Seminar in Structural Estimaiton

Details

Seminar in block format

2nd year PhD Students of GSEFM (elective choice)

Date & Time: 7th of September, 2012

Contents

Structural econometric models of individual behavior provide an essential tool for ex ante evaluation of a range of economic policy measures.

A typical structural econometric model is a model that is expressed exclusively in terms of structural (or “deep”) parameters which determine optimal behavior of individuals in a given institutional environment. Institutional environment is in turn characterized by a set of variables directly chosen by policy makers. By implication of the underlying economic theory structural parameters are invariant to policy changes. Therefore, having estimated these parameters, one can perform any type of comparative statics / dynamics exercise, changing policy variables and computing an optimal individual response to this change. The difference between model predictions before and after the policy simulation directly leads a structural estimate of the policy effect. This stands in contrast to common reduced-form methods of policy evaluation, where analysis is, as a rule, ex post due to lack of policy invariance of model parameters.

Objective of this seminar is to understand how structural econometric models are formulated and estimated. The focus is on the structural models of microeconomic behavior and microfounded macroanalysis. Typical literature comprises a wide array of applications in labor economics, public economics, health economics, family economics, development economics and economic demography.

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Seminar description, schedule and relevant literature [pdf].