Causal Inference with Big Data

GRA 6845

Prof. Jon Fiva

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Grading
Group size Group Weight Grading
composition
decided by
Presentation 2-6 Jon 20 0-100
Discussion 2-6 Jon 20 0-100
Term paper 1-4 Students 60 0-100

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Presentation (input: slides)
 The main task is to summarize the paper
 Some questions to keep in mind:
 How does the paper speak to the topic of the lecture(s)?
 What is/are the parameter(s) of interest?
 What are the key identifying assumption(s)?

 Send slides to jon.h.fiva@bi.no

 E-mail subject: «GRA 6845 – presentation»
 No later than 15:00 the day before your presentation
 It is your job to organize the work within your group
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Discussion (input: two-page note)
 Your note should include:
 A brief summary of the paper and the research design
 Three discussion questions related to the topic of the lecture(s)
 Do the authors accomplish what they set out to do?
 Do you think the research question/hypothesis could be analyzed in
better ways, possibly by other types of data or alternative methods?
 Be prepared to ask questions during class and to interact with
the group that holds the presentation

 Send note to jon.h.fiva@bi.no

 E-mail subject: «GRA 6845 – note»
 No later than 15:00 the day before your presentation
 It is your job to organize the work within your group

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Further advice
 Some papers include models / econometric theory that
you do not need to present in slides/notes, for example:
 Chattopadhyay and Duflo (2004): Section 3.1-3.2
 Henderson et al. (2012): Section 2
 Gentzkow et al. (2019): Section 3-4
 Keep in mind that this is a methods class:
 Focus on measurement/methods/empirical strategy
 Don’t spend too much time on the substantive problem
 Clearly explain the main result > cover all extensions

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 Questions?

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Actual learning vs. Feeling of learning

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Actual learning vs. Feeling of learning

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16 https://twitter.com/emollick/status/1319424956241936384?s=20
Five lessons for GRA 6845
1. Watch the videos as if you were sitting in class
 Take notes while watching (and rewrite after class)

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Five lessons for GRA 6845
1. Watch the videos as if you were sitting in class
2. Work on the assignments

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Five lessons for GRA 6845
1. Watch the videos as if you were sitting in class
2. Work on the assignments
3. Engage with literature

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Five lessons for GRA 6845
1. Watch the videos as if you were sitting in class
2. Work on the assignments
3. Engage with literature
4. Ask questions

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Five lessons for GRA 6845
1. Watch the videos as if you were sitting in class
2. Work on the assignments
3. Engage with literature
4. Ask questions
5. Discuss with your peers

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A quick look at a previous exam

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 Software

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AEJ:applied

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27 https://hdsr.mitpress.mit.edu/pub/fgpmpj1l/release/3
AEJ:applied

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AEJ:applied

Example 1: The student microdata that used in this paper are

the property of the University of Cape Town. I do not have
authorization to share these data directly.

Example 2: Under certain conditions, these microdata are

accessible for statistical and scientific use by researchers in
many different countries. For further information: cvb@cbs.nl.

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 Questions?

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