY FERWERDA ◽  
NICHOLAS L. MILLER
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Natural Experiment ◽  
Regression Discontinuity ◽  
Regression Discontinuity Design ◽  
Structural Factors ◽  
Central Question ◽  
World War ◽  
Foreign Occupation ◽  
The Relationship

Do foreign occupiers face less resistance when they increase the level of native governing authority? Although this is a central question within the literature on foreign occupation and insurgency, it is difficult to answer because the relationship between resistance and political devolution is typically endogenous. To address this issue, we identify a natural experiment based on the locally arbitrary assignment of French municipalities into German or Vichy-governed zones during World War II. Using a regression discontinuity design, we conclude that devolving governing authority significantly lowered levels of resistance. We argue that this effect is driven by a process of political cooptation: domestic groups that were granted governing authority were less likely to engage in resistance activity, while violent resistance was heightened in regions dominated by groups excluded from the governing regime. This finding stands in contrast to work that primarily emphasizes structural factors or nationalist motivations for resistance.

scholarly journals No extension without representation? Evidence from a natural experiment in collective bargaining

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Hijzen ◽  
Pedro S. Martins
Keyword(s):  
Collective Bargaining ◽  
Natural Experiment ◽  
Employment Growth ◽  
Regression Discontinuity ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Regression Discontinuity Design ◽  
Collective Agreements ◽  
Causal Impact

AbstractIn many countries, collective bargaining coverage is enhanced by government-issued extensions that widen the reach of collective agreements beyond their signatory parties to all firms and workers in the sector. This paper analyzes the causal impact of extensions using a natural experiment in Portugal that resulted in a sharp and unanticipated decline in the extension probability of agreements. Our results, based on a regression discontinuity design, indicate that extensions had a negative impact on employment growth. This effect is concentrated among nonaffiliated firms, which may reflect the limited representativeness of employer associations.

scholarly journals The Effect of Electoral Systems on Voter Turnout: Evidence from a Natural Experiment

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 689-710 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos Sanz
Keyword(s):  
Population Size ◽  
Voter Turnout ◽  
Natural Experiment ◽  
Regression Discontinuity ◽  
Electoral Systems ◽  
Proportional Representation ◽  
Institutional Framework ◽  
Local Elections ◽  
Regression Discontinuity Design ◽  
Percentage Points

I exploit the unique institutional framework of Spanish local elections, where municipalities follow different electoral systems depending on their population size, as mandated by a national law. Using a regression discontinuity design, I compare turnout under closed list proportional representation and under an open list, plurality-at-large system where voters can vote for individual candidates from the same or different party-lists. I find that the open list system increases turnout by between 1 and 2 percentage points. The results suggest that open list systems, which introduce competition both across and within parties, are conducive to more voter turnout.

Impacts of winter heating on the population mobility of northern China's prefectural cities: evidence from a regression discontinuity design

Kybernetes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Haiya Cai ◽  
Yongqing Nan ◽  
Yongliang Zhao ◽  
Haoran Xiao
Keyword(s):  
Big Data ◽  
Natural Experiment ◽  
Regression Discontinuity ◽  
Estimation Error ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Regression Discontinuity Design ◽  
Population Mobility ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Research Studies

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to regard winter heating as a quasi-natural experiment to identify the possible causal effects of winter heating on population mobility. However, there are scant research studies examining the effect of atmospheric quality on population mobility. There also exists some relevant research studies on the relationship between population mobility and environmental degradation (Lu et al., 2018; Reis et al., 2018; Shen et al., 2018), and these studies exist still some deficiencies.Design/methodology/approachThe notorious atmospheric quality problems caused by coal-fired heating in winter of northern China have an aroused widespread concern. However, the quantitative study on the effects on population mobility of winter heating is still rare. In this study, the authors regard the winter heating as a quasi-natural experiment, based on the of daily panel data of 58 cities of Tencent location Big Data in China from August 13 to December 30 in 2016 and August 16 to December 30 in 2017, and examine the impacts of winter heating on population mobility by utilizing a regression discontinuity method.FindingsThe findings are as follows, in general, winter heating significantly aggravates regional population mobility, but the impacts on population mobility among different cities are heterogeneous. Specifically, the effects of winter heating on population mobility is greater for cities with relatively good air quality, and the effects is also more obvious for big and medium-sized cities than that in small cities. In addition, different robustness tests, including continuity test, different bandwidth tests and alternative empirical model, are adopted to ensure the reliability of the conclusion. Finally, the authors put forward corresponding policy suggestions from the three dimensions of government, enterprises and residents.Originality/valueFirst, regarding winter heating as a quasi-natural experiment, a regression discontinuity design method is introduced to investigate the relationship between winter heating and population mobility, which is helpful to avoid the estimation error caused by endogeneity. Second, the authors use the passenger travel “big data” based on the website of Tencent Location Big Data, which can effectively capture the daily characteristics of China's population mobility. Third, this study discusses the population mobility from the perspective of winter heating and researches population mobility before and after winter heating, which is helpful in enriching the research on population mobility.

scholarly journals The Effect of Seeding on Tournament Outcomes: Evidence From a Regression-Discontinuity Design

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-136
Author(s):  
Oliver Engist ◽  
Erik Merkus ◽  
Felix Schafmeister
Keyword(s):  
Natural Experiment ◽  
Regression Discontinuity ◽  
Causal Effect ◽  
Regression Discontinuity Design ◽  
Recent Past ◽  
Average Strength ◽  
Discontinuous Nature ◽  
Substantial Drop

Seeding in tournaments is a process of creating a schedule based on performance in the recent past. It is used in many athletic disciplines to ensure that particularly attractive match ups do not occur until the later stages of the tournament. We exploit the discontinuous nature of the seeding system in the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Europa League as a natural experiment to estimate the causal effect of being seeded. We find no evidence that seeding itself contributes positively to the team’s success in the tournament. This finding is surprising given the substantial drop in average strength of the opponents for seeded teams and in striking opposition to the findings of previous studies.

scholarly journals Does Lower Benefits Incentivize Refugee Naturalization? Evidence from a Natural Experiment

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frederik Juhl Jørgensen
Keyword(s):  
Natural Experiment ◽  
Resource Constraints ◽  
Regression Discontinuity ◽  
Social Assistance ◽  
Regression Discontinuity Design ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Percentage Points ◽  
Low Education ◽  
Major Reform

Does lower benefits provide an incentive for refugees to naturalize? I identify the effect of lowering refugees’ benefits on their propensity to naturalize by leveraging quasi-random variation in refugees’ benefit levels induced by a major reform of the Danish social assistance system. The reform sharply reduced social assistance benefits by up to 50 percent for new refugees. I estimate the effect of this decrease in a regression discontinuity design and show that refugees’ propensity to naturalize jumps by about 13½ percentage points at the benefit cutoff. I demonstrate that this marked increase is most likely driven by increased incentives that drive refugees off welfare and into the labor market in the short-term. Moreover, I show that the positive effects on naturalization are concentrated among the most capable refugees who do not face the resource constraints that follow from low education.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document