杏吧论坛

Dr Jeremiah Dittmar and Prof Mark Schankerman

This course is compulsory on the Master of Public Administration. This course is available on the MPA Dual Degree (杏吧论坛 and Columbia), MPA Dual Degree (杏吧论坛 and Hertie), MPA Dual Degree (杏吧论坛 and NUS), MPA Dual Degree (杏吧论坛 and Sciences Po) and MPA Dual Degree (杏吧论坛 and Tokyo). This course is not available as an outside option.

The course introduces students to regression-based methods and cost-benefits analysis used for the quantitative evaluation of public policies. The course introduces students to basic multiple regression analysis including hypothesis testing, modelling of non-linear relationships, and dummy variables. From there, the course covers a number of regression based evaluation methods to assess the causal effectiveness of policy interventions. These include the use of randomized experiments, natural or quasi-experiments, panel data, difference-in-differences estimation, instrumental variables, matching and regression discontinuity design. The final part of the course provides an overview of cost-benefit valuation methods for public policy.

This course is delivered through a combination of lectures and classes totalling a minimum of 60 hours across Michaelmas Term and Lent Term. 

Students will complete weekly problem sets. Some of these will be marked to provide indicative assessment.

Particularly useful textbooks are Joshua D. Angrist and Jom-Steffen Pischke, "Mastering Metrics"; James Stock & Mark Watson, "Introduction to Econometrics"; and Jeffrey Wooldridge, "Introductory Econometrics". The material in the textbooks will be complemented with recent research papers and chapters from other books. A full reading list will be distributed at the beginning of the course.

Exam (60%, duration: 3 hours, reading time: 15 minutes) in the summer exam period.
Policy memo (10%) in the MT.
Policy memo (10%) in the LT.
Continuous assessment (10%) in the MT and LT.
Group presentation (10%).