Winter Term 2011/12

Please send a non-binding application via email to empwifo[at]uni-potsdam.de as soon as possible indicating your name, study programme (BA/MA) and preferred seminar topic(s). In addition to that, an individual and informal preliminary meeting with Prof. Caliendo to discuss the topic is mandatory prior to enrollment.

Exam 

• Seminar paper (approx. 25 pages)
• Participation in colloquium
• Presentation
• Commenting on another presentation

Creditable as

• Economics: MA-FK-600

Content

We will use case studies from different economic fields (e.g. Labour, Public Policy or Entrepreneurship) to discuss different empirical questions.

Selected areas from theory and practice:

• Empirical Economics
• Public Policy Evaluation
• Entrepreneurship Dynamics
• Personality Traits, Preferences and Economic Outcomes
• Job Search and Unemployment Dynamics

The event is held in english.

Download

• <link fileadmin projects empwifo images homepage ma_ppe_outline.pdf>Detailed Outline
• <link fileadmin projects empwifo images homepage ma_ppe_results_1.pdf _blank>Exam Results

Exam

• Written exam 90 min.

Creditable as

• Economics: MA-061

Content

The aim of this course is to provide participants with a deeper understanding of microeconometric estimation techniques. We will use the topic “Policy Evaluation” to illustrate and discuss several methods under various types of assumptions.

Topics

• Potential Outcome Framework
• Basic Econometric Principles I: OLS revisited
• Basic Econometric Principles II: Limited Dependent Variables
• Selection Models
• Instrumental Variables
• Difference-in-Differences
• Regression-Discontinuity Design
• Matching Estimators
• Effect Heterogeneity
• Dynamic Evaluations

The lecture will be complemented by a second lecture/practical computer session where the estimators will be implemented using STATA.

Literatur 

• Caliendo, M. (2006): Microeconometric Evaluation of Labour Market Policies. Springer, Berlin.
• Imbens, G., and J.M. Wooldridge (2009): Recent Developments in the Econometrics of Program Evaluation, Journal of Economic Literature, 47(1), 5-86.
• Wooldridge, J. (2009): Introductory Econometrics. A Modern Approach. Thomson South Western.
• A detailed reading list with relevant papers will be distributed in due time.