Analysis of Bayesian quasi-experimental designs in geographical contexts to evaluate policy e ectiveness
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2021-01-01
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en
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Abstract
Investigating if a governmental policy implemented in a certain region has the
desired e ect may be a complex task. Creating randomized controlled trials to
evaluate the policy in an experimental setting is not possible. For this matter,
Regression Discontinuity (RD) design has been around for a while as an implementation
of quasi-experimental designs. This research provides an evaluation of
the Bayesian Non-parametric Quasi-experimental Design (BNQD) framework proposed
by Hinne, Van Gerven & Ambrogioni (2019) [1], in geographical settings
speci cally. BNQD is a Bayesian implementation of RD that uses Gaussian Processes
to perform quasi-experimental design. The design will be compared to other
methods used by researchers in the eld of Geographical Regression Discontinuity
designs using simulations of data. In order to be able to evaluate the e ectiveness
of a policy change in one region, the model should be able to capture both spatial
data and di erent time points simultaneously. Combining the two sources of data
in a novel framework may rise di culties, conditions or assumptions that have
to be validated in order to achieve a new valid design. The details of the framework
are outlined as well as the relation with other quasi-experimental designs.
Finally, the framework is applied to a real-life data set of ammonia emissions in
the Netherlands to evaluate the far stricter policy applied in Noord-Brabant and
Limburg aimed at restricting ammonia emissions from livestock farming. This application
shows both the ease with which the framework can be applied and that
the emission reduction policy did not have the expected e ect.
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Faculteit der Sociale Wetenschappen