This course equips students with the analytical tools to think critically about real-world problems and how public policies are designed to address them. Before we can rigorously evaluate whether policies work, we must first ask the right questions: What problem is the policy trying to solve? What outcomes should we expect, and why? What could go wrong?
Through hands-on mini assignments, real policy cases, and an intuitive introduction to causal reasoning and regression analysis — including simple and multiple regression and counterfactual thinking — students will learn to interpret evidence and identify key assumptions, building the mindset and skills needed to become thoughtful consumers and future producers of policy evaluation.
The course emphasizes clarity in problem framing, structured thinking about causality, and careful interpretation of evidence — laying the groundwork for more technical training in policy evaluation.
- Teacher: Sónia Manuela de Castro Félix Regula