G53.2129: Statistical Methods for Cross-National Research

This is an advanced course devoted to conceptual, statistical, and practical problems entailed in evaluating effects of institutions, policies, or events on any kind of outcomes. The course will process from big philosophical to minute practical issues. After we become familiar with some examples in the recent literature, we will examine different concepts of causality. Then we will proceed to different esimators of causal effects.

G53.2424: Politics of Economic Growth

The course is an advanced introduction to the literature, with a heavily methodological bent. It focuses on identifying what we do not know and on the methods for finding out. The first part of the course is an introduction to growth economics. The second part examines political aspects of growth.

G53.3400: Political Economy Seminar

The seminar will consider some philosophical, theoretical, and methodological issues entailed in evaluating the impact of political institutions on economic performance, specifically on long-term patterns of economic development and inequality. Topics will range broadly, to include the relation between causality and counterfactuals, issues entailed in evaluation research, a comparison of the new institutional history with marxist development theories, as well as current statistical research on the impact of institutions. Students will be expected to make a class presentation and to write a bibliographic paper on the impact of a particular institution on some aspect of economic performance.