Prof Mark Schankerman

This course is compulsory on the Double Master of Public Administration (LSE-Columbia), Double Master of Public Administration (LSE-University of Toronto), MPA in Data Science for Public Policy and Master of Public Administration. This course is available on the MPA Dual Degree (LSE and Hertie), MPA Dual Degree (LSE and NUS) and MPA Dual Degree (LSE and Tokyo). This course is not available as an outside option.

This course is only compulsory for students who demonstrate sufficient prior knowledge of Econometrics to be exempt from the first half of PP455 in Autumn Term.

The course introduces students to a number of regression-based, quantitative evaluation methods to assess the causal effectiveness of policy interventions. These include randomized control trials, both natural or quasi-experiments, panel data, matching methods, difference-in-differences estimation, instrumental variables, and regression discontinuity design.

This course is delivered through a combination of lectures and classes totalling a minimum of 30 hours across the Winter Term. 

Formative coursework will include weekly problem sets

Particularly useful textbooks are Joshua D. Angrist and Jom-Steffen Pischke, "Mastering Metrics"; James Stock & Mark Watson, "Introduction to Econometrics"; and Jeffrey Wooldridge, "Introductory Econometrics". The material in the textbooks will be complemented with some recent published articles. A complementary text, also available in an online version, is Scott Cunningham's "Casual Inference: The Mixtape." This is a good reference to gain intuition about some of the core causal methods we will study. A full reading list will be distributed at the beginning of the course.

Exam (70%, duration: 3 hours, reading time: 15 minutes) in the spring exam period.
Presentation (10%), policy memo (10%) and continuous assessment (10%) in the WT.