Course Schedule

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Lecture Before Class Assignments and Deadlines Lab
1
1/18
Causation 		Read
  • MM, Chapter 1
  • Causal Mixtape, Chapter 1 (Introduction), and Chapter 4.1 (Physical Randomization)
  • Harding et al, “Evaluating Contradictory Experimental and Non-experimental Estimates of Neighborhood Effects on Economic Outcomes for Adults” NBER Working Paper February 2021. [link]
    • Read pages 1 to 14.
  • Supplemental
    • Helpful overview: Imbens and Wooldridge, 2009. “Econometrics of Program Evaluation,” Journal of Economic Literature. [link]
    • Example of controlling for observables: Brooks et al, “The Cabals of a Few or the Confusion of a Multitude” American Economic Journal: Economic Policy 2011. [link]
    • Unit of observation discussion by Social Security
Assigned
2
1/25
Fixed Effects 		Read
  • MM, Chapter 2
  • Black, Sandra et al., 2005. “The More the Merrier? The Effect of Family Size and Birth Order on Childrens' Education” [link]
    • skip III.D.-III.G., and sections V & VI
Handouts x
3
2/1
Difference-in-differences 1 		Read
  • Causal Mixtape, Chapter 9, sections 9.1 (John Snow's Cholera Hypothesis) and 9.2 (Estimation)
  • Milligan, Kevin. “Subsidizing the Storke: New Evidence on Tax Incentives and Fertility”, Review of Economics and Statistics, 2005. [link]
    • Section 5 is optional
 Due
  • Problem Set 1
  • One-page proposal
Assigned
  • Problem Set 2
4
2/8
Difference-in-differences 2 		Read
  • Janssen, Aljoscha and Xuan Zhang, “Retail Pharmacies and Drug Diversion During the Opioid Epidemic”, American Economic Review, 2023. [link]
    • Read through Section 4
  • Supplemental
    • A interesting event study example: Garcia-Jimeno, Iglesias and Yildrim, “Information Networks and Collective Action: Evidence from the Women’s Temperance Crusade”, American Economic Review, 2022. [link]
    • Bertrand et al. “How Much Should We Trust Differences-in-differences Estimates?” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2004. [link]
      • Skim Section 4, with the exception of 4C, which you should read carefully
x
5
2/15
Instrumental Variables 1 		Read
  • Causal Mixtape, Chapter 3.1 (DAG Notation; only through 3.1.1), Chapter 7.1 (History) through 7.4 (Parental Methaphetamine)
  • Angrist and Kreuger, “Does Compulsory School Attendance Affect Schooling and Earnings?”, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1991. [link]
    • Section II.C is optional
Due
  • Problem Set 2
Assigned
  • Problem Set 3
6
2/22
Instrumental Variables 2 		Read
  • Causal Mixtape, Chapter 7.5 (Problem of Weak Instruments)
  • And read one of the following; we split the class between
    • Collins and Margo, “The Economic Aftermath of the 1960s Riots in American Cities: Evidence from Property Values”, Journal of Economic History. 2007. [link]
    • Nguyen, Luu, “Are Credit Markets Still Local? Evidence from Bank Branch Closings” working paper, 2017. [link]
      • through page 20 is sufficient
  • Supplemental
    • When rain isn't a good instrument: Sarsons, Heather, “Rainfall and conflict: A cautionary tale”, Journal of Development Economics, July 2015. [link]
    • Bound, Baker and Jaeger, “Problems with Instrumental Variables Estimation When the Correlation Between the Instruments and the Endogeneous Explanatory Variable is Weak,” Journal of the American Statistical Association, 1995. [link]
    • An entertaining lament from David Jaeger on the fate of this critique
x
7
3/1
Regression Discontinuity 1 		Read
  • Causal Mixtape, Chapter 6.1 (Huge Popularity), Chapter 6.2 (Estimation Using RD; only through 6.2.3)
  • Anderson, Michael L., “Subways, Strikes and Slowdowns: The Impacts of Public Transit on Traffic Congestion” American Economic Review, 2014. [link]
    • Focus on Section 3, which we will discuss in class
  • Supplemental
    • Lee and Lemiuex, “Regression Discontinuity Designs in Economics,” NBER Working Paper 14723, 2009. [link]
Handout
  • Quantitative progress instructions [link]
8
3/8
Regression Discontinuity 2 		Read
  • Causal Mixtape, Chapter 6.2.7 (Fuzzy RD), Chapter 6.3 (Challenges to Identification), Chapter 6.5 (Regression Kink)
  • Manoli and Turner, “Cash-on-Hand and College Enrollment: Evidence from Population Tax Data and the Earned Income Tax Credit” [link]
    • Read through Section 3.3; skim 3.4
  • discuss fuzzy RD, RD kink
Handouts
  • Workshop instructions [link]
Due
  • Problem Set 3
3/15
Spring Break 		No Class
9
3/22
Matching 1 		Read
  • Causal Mixtape, Chapter 5.1 (Subclassification)
  • Brooks, Leah, “Volunteering to be Taxed: Business Improvement Districts and the Provision of Public Safety,” Journal of Public Economics 2008. [link]
    • Ignore Section 6
  • Supplemental
    • Great notes on matching here
    • Todd, Petra, “A Practical Guide to Implementing Matching Estimators,” Unpublished notes, 1999. [link]
Handout
  • Final paper instructions [link]
Due
  • Quantitative summary
10
3/29
Matching 2 		Read
  • Causal Mixtape, Chapter 10.1 (Introducing the Comparative Case Study)
  • Brazil, Noli, “Large-Scale Urban Riots and Residential Segregation: A Case Study of the 1960s U.S. Riots” Demography, 2016. [link]
  • Supplemental
    • Abadie, Diamond and Hainmueller, “Comparative Politics and the Synthetic Control Method,” American Journal of Political Science, 2015.[link]
    • Pac et al, “Paid Family Leave and Breastfeeding: Evidence from California”, NBER Working Paper 25784, 2019.[link]
 Handout
  • Presentation instructions [link]
11
4/5
Workshop 		Read
  • First half class: Cameron, A. Colin and Douglas L. Miller, “A Practitioner's Guide to Cluster-Robust Inference,” Journal of Human Resources, 2015. [link]
    • Read only sections 1, 2 A-C, 4, 5A
12
4/12
Presentations 		In order of appearance: Martin, Ben, Richard, Holly, Jackie, Maddy
13
4/19
Consultations 		No synchronous or in-person class
14
4/26
Presentations 		In order of appearance: Sean, Tatiana, Layvon, Honglun, Lars, Bryan
.
5/8
Done! Have a good summer. Due
  • replication paper
.