PUBPOL 5072

Using Big Data to Solve Economic and Social Problems

Course Description

Course information provided by the 2025-2026 Catalog.

This course will show how "big data" can be used to understand and address some of the most important social and economic problems of our time. The course will give students an introduction to frontier research and policy applications in economics and social science in a non-technical manner that does not require prior coursework in economics, making it suitable both for students exploring economics for the first time, as well as for more advanced students. The course will include discussions with leading researchers and practitioners, who use big data in real-world applications. Topics include equality of opportunity, education, racial disparities, innovation and entrepreneurship, health care, climate change, criminal justice, tax policy, and poverty in developing countries. In the context of these topics, the course will provide an introduction to basic methods in data science, including regression, causal inference, and machine learning. In empirical projects, students will work with real data to learn how the methods discussed in the course can be implemented in practice.

Prerequisites PUBPOL 5310 or PUBPOL 5690.

Last 4 Terms Offered (None)

Learning Outcomes

• Describe and interpret frontier social science research on key social and economic issues.
• Analyze data using modern quantitative methods and basic programming techniques.
• Explain how practitioners use data to analyze social problems.

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