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2023/2024  KAN-CCMVV1728U  Methods in Economic Consulting

English Title
Methods in Economic Consulting

Course information

Language English
Course ECTS 7.5 ECTS
Type Elective
Level Full Degree Master
Duration One Semester
Start time of the course Autumn
Timetable Course schedule will be posted at calendar.cbs.dk
Study board
Study Board for cand.merc. and GMA (CM)
Course coordinator
  • Dario Pozzoli - Department of Economics (ECON)
Main academic disciplines
  • Statistics and quantitative methods
  • Economics
Teaching methods
  • Blended learning
Last updated on 15-02-2023

Relevant links

Learning objectives
  • Describe features of cross-section data and panel data as well as duration data and compare the assumptions behind and features of different models for these types of data.
  • Analyze problems suitable for functions in an Economic Consulting context such as those connected to the evaluations of both public and private programs and interventions that typically involve the identification of causal effects.
  • Analyze problems associated with endogeneity in linear models as well as discrete response models, panel data regressions and explain solutions to this type of problems.
  • Evaluate the principles behind and problems associated with estimating models for multinomial and ordinal discrete choice variables. Explain the principles of maximum likelihood estimation.
  • Analyze the identification of average treatment effects using instrumental variables, control function approach, endogenous switching, matching and propensity score matching.
  • or all models mentioned above, reflect on the applicability of a type of model in a given empirical setting, evaluate the principles behind estimation, and test hypotheses about parameters of interest by using STATA (an econometric software package widely used within the economic consulting industry).
  • Demonstrate the ability to be analytical with data and make independent advanced analyses, where the student is able to apply the methods to a wide range of different problems related to functions in the economic consulting industry and to relate the results to a wide context.
Course prerequisites
Knowledge of the linear regression model and its estimation by ordinary least squares is required. The course also presupposes deep knowledge of statistics (such as random variables and probability distributions, inference, hypothesis testing) and calculus (such partial derivatives, constrained maximization).
Examination
Methods in Economic Consulting:
Exam ECTS 7,5
Examination form Written sit-in exam on CBS' computers
Individual or group exam Individual exam
Assignment type Written assignment
Duration 4 hours
Grading scale 7-point grading scale
Examiner(s) One internal examiner
Exam period Winter
Aids Open book: all written and electronic aids, including internet access
Read more here about which exam aids the students are allowed to bring and will be given access to : Exam aids and IT application package
Make-up exam/re-exam
Same examination form as the ordinary exam
The number of registered candidates for the make-up examination/re-take examination may warrant that it most appropriately be held as an oral examination. The programme office will inform the students if the make-up examination/re-take examination instead is held as an oral examination including a second examiner or external examiner.
Course content, structure and pedagogical approach

Evaluation of public and private interventions requires to be analytical with data and curious about the ambiguity and trade-offs involved in the implementation of such programs. Does a national restriction to immigration save native workers' jobs or does it trigger an outflow of jobs to offshoring countries by inducing domestic firms to relocate abroad? Does a public subsidy to automation technologies negatively affect low skilled workers' employment or does it boost it by promoting firms' productivity? Does the exposure to long hours increase Amazon workers' productivity by securing higher wages or does it reduce workers' productivity by reducing their retention? Does a public intervention in the form of a social media campaign positively or negatively affect vaccination rates? This course introduces a wide range of quantitative methods that allow researchers  and practioners to answer this type of empirical questions whose answers are ex ante ambiguous with the use of comprehensive data. Policy makers, civil society and businesses often have a need for demonstrating that investments in projects, programs and interventions are spent in effective manner. Hence, the knowledge acquired in this course allows to solve empirical questions that inevitably arise when project evaluations are performed in the economic consulting industry.  By solving relevant practical exercises and problems in STATA (a software widely used in the consulting industry), the methods taught in this course will enable students to actually perform an econometric analysis of problems typically encountered in an economic consulting job, i.e. a job in an international consulting firm (such as Copenhagen Economics and Rambøll Management Consulting), a multinational company (such as Amazon and Microsoft),  a ministerial department (such as VIVE), or  an international organization (such as OECD, World Bank and the IMF).  Methods for Economic Consulting emphasizes to a much larger extent the practical implications of each method introduced in class compared to standard econometric courses, which tend to mainly focus on the theoretical aspects. Finally, two/three economic consultants will be invited to give a talk over the semester so that the students can get practical insights on the methods studied in this course and network with international experts in the field of Economic Consulting. In previous editions of this course, we have hosted talks by economic consultants from MIT, Rambøll, Uppsala University, VIVE and World Bank to cite a few. All of the practical aspects emphasized in the course will allow the students to place their business and economic consulting knowledge in a wide context. The students will in fact learn that the methods studied in the course can be applied to a wide range of issues and projects that spam different areas  (such as Environemntal Economics, Labor and Personnel Economics, Public Health, Political Science etc.).  As highligheted once by a guest speaker from the consulting industry: "The approach to sustainable economics and finance in our economic consulting company  is not just about unconditional economic growth. It's about creating a thriving society that meets the needs of all within the means of the planet. This may sound a very vague objective. However, the econometric methods studied in this course help us to understand whether the interventions implemented by either the public sector or private businesses achieve the desired goal of a sustainable economic growth given the ecological ceiling".The highly international profile of the guest speakers will finally allow the students to create value for the Danish labor market from global connections.

Description of the teaching methods
Face to face teaching is integrated with pre-recorded videos, quiz sessions, guest lectures and consultation hours in which students have the chance to ask questions and receive feedback. The pre-recorded videos are meant especially to those students who are unable to attend some or all of the face to face lectures because of work commitments. Attendance to all of the face to face lectures is still highly recommended though.
Feedback during the teaching period
Individualized feedback is going to be provided through the quiz sessions and the tutorials. Additionally two/three mock exams will be scheduled over the course of the semester which are identical in structure to the final exam. The course instructor will provide detailed and individualized feedback to those students who hand in the mock exams. Finally 2/3 consultants/researchers will be invited to give a talk over the course of the semester to showcase how they use the methods studied in class in their consultancy (policy evaluation) work. These talks also offer the great opportunity to network with professionals in the field of economic consulting.
Student workload
Lectures 20 hours
Exercises 13 hours
Preparation 100 hours
Exam 73 hours
Expected literature

Required:

 

Wooldridge, J. M. (2016): Introductory Econometrics. A Modern Approach.

 

Jenkins, Stephen (2015), Survival Analysis (pdf provided on canvas)

 

Richard Blundell, Lorraine Dearden and Barbara Sianesi (2005), Evaluating the Effect of Education on Earnings: Models, Methods and Results from the National Child Development Survey, Journal of the Royal Statistical Society. Series A (Statistics in Society), Vol. 168, No. 3, pp. 473-512. (pdf provided on learn)

 

Lecture notes and handouts.

 

Recommended:

 

Joshua Angrist and Jörn-Steffen Pischke, (2020). Master Metrics.  

 

Cameron and Trivedi (2015). Microeconometrics using Stata. 

Last updated on 15-02-2023