Many school districts pay for new school buildings with bond issues that must be approved by voters. supporters of these bond issues typically argue that new buildings improve schools and thereby boost housing values. Cellini, Ferreira, and Rothstein (2010) used RD analysis to test whether passage of school bonds caused housing values to rise.

a) What is the assignment variable?

b) Explain how to use a basic RD approach to estimate the effect of school bond passage on housing values.

c) Provide a specific equation for the model.