Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/36096 
Year of Publication: 
2009
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 4679
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
Using a rich individual-level dataset on secondary public schools in Israel, we find strong evidence for discontinuities in the relationship between enrollment and household characteristics at cutoff points induced by a maximum class size rule. Our findings extend existing work that documents such discontinuities only among private schools (Urquiola and Verhoogen, 2009). These discontinuities violate the assumptions underlying the regression discontinuity design, which are crucial for identification. Consequently, IV estimates of class size effects are likely to be seriously biased. Potential manipulation of the treatment assignment rule by public schools warrants caution in applying a regression discontinuity design to estimate class size effects and indicates that institutional context is crucial for its scope of applicability.
Subjects: 
Regression discontinuity design
class size
JEL: 
I20
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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