3.0

credits

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This course is the second in the microeconometrics sequence in the Economics Department. It will introduce a selection of models and techniques that are useful when a researcher wants to estimate a structural model, i.e. a model derived from economic theory. Structural models that try to incorporate restrictions derived from economic theory are used in empirical IO, but also in quantitative marketing research, labor economics and other fields that consider individual decision making. No attempt will be made to be comprehensive. Instead we will focus on a few areas that have been well-researched in recent years: dynamic discrete choice, microeconomic models with latent variables, program evaluation, the empirical analysis of auctions and nonseparable models. Some topics will be included only if time permits. The models and methods developed for these areas are relevant for other cases. The emphasis is on the interaction between economic theory and econometrics. Basic issues are specification and (nonparametric) identification, computational problems and the use of simulation, semiparametric estimation to avoid functional form and distributional assumptions that cannot be derived from economic theory.