Causal inference and policy evaluation**
A.A. 2024/2025
Obiettivi formativi
The main objective of this course is to introduce students to the concepts of causality and counterfactual impact evaluation (CIE). After a statistical introduction to the most popular methods used to assess causality (such as instrumental variables, difference-in-differences, regression discontinuity design, randomized control trials), their application will be illustrated through examples of causal inference and policy evaluation in several domains of applied economics, such as labor, education and health economics.
Risultati apprendimento attesi
After the end of the course students must be able: 1) to read and understand the specialized literature using causal inference; 2) facing a problem of causal inference, to understand the complexities involved and to carefully design research strategies to estimate causality and evaluate policies; 3) to carry out policy evaluations in most fields of applied economics, to write a report (or paper) explaining the results, and to present them to both an academic and a general audience.
Periodo: Primo trimestre
Modalità di valutazione: Esame
Giudizio di valutazione: voto verbalizzato in trentesimi
Corso singolo
Questo insegnamento può essere seguito come corso singolo.
Programma e organizzazione didattica
Edizione unica
Responsabile
Periodo
Primo trimestre
Programma
The counterfactual and causality
Recap of Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) and causality
Randomized Control Trials (RCTs)
Instrumental Variables (IVs)
The Local Average Treatment Effects (LATE) of IVs
Difference-in-Differences (DID)
Regression Discontinuity Design (RDD)
Recent developments of causal inference and policy evaluation methods
Recap of Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) and causality
Randomized Control Trials (RCTs)
Instrumental Variables (IVs)
The Local Average Treatment Effects (LATE) of IVs
Difference-in-Differences (DID)
Regression Discontinuity Design (RDD)
Recent developments of causal inference and policy evaluation methods
Prerequisiti
Students are expected to be familiar with the basic concepts taught in undergraduate-level statics and/or econometrics courses, including multivariate regression analysis, and be able to use statistics/econometrics software (e.g. R, STATA). The software used in the course is STATA.
Metodi didattici
Frontal lectures.
Materiale di riferimento
- Angrist, J. D., & Pischke, J. S. (2008). Mostly harmless econometrics. In Mostly Harmless Econometrics. Princeton university press.
- Scientific papers posted on the ARIEL website.
Non-technical introduction to the course topics
Angrist, J. D., & Pischke, J. S. (2015). Mastering 'Metrics. The path from cause to effect. Princeton University Press.
- Scientific papers posted on the ARIEL website.
Non-technical introduction to the course topics
Angrist, J. D., & Pischke, J. S. (2015). Mastering 'Metrics. The path from cause to effect. Princeton University Press.
Modalità di verifica dell’apprendimento e criteri di valutazione
Attending students
Attending students have to write an empirical paper (either single-authored or in groups of 2-3 students) using causal inference and policy evaluation methods (e.g. evaluating a given policy) in which they use the econometric methods learned during the course.
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Non-attending students
The course is assessed through a final written exam, which mainly consists of open and multiple-choice questions. The main emphasis of the course is on developing students' abilities to formulate a research question aiming at assessing causality and writing a research paper. Thus attendance is strongly advised.
Attending students have to write an empirical paper (either single-authored or in groups of 2-3 students) using causal inference and policy evaluation methods (e.g. evaluating a given policy) in which they use the econometric methods learned during the course.
=================================
Non-attending students
The course is assessed through a final written exam, which mainly consists of open and multiple-choice questions. The main emphasis of the course is on developing students' abilities to formulate a research question aiming at assessing causality and writing a research paper. Thus attendance is strongly advised.
Siti didattici
Docente/i
Ricevimento:
Salvo diverso avviso (pubblicato qui): Martedi 18-19.30; Mercoledi 18-19.30; Su appuntamento.
MS Teams o in presenza (ufficio nr. 21 DEMM)