Empirical Public Economics

Fall 2024
Schedule: Wednesday, 08:15 - 12:00 
Location : Pérolles 21, Room A403
ECTS: 4.5
MoodleSyllabus

This seminar integrates recent contributions in public economic theory with the latest methods for causal inference in applied econometrics. We will discuss the most important empirical approaches in public economics and how these empirical methods are used to analyze selected topics in public economics. The participants will learn to evaluate empirical studies, to understand central topics in public economics and to plan their own research project.

The focus will be on problems in public economics. Econometric concepts are primarily introduced to understand important economic issues and not for the sake of statistical modeling. In that respect the course is a natural companion to the course “Econometric methods and applications I” offered by Prof. Martin Huber.

Basic knowledge of econometrics becomes more and more important for anybody who wishes to work for the government, NGO’s, or private firms. Econometric methods now belong to the standard toolkit of policy evaluation in the public sector or market research in private firms.