Boundary Discontinuity Methods and Policy Spillovers

The boundary discontinuity method of causal inference may yield misleading results if a policy’s impacts do not stop at the border of the implementing jurisdiction. We use geographically precise longitudinal employment data documenting worker job-to-job mobility to study policy spillovers in the con...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:NBER Working Paper Series 2022-05
Main Authors: Jardim, Ekaterina S, Long, Mark C, Plotnick, Robert, Emma van Inwegen, Vigdor, Jacob L, Wething, Hilary
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Economic theory
Jurisdiction
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The boundary discontinuity method of causal inference may yield misleading results if a policy’s impacts do not stop at the border of the implementing jurisdiction. We use geographically precise longitudinal employment data documenting worker job-to-job mobility to study policy spillovers in the context of three local minimum wage increases. Estimated spillover impacts on wages and hours are statistically significant, geographically diffuse, and sufficient to create concern regarding interpretation of results even using not-immediately-adjacent regions as controls. Spillover effects appear less concerning with smaller interventions or those or adopted in a smaller jurisdiction.
ISSN:0898-2937
DOI:10.3386/w30075