Data and Code for: Quantifying Threshold Manipulation in the Presence of Rounding: The Case of Lead Monitoring in US Drinking Water

Principal Investigator(s):  View help for Principal Investigator(s) Tihitina Andarge, University of Massachusetts-Amherst; Dalia Ghanem, University of California-Davis; David Keiser, University of Massachusetts-Amherst; Gabriel Lade, Macalester College

Version:  View help for Version V1

Name File Type Size Last Modified
  Lead_AERInsights 07/31/2025 02:14:PM
README.pdf application/pdf 329.4 KB 07/31/2025 10:58:AM

Project Citation: 

Andarge, Tihitina, Ghanem, Dalia, Keiser, David, and Lade, Gabriel. Data and Code for: Quantifying Threshold Manipulation in the Presence of Rounding: The Case of Lead Monitoring in US Drinking Water. Nashville, TN: American Economic Association [publisher], 2025. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2025-08-01. https://doi.org/10.3886/E210045V1

Project Description

Summary:  View help for Summary Replication code and data for "Quantifying Threshold Manipulation in the Presence of Rounding: The Case of Lead Monitoring in US Drinking Water" by Tihitina Andarge, Dalia Ghanem, David A. Keiser, and Gabriel E. Lade.

Below is the abstract of the paper:

Many laws and economic actions depend on thresholds. As a consequence, threshold manipulation is a common concern in a variety of settings. Existing methods for detecting and quantifying threshold manipulation assume a continuous counterfactual distribution absent manipulation. This assumption is violated in the presence of rounding, which is prevalent in many applications and distinct from manipulation. This paper develops methods for testing and quantifying threshold manipulation when rounding is a prominent feature of the data. We demonstrate the usefulness of our approach in an empirical application examining threshold manipulation in lead monitoring under the US Safe Drinking Water Act.
Funding Sources:  View help for Funding Sources United States Department of Health and Human Services. National Institutes of Health. National Institute on Aging (R01AG079914)

Scope of Project

Subject Terms:  View help for Subject Terms threshold manipulation; manipulation test; lead; drinking water
JEL Classification:  View help for JEL Classification
      C24 Single Equation Models; Single Variables: Truncated and Censored Models; Switching Regression Models; Threshold Regression Models
      K20 Regulation and Business Law: General
      K32 Energy, Environmental, Health, and Safety Law
      K42 Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law
      Q53 Air Pollution; Water Pollution; Noise; Hazardous Waste; Solid Waste; Recycling
      Q58 Environmental Economics: Government Policy
Geographic Coverage:  View help for Geographic Coverage United States
Time Period(s):  View help for Time Period(s) 2011 – 2020
Data Type(s):  View help for Data Type(s) administrative records data; census/enumeration data; geographic information system (GIS) data; observational data

Methodology

Data Source:  View help for Data Source
  • US Census Bureau. 2020. Cartographic Boundary Files. 
  • US Census Bureau. 2021. Annual County Resident Population Estimates by Age, Sex, Race, and Hispanic Origin: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2020. 
  • USDOC and USEPA. 2023. American Indian Reservations. 
  • USEPA. 2021. Enforcement and Compliance History Online - Drinking Water Data Downloads.

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Published Versions

V1 [2025-08-01]

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