Leveraging Quasi-Experimental Methods to Estimate Model Structure: Understanding School Funding Changes in Response to Court Orders

We discuss an approach to using the event study, a common experimental design in the social sciences, to parameterize delays and develop other insights into system structure. We show a step-by-step process for undertaking a delay event study, discuss some of the conceptual reasons that this provides...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Kawika Pierson, Jon C. Thompson
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2020-07-01
Series:Systems
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2079-8954/8/3/25
Description
Summary:We discuss an approach to using the event study, a common experimental design in the social sciences, to parameterize delays and develop other insights into system structure. We show a step-by-step process for undertaking a delay event study, discuss some of the conceptual reasons that this provides information about the delay, and illustrate the process for a typical example. We find evidence that school funding changes following court orders do not adjust quickly, and likely follow a higher-order, as opposed to a first-order, delay process. Our tests also suggest that school district budget makers appear to forecast revenue pessimistically, contributing an additional source of delay to the system.
ISSN:2079-8954