PP455 One Unit
Quantitative Approaches and Policy Analysis
This information is for the 2025/26 session.
Course Convenor
Dr Jeremiah Dittmar
Prof Mark Schankerman
Availability
This course is compulsory on the Double Master of Public Administration (LSE-Columbia), Double Master of Public Administration (LSE-University of Toronto), MPA Dual Degree (LSE and Hertie), MPA Dual Degree (LSE and NUS), MPA Dual Degree (LSE and Tokyo), MPA in Data Science for Public Policy and Master of Public Administration. This course is not available as an outside option to students on other programmes. This course uses controlled access as part of the course selection process.
Compulsory courses for MPA Year 1 students, MPA in Data Science for Public Policy Year 1 students, and MPA Double Degree first year students. Course is not available as outside options.
Deadline for application: 12 noon on the Friday before the start of Autumn Term.
For queries contact: spp.doubledegrees@lse.ac.uk
Requisites
Mutually exclusive courses:
This course cannot be taken with PP456 at any time on the same degree programme.
Course content
The course introduces students to regression-based methods used for the quantitative evaluation of public policies. The course introduces students to basic multiple regression analysis including hypothesis testing, modelling of non-linear relationships, and dummy variables. From there, the course covers a number of regression based evaluation methods to assess the causal impact of policy interventions. These include randomized control trials, natural or quasi-experiments, panel data, matching methods, difference-in-differences estimation, instrumental variables, and regression discontinuity design.
Teaching
15 hours of seminars and 20 hours of lectures in the Winter Term.
20 hours of lectures and 16.5 hours of seminars in the Autumn Term.
This course is delivered through a combination of lectures and classes totalling a minimum of 70 hours across Autumn Term and Winter Term.
There will be a revision session held in Week 1 of ST.
Formative assessment
Formative coursework will include weekly problem sets.
Indicative reading
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 published research articles. A complementary text, which is also available in an online version, is Scott Cunningham's "Casual Inference: The Mixtape" which 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.
Assessment
Exam (70%), duration: 180 Minutes, reading time: 15 minutes in the Spring exam period
Presentation (10%)
This component of assessment includes an element of group work.
Continuous assessment (10%)
Memo (10%)
Exam (70%, duration: 3 hours, reading time: 15 minutes) in the spring exam period.
Presentation (10%), policy memo (10%) and continuous assessment (10%) in Winter Term (WT).
Key facts
Department: School of Public Policy
Course Study Period: Autumn and Winter Term
Unit value: One unit
FHEQ Level: Level 7
CEFR Level: Null
Total students 2024/25: 94
Average class size 2024/25: 13
Controlled access 2024/25: YesCourse selection videos
Some departments have produced short videos to introduce their courses. Please refer to the course selection videos index page for further information.