IRVAPP WINTER SCHOOL 2017 – Fundamentals and Methods for Impact Evaluation of Public Policies

The course is designed to be of particular benefit to Ph.D. students and researchers in the Social Sciences, Economics and Statistics, needing to undertake policy evaluation analysis using microdata. The School will present 1) the fundamental principles of impact evaluation with a specific focus on the counterfactual theory of causal inference and 2) a variety of statistical tools for counterfactual analysis (including Difference-in-Differences and Matching methods, Regression Discontinuity Designs and quasi experimental settings). Extensive laboratory sessions will provide the opportunity to apply the various techniques to specific education and anti-poverty policies.

The School will run over six consecutive days of theoretical and practical sessions, from February 13 to February 18, 2017. Training will require previous knowledge of basic principles for quantitative methods that correspond to those taught in introductory courses of statistics and econometrics at the undergraduate level. At least, a working knowledge of regression and multivariate analysis is expected. Although the exercises will be guided, basic familiarity with Stata is strongly recommended.

Programme:
The course is the 9th edition of an initiative designed to provide Ph.D. students and researchers in the Social Sciences, Economics and Statistics with knowledge and applied methods for implementing policy evaluation using microdata.

Instructors:
Erich Battistin FBK-IRVAPP & Queen Mary University of London
Enrico Rettore FBK-IRVAPP & University of Trento
Ugo Trivellato FBK-IRVAPP & Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti & University of Padova

Organizers:
Fondazione Bruno Kessler – Istituto per la Ricerca Valutativa sulle Politiche Pubbliche (FBK-IRVAPP)
Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti (IVSLA)
with the patronage of the Centro Interuniversitario di Econometria (CIdE) & of the Società Italiana di Econometria (SIdE) & of ECSR (European Consortium for Sociological Research)