Essays on Policy Evaluation

This document is a collection of three articles developed during the course of my PhD, which I submit as requirement for the final exam. The three papers focus to some extent on policy evaluation, applying two main microeconometric techniques: regression discontinuity design and difference-in-differences. Each paper is briefly described as follows. Daylight Saving Lives - In this paper I investigate the effect of Daylight Saving Time (DST) on homicides. Educated Candidates and Efficient Bureaucrats - I test whether more educated candidates make into less corrupt public managers Accountability Shock and Market for Oversight - In this paper I tests whether a top-down shock in oversight and political accountability can strengthen the market for transparency in public management.