PP402      Half Unit
Quantitative Methods for Public Policy

This information is for the 2025/26 session.

Course Convenor

Availability

The course introduces several econometric approaches that are widely used for quantitative and empirical evaluation which can be applied to policy-making. We will develop the basic methodology and assumptions underlying each approach, which is essential to understand when each tool can be applied, and when not.  The emphasis is on the practical application of these skills and tools to real-life situations and policy-making interventions. Topics covered include regression analysis, hypothesis testing, randomised control experiments, difference-in-differences regressions, instrumental variables, and regression discontinuity design.

15 hours of seminars, 10 hours of help sessions and 20 hours of lectures in the Autumn Term.

Each week students will complete problem sets that will give the opportunity to develop fluency with the tools covered in the course. These will be reviewed in class seminars. 

Joshua D. Angrist and Jom-Steffen Pischke, "Mastering Metrics";
James Stock & Mark Watson, "Introduction to Econometrics"
Scott Cunningham, "Casual inference: the Mixtape"
Jeffrey Wooldridge, "Introductory Econometrics".

The given texts are preparatory reading only. A full reading list will be provided at the start of the course.

Exam (65%), duration: 195 Minutes in the January exam period

Problem sets (10%)

Policy brief (15%)

Policy brief (10%)

This component of assessment includes an element of group work.

The exam will take place in January and will be in-person and invigilated.