93304 - VALUTAZIONE POLITICHE PUBBLICHE

Course contents

• Policy monitoring and evaluation: concepts, goals and data requirements
• Impact evaluation and the counterfactual approach: potential outcomes, treatment effect measures, estimation strategies (experimental and quasi-experimental designs)
• Policy evaluation with quasi-experimental data: Difference-in-Difference, Regression Discontinuity Designs, Propensity Score Matching
• Applications: Labour market, welfare and poverty, firms

Readings/Bibliography

The course will be mainly based on lecture notes and papers provided through the e-learning platform Virtuale

Useful reference books:

Martini, A. and Sisti, M. (2009). Valutare il successo delle politiche pubbliche

Ch. I, VI, VII, VIII (par. 1, 2, 4), IX, X (par. 1, 4, 5), XI, XII

Stock, J.H. and Watson, M.W. (2016). Introduction to Econometrics, Updated 4th edition, Pearson (Italian edition by Franco Peracchi)

par. 1.2, 3.4, 3.5, 5.3 and ch.13 (up to par. 13.5).

For consultation on statistical inference and regression: Ch. 3, 4 and 5

Martini, A. and Sisti, M. (2009). Valutare il successo delle politiche pubbliche

Ch. I, VI, VII, VIII (par. 1, 2, 4), IX, X (par. 1, 4, 5), XI, XII

Teaching methods

Lectures 

Applications on real data using a statistical software (R/STATA ®)

Assessment methods

Written exam (duration 75 minutes).

The exam will be based on theoretical and empirical questions on topics and applications discussed during the course. The written exam has two parts:

- A section with multiple choice and/or open ended questions on topics covered during the course (8/10 questions);

- An empirical question describing the software output produced during the computer sessions, in which the student is asked to interpret the results and answer 4/5 of questions.

The two parts will equally weigh on the final mark.

The evaluation will be expressed according to the following graduation:

• <18: insufficient

• 18-23: sufficient

• 24-27: good

• 28-30: optimum

• 30 cum laude: excellent

 Further information will be provided during the course.

Teaching tools

The VIRTUALE platform [https://virtuale.unibo.it/] will provide students with:

- Lecture slides and notes

- Data and codes for lab sessions

- Useful readings (articles, book chapters, etc.)

Materials will be provided and integrated throughout the course.

Office hours

See the website of Pinuccia Pasqualina Calia