DGPE PhD course: Historical Perspectives on Current Economics Issues: Big Data and Applications

Course topic: The course is designed to (i) introduce classical and modern Difference-in-Differences methods that are widely used in the evaluation of causal effects of policy interventions in economic history and other disciplines, and (ii) present the selection of themes from economic history that apply these methods. The idea is to provide understanding of the world economy and population today in connection to their historical roots and enable to understand how credible these connections are from the causal perspective. On the part of the methodology, students will get closer to the DiD research frontier and will exercise the usage of the methods with R/Stata (the code will be provided). The course will feature lectures from Pedro H. C. Sant'Anna (Vanderbilt University/Microsoft) who is one of the leading researchers in the field, and his lectures will constitute the main theme of the summer school. Additional lectures will be given by local faculty and will explore other themes in economic history and economics. The course is open for PhD students in economics and related fields.

Course Procedure: The course is provided during the SDU International Summer School 2022 and consists of 2 weeks of classes (10 days), including preparations of a home assignment plus its presentation. The course is in a hybrid format. Students choose either be in campus or online, and all lectures/lab sessions/presentations are streamlined. Living costs are at the student’s expense.

Instructors:
Methods: The leading guest instructor – Pedro H. C. Sant'Anna (PhD), Vanderbilt University (US)/Microsoft, Giovanni Mellace (PhD), University of Southern Denmark
Applications:
Anthony Wray (PhD), University of Southern Denmark
Paul Sharp (Professor), University of Southern Denmark
Volha Lazuka (PhD), University of Southern Denmark

Exam: The exam will consist of preparing a critical review of the empirical article that uses the methods discussed in the course and communicating it to the instructor and other course participants in the form of the online presentation. Students may form a group with up to 2 members. They will be provided with the list of empirical articles to choose from. The student must submit the slides of the presentation and participate in all online classes for the course to be credited.

ECTS-point: Upon completing all course activities (attendance of the entire course, preparing the presentation and presenting its results), participants will be awarded 5 ECTS credits and a course certificate.

Course Fees: The course is free of charge for:
1. DGPE members from AU, KU, CBS, AAU and SDU.
2. PhD students from Economics Departments at Nordic universities outside Denmark.
For other participants, the course fee is EUR 300.

Register here: https://www.sdu.dk/en/om_sdu/institutter_centre/oekonomiskinstitut/events/arkiv/2022/summerschool2022