easyrd - Regression Discontinuity Made Easy

easyrd is a one-line solution for Regression Discontinuity analysis and its standard checks. It is mostly a wrapper around the rdrobust package to facilitate the procedures recommended in Cattaneo (2019).

Warning

This package is primarily for the author's personal use, so breaking changes may happen without notice.

Installation

To install easyrd from GitHub, run the following script:

# First, ensure remotes is installed
# install.packages("remotes"); library(remotes)

# Install easyrd from GitHub
remotes::install_github("TsaiLintung/easyrd")

Usage

Here is a basic workflow for the main RD analysis using easyrd:

# Load the package
library(data.table)
library(ggplot2)
library(easyrd)

# Simulate some example data
n <- 10000
dt <- data.table(x = runif(n, -1, 1), x2 = runif(n, -1, 1), x0 = runif(n, -1, 1),
                 y = 5 + 3*x + x2 + 2*(x >= 0) + rnorm(n),
                 y2 = 5 + 3*x + x2 + 3*(x >= 0) + rnorm(n))

# Set parameters for RD analysis
params <- get_rd_param(c("y", "y2"), "x", 0)

# Execute the main RD analysis
rd_result <- easyrd(dt, params)
rd_result #see the results!

Features

Conduct standard checks with ease. :

#Validity checks

# Predetermined Covariates and Placebo Outcomes
cov_params <- params
cov_params$outcomes <- c("x0") #
cov_result <- easyrd(dt, cov_params)

# Placebo cutoffs
cutoff_results <- easyrd(dt, params, alt_type = "cutoff", values = c(-0.1, 0.1))

# Density check is not included in easyrd but can be done easily with rddensity:
# require(rddensity)
# density_check <- rddensity(dt[,x], cutoff)

#Sensitivity checks

# Sensitivity to Observations near the Cutoff (donut)
donut_results <- easyrd(dt, params, alt_type = "donut", values = c(0.01, 0.02, 0.03))

# Sensitivity to Bandwidth Choice
bandwidth_results <- easyrd(dt, params, alt_type = "bandwidth", values = c(0.1, 0.2, 0.3))

Result can be generated easily with print and plot

plot(rd_result) #standard rd plot
print(rd_result) #result table
plot(cutoff_results) #estimates with alternative specifications
print(cutoff_results) #estimates with alternative specifications

The source of RD plots can be saved separately for later customization

plot_sources <- rd_result$plot_source #plot_sources is a data.table that can be saved as csv easily
plot_rd(plot_sources) + ggtitle("my custom title")