PUBPOL 5610

Causal Inference and Data Analysis for Public Policy

Course Description

Course information provided by the 2026-2027 Catalog.

This course covers methods used by social scientists to identify causal relationships in data, with a focus on evaluating the effects of real-world policies. Many social science analyses--including in the economics fields of public, labor, health, and development-aim to answer these types of policy-related causal questions: What is the effect of having health insurance on someone's health? Does the death penalty reduce crime? Will lowering class sizes increase students' academic achievement? The goal of this course is to train you to become both a high-quality consumer and producer of this type of research. You will learn about several research designs and data analysis methods for identifying causal relationships in data, read and assess empirical papers that apply these methods, and apply these methods to datasets yourself.

Prerequisites PUBPOL 5575 (or equivalent).

Enrollment Priority Enrollment limited to: Brooks School Data Science and Environmental Sustainability Policy Masters students.

Last 4 Terms Offered (None)

Learning Outcomes

• Assess the strengths and limitations of different research designs for estimating causal effects.
• Read and assess the strengths and weaknesses of empirical research answering causal questions.
• Apply the research designs covered in the course to data-based examples.

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