Course Abstract (including student assessment):
This course delves into key topics in applied economics, with a particular emphasis on recent advancements in empirical political economy. The "credibility revolution" in empirical economics—marked by a rigorous focus on identifying causal effects—has driven a shift in political economy research from cross-country comparisons to within-country analyses. The course is organized around a classification of various empirical methodologies. For each empirical approach, we will: (i) analyze the underlying assumptions of the identification strategy, (ii) review key findings across different countries, and (iii) examine the theoretical predictions that are tested, while identifying gaps in the literature. We will review and discuss five major strands of empirical research.

1. Political Discontinuities – Part I
2. Political Discontinuities – Part II
3. Combining RDD with Diff-in-Diff
4. History as a Lab
5. Doing Experiments with Politicians

Assessment will be based on a final assignment, where students will write a referee report on a recent working paper, applying one of the empirical methodologies discussed in class.