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Dr Melanie Meng Xue SAR 612

This course is available on the MSc in Economic History, MSc in Economic History (Research), MSc in Global Economic History, MSc in Global Economic History (Erasmus Mundus) and MSc in Political Economy of Late Development. This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit.

This course has a limited number of places (it is controlled access).  In previous years we have been able to provide places for all students that apply, but that may not continue to be the case.

Students enrolled for this course are expected to have completed at least introductory undergraduate courses in statistics and/or econometrics and economic theory. The course will begin with a revision of the main quantitative approaches but will not provide a comprehensive training in econometric methods or computer applications.

Please note: EH426A cannot be taken with EH426W.

The course will provide an overview of quantitative approaches in economic history mainly using cross-section and panel data. The course will examine the use of quantitative techniques through an examination of their application in recent literature. Techniques discussed will include propensity score matching, instrumental variables, regression discontinuity design, difference-in-differences analysis and spatial econometric models. The course is organised on a topic basis, with subjects chosen to illustrate particular theoretical, quantitative and methodological issues.

20 hours of seminars in the AT.

This course is delivered through a combination of classes and lectures totalling a minimum of 20 hours across Autumn Term. This year, while we are planning for most classes and seminars to be delivered in-person, it is possible that some or all of this teaching may have to be delivered virtually.  Lectures will either be recorded or given in the form of live webinars.

This course includes a reading week in Week 6 of Autumn Term.

Students are expected to write one essay or equivalent pieces of written work.

There is no mandatory textbook for this course, but the brief overview of quantitative methods during the first four weeks will follow:

• Wooldridge, J.M. (2009), Introductory Econometrics: A Modern Approach, International Student Edition.

Useful background readings include:

• J.L. Van Zanden, The Long Road to the Industrial Revolution: The European Economy in a Global Perspective, 1000-1800 (Leiden, 2009);
• K.H. O'Rourke and J.G. Williamson, Globalization and History: The Evolution of a Nineteenth-Century Atlantic Economy (Cambridge MA, 1998);
• C. Goldin and L.F. Katz, The race between education and technology (Cambridge, MA, 2008);
• D. Greasley and L. Oxley (eds.), Economics and History: Surveys in Cliometrics (Oxford, 2011).6).

Essay (100%, 4000 words).