BUSP 4450 - Causal Inference

3 hours

Prerequisites: COMM 2010 or MATH 2000 with a grade of C- or better
This course explores the problems associated with determining causal effects using statistical methods. Students will understand the major causes of bias and inefficiency in ordinary least squares regression, and learn alternative methods for minimizing these problems. The focus of the course is on the application ofregression techniques associated with natural experiments to real-world estimation problems. As such, students will learn basic applications programming skills for managing data and estimating econometric models. Topics include
simultaneous equations, instrumental variables, regression discontinuity, and differences-in-differences
estimation. Previously ECON 4990.