Economics

The course seeks to introduce students to the study of policy evaluation at an advanced level. The main objective is to provide students with the skills and competencies for professionally dealing with impact evaluation of economic policies and programs. This objective will be pursued through a careful coverage of the state-of-the-art analytical techniques for economic policy evaluation as well as through an empirical and “hands-on” approach to the analysis of specific policies and programs, which have been implemented in real world. Achieved knowledge We therefore focus on methodological tools but great emphasis will be placed on empirical evidence obtained though economic data. This will allow students to combine a deep knowledge of both the methods of economic policy evaluation and the way to actually apply those methods to a real policy intervention. Acquired Skills In general, students will acquire knowledge and skills pertaining to the following aspects: a) characterization of the policy framework, that is policy maker’s objectives and program beneficiaries; b) selection of the most proper approach for assessing the economic impact of a specific policy/program; c) the application of such tool to the issue at hand. After passing the exam, students will become familiar with the theory and practice of evaluating the impact of a public policy. In particular, they will be able to know how to design and conduct a policy evaluation analysis. This will allow them to actively participate to policy assessment analyses