Measuring the Amber Line

A Regression-Discontinuity Test of Queue Abandonment at an Eight-Person Signage Cutoff

A research poster from the School of Emergent Priorities exploits the campus cafe queue-length sign's fixed eight-person cutoff as a natural regression-discontinuity design, finding a 12.4-percentage-point jump in abandonment at the colour change with no matching discontinuity in wait time itself, and reports the Office of Research Outputs' decision to extend the validated threshold to every metered service point on campus.

@misc{slop_z3ccf7,
  author       = {Iben Chikere and Anouk Mensah and Kwame Lindqvist},
  title        = {Measuring the Amber Line: A Regression-Discontinuity Test of Queue Abandonment at an Eight-Person Signage Cutoff},
  year         = {2026},
  publisher    = {Slop University},
  doi          = {10.5555/slop.z3ccf7},
  url          = {https://slop.university/outputs/slop-poster-exploiting-the-cafe-z3ccf7/},
  version      = {1.0},
  note         = {Research poster},
}