Taught by Barbara Sianesi, Institute for Fiscal Studies, UCL

Slides

Matching, especially in its propensity score flavours, has become an extremely popular evaluation method. Both in the academic and applied literature the amount of research based on matching methods has been steadily growing. Matching is in fact the best available method for selecting a matched (or re-weighted) comparison group which ‘looks like’ the (treatment) group of interest.

The course will offer a rigorous yet accessible overview of matching methods. In particular, it will explain the concepts, highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the method, discuss when its use might be warranted, illustrate a number of matching methods, as well as offer the opportunity to implement hands-on some of the methods using real data.

Prerequisites: Basic econometric/statistical knowledge including a working knowledge of OLS regression. The practical part of the course will make use of Stata, of which basic familiarity will be assumed.