1. Being able to analyse a wide range of social phenomena from an economic point of view.
2. Understand how economic theory explains individuals' behaviour, institutions, and society in general.
3. Being able to read and critically evaluate empirical research analysing these issues.
4. Understand the problem of endogeneity in empirical research and recognize its implications for establishing causal relationships between variables.
5. Understand basic econometric tools with which empirical claims about causality can be established.

This course provides an introduction to the economic analysis of social phenomena, with an emphasis on both theoretical foundations and modern empirical approaches to identify causal relationships in economic research. Students will learn how economic theory explains individual behaviour, institutions, and societal outcomes, and how these explanations can be tested using data. Central to the course is the empirical revolution in economics, which has shifted the discipline toward causal identification and positioned economists at the forefront of providing causal evidence on a wide range of social and policy-relevant issues.

Students will be trained to read and critically evaluate empirical research, understand identification strategies, and apply basic econometric tools to interpret causal claims. By engaging directly with influential empirical papers in economics (addressing different challenges in society), students will develop the ability to assess the validity and credibility of empirical studies themselves. The course thus aims to foster a lasting change in perspective: from this point onward, students will approach empirical work in economics with a more rigorous, critical, and fundamentally different understanding than before.

A selection of academic articles.

• Basic understanding of economic theory and quantitative methods.
• An advanced level of English.