Leveraging Covariates in Regression Discontinuity Designs

Abstract: It is common practice to incorporate additional covariates in empirical economics. In the context of Regression Discontinuity (RD) designs, covariate adjustment plays multiple roles, making it essential to understand its impact on analysis and conclusions. Typically implemented via local least squares regressions, covariate adjustment can serve three main distinct purposes: (i) improving the efficiency of RD average causal effect estimators, (ii) learning about heterogeneous RD policy effects, and (iii) changing the RD parameter of interest. This article discusses and illustrates empirically how to leverage covariates effectively in RD designs.