This course will provide an overview of the main policy evaluation methods. It will focus on applied methods, and econometric derivations will only (infrequently) be used to help intuition. The course aims to strengthen the methodological background of students interested in conducting applied research.
The course will begin by defining the question of policy evaluation and introducing the idea of causality and randomization. It will then proceed
to cover the methods used for policy evaluation. The topics will include standard methods of policy evaluation: RCTs, propensity score
matching, difference-in-differences, instrumental variables (IVs), and regression discontinuity design. The course will also discuss the modern
advances in the methods used for policy evaluation: the Oster test, Bartik IV, pre-trend testing (e.g., Roth, 2022), synthetic difference-in-differences, and staggered difference-in-differences.
- Teacher: Nikita Melnikov