Students will learn to develop a research strategy to estimate causal relationships in economics. Students acquire an understanding of methods for identification and estimation as well as gain insights into practical issues that arise when developing a research strategy and working on a research proposal.

This course provides an overview of methodological and practical issues that arise in empirical economics when estimating causal relationships. The course focuses on identification and estimation methods. We review advantages and pitfalls of various identification strategies, and discuss data requirements and measurement problems associated with different research strategies. Since the aim is to sharpen students’ intuition about the advantages and disadvantages of various research strategies in economics and to judge which methods are most appropriate in different contexts and circumstances, you have to present and discuss the vices and virtues of key papers, each of which relies on a particular research strategy.

Several academic articles.

• Methodological background at research master level.