Quantitative Methods (STAREG)

This is a graduate course in I teach at the University of Geneva in the academic year 2017-2018 for the Master in Standardization Social Regulation and Sustainable Development (STAREG).

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Course logistics

• Summary description of the course
• Calendar with tentative topics for each lecture
• Slides of the introduction to the course

Lecture material

• Statistical inference
  • Excel exercise on estimation and on precision
  • e-board notes: 28.09.2017; 05.10.2017
• Linear models:
  • e-board notes
• Maximum likelihood
  • e-board notes
• A numerical example to explain causality
• Lecture notes on causality and policy evaluation
• E-board notes:
  • Potential outcome framework and randomised experiments (02.11.2017)
  • Multivariate regression and matching methods (16.11.2017)
  • Instrumental variables (23.11.2017)
  • Differences-in-Differences and Regression Discontinuity Design (07.12.2017)
• The debate about randomized experiments and economic development:
  • Esther Duflo (MIT) on social experiments to fight poverty
  • Debate between Abhijit Banerjee and Angus Deaton at NYU
  • Angus Deaton on "Epidemiology, randomised trials, and the search for what works in economic development"

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Applications (Sinisa's classes)

• Seminar slides 26.09.2017
• Age of students
  • Original data; dofile
• Guide about accessing Stata at UniGe
• Linear models: dofile - data - description of the data
• Omitted variable bias: dofile
• Maximum Likelihood: slides - excel example - dofile
• Applications:
  • Randomized experiments: the STAR Project
    • paper: Alan B. Krueger. Experimental Estimates of Education Production Functions. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 114, No. 2 (May, 1999), pp. 497-532.
    • original policy report: Jeremy D. Finn and Charles M. Achilles. Answers and Questions about Class Size: A Statewide Experiment. American Educational Research Journal, Vol. 27, No. 3 (Autumn, 1990), pp. 557-577.
    • data; dofile
  • Matching methods:
    • paper: Rajeev H. Dehejia and Sadek Wahba. Causal Effects in Nonexperimental Studies: Reevaluating the Evaluation of Training Programs. Journal of the American Statistical Association, Vol. 94, No. 448 (Dec., 1999), pp. 1053-1062.
    • data; dofile.
  • Instrumental variables:
    • paper: David Card. 1993. Using Geographic Variation in College Proximity to Estimate the Return to Schooling. NBER Working Paper No. 4483.
    • data; dofile.
  • Differences-in-Differences:
    • paper: David Card and Alan B. Krueger. Minimum Wages and Employment: A Case Study of the Fast-Food Industry in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The American Economic ReviewVol. 84, No. 4 (Sep., 1994), pp. 772-793.
    • data; dofile.
  • Regression Discontinuity Design:
    • paper: Lee David S. Randomized experiments from non-random selection in U.S. House elections. Journal of Econometrics, Vol. 142 (2008), pp. 675-697.
    • data; dofile
• A repository of user-written Stata tutorials is available on the website of Stata Corp.

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Exam material

• Mock exam questions
• More mock exam questions (Dec-2017)
• Exam a.y. 2013-2014
• Exam a.y. 2014-2015
• Exam a.y. 2015-2016
• Exam a.y. 2016-2017 - Retake 2016-2017

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Your paper

• Suggested structure
• Useful websites to look for policy interventions:
  • Replications in Economics
  • Dataverse
  • J-Pal lab
  • World Bank projects
  • EBRD projects
  • IDB projects