Using Data to Solve Economic and Social Problems

Course Director: Jaakko Meriläinen

To complete the specialization, ensure you finalize both BE0552 and BE0554. Any completed course from a discontinued specialization will be counted as a course in addition to the degree and can never be counted as an elective course within the degree. This does not apply to exchange students.

For questions email: academic.advisor@hhs.se

Course Description

To tackle economic and social challenges, we need to understand how individuals and firms behave and how they respond to policy changes. Economic theory provide ways to think about how agents act. Data allow us to quantify these relationships and test competing hypotheses. This course teaches how data can be used to test the predictions derived from economic theory. The core part of the course covers the most common methods economists use in empirical research, with a particular focus on modern methods for causal inference. Seminars will focus on applying the econometric techniques using real data.

The empirical methods taught in this course are also widely applicable in other settings, essentially whenever we want to make causal inference from exisiting data, or when collecting own data (for example by conducting a survey or running an experiment), and is therefore a useful preparation for writing an empirical quantitative thesis. At a more general level, the course will deepen participants critical thinking about what data and analyses are required to establish an empirical fact.

Course structure

The course consists of approximately 18 lectures and 8 seminars. The aim of the lectures is to introduce selected economic and social problems and to teach the theoretical and econometric tools required to study these problems. The aim of the seminars is primarily to give students an opportunity to apply empirical methods to economic problems using Python. Some of the seminars will be devoted to discussing research papers in applied microeconomics in order to introduce students to empirical research in economics and develop their skills to critically evaluate empirical research.

At the end of the course, students should:

• Be able to perform and evaluate cross-sectional and panel data analysis.
• Be able to perform and evaluate methods for causal inference.
• Be able to evaluate the validity of empirical methods used in the social sciences.

To be admitted to the specialization, the student must fulfill the following criteria no later than after the
examination period in December/January before the specialization starts.

• have passed at least 45 ECTS credits out of the mandatory course requirements.
• have passed the mandatory courses required for the specialization:BE0501 Economics I: Microeconomics, BE0502 Economics II: Macroeconomics, BE0601 Data Analytics I and BE0602 Data Analytics II.

Exchange students should have knowledge in microeconomics and statistics that corresponds to the content of these courses.

Exchange students should have knowledge equivalent to the SSE courses listed above.

The course literature consists of lecture notes, an introductory textbook in econometrics and selected research articles.

The textbook that will be used is Stock & Watson, Introduction to Econometrics, 4th Edition, ISBN 9781292264455. The book is available at Akademibokhandeln City and can be ordered online from Bokus and Adlibris. Pearson offers 25% discount on digital material – use the discount code SASSEMEMBERDISCOUNT2025 at checkout at nordics.pearson.com

The main part of the examination consists of a written exam that constitutes 80% of the grade. The remaining part of the grade will be based on homework assignments, seminar and class participation, and a mid-term exam. The grades will be based on the sum of the grades obtained from all parts of the course and the SSE's standard grading criteria will be applied to the course total. Participation in the seminar is required to obtain credit for the homework assignments.

Find the course schedule in TimeEdit

Have you been granted educational support because of a documented disability? If so, please contact the course director as soon as possible so that adequate accommodations can be made.

Contact specialneeds@hhs.se if you have questions about being granted educational support or need a copy of your educational support certificate.

For more information, visit the Specific Educational Needs page on the Student Hub (login required).