Courses & Programmes

Public policies need to be evaluated in order to understand their effectiveness and correct validation of economic theory can only be achieved with empirical research. The main objective of this course is to provide an overview of econometric research methods in urban, transport and environmental economics and to teach you how to apply these methods to real-world data. After following this course, you will:
• have an advanced understanding of the mathematical and statistical concepts underlying regression analyses in spatial economics;
• understand the importance of and difficulties in estimating causal effects as opposed to correlations in spatial economics problems;
• know how to appropriately interpret regression results of various estimators and know which one to apply in particular situations, depending on (i) the nature of the data (cross-sectional / panel /discrete data) and (ii) the task at hand (i.e., valuation of public policies, testing of economic theories or estimating parameters as derived from theory);
• understand and know how to apply techniques that are commonly in use in urban, transport and environmental economics and policy: spatialeconometrics, discrete choice models and quasi-experimental research designs;
• be able to apply these methods independently to typical datasets in spatial economics using the software package STATA.