Duration
30h Th, 15h Pr
Number of credits
| Master in economics : general (120 ECTS) | 5 crédits |
Lecturer
Language(s) of instruction
English language
Organisation and examination
Teaching in the first semester, review in January
Schedule
Units courses prerequisite and corequisite
Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program
Learning unit contents
The course proposes an overview of modern econometric tools for impact evaluation of public policies. The course adopts a "Hands-on" approach through public-policy relevant examples and case studies.
The first part of the class focuses on the essential microeconometric methods for evaluation. The theory will be presented during the class, while some tutorials will show how to implement the methods in stata.
The second part of the class will discuss two or three case studies more in depth, using examples from recent research articles focusing on a public economics question. For example:
1/ Taxation and Inequality: Should there be a wealth tax?
2/ Social Insurance: How generous should unemployment benefits be?
3/ Education: Until which age should school be compulsory?
This course has an important applied dimension as students will have to perform a replication exercise of the results of a public economic research article.
Learning outcomes of the learning unit
At the end of the class, students will:
- understand how empirical methods can be used for assessing the impacts of public policies;
- be equipped with the intuition and skills necessary to understand and apply methods of causal analysis to actual data;
- be able to critically assess reports discussing the effectiveness of various public policies.
Prerequisite knowledge and skills
Applied econometrics I & II, Public finance
Planned learning activities and teaching methods
Students are expected to engage by reading the introduction and conclusion of papers discussed before the class and to actively participate during the class. For this reason, in-person participation is mandatory and the class will not be broadcasted.
Mode of delivery (face to face, distance learning, hybrid learning)
Face-to-face course
Recommended or required readings
Angrist, J. D., & Pischke, J. S. (2009). Mostly harmless econometrics: An empiricist's companion. Princeton university press.
Abadie, A., & Cattaneo, M. D. (2018). Econometric methods for program evaluation. Annual Review of Economics, 10(1).
Written work / report
Continuous assessment
Additional information:
Students will work in groups of two and replicate the analysis of current research papers covering topics in public economics. The goal of the replication exercise is to get hands-on experience with econometric methods while studying current topics in public economics.
During a "special class", all groups will present their replication work, summarizing the methods and the results.
Furthermore, each student will independently extend the replication analysis by conducting further analyses. This includes, for example, further robustness checks or applying additional methods. Each student will give back a short report summarizing the results of his/her extension (approx. five pages).