京都大学 京都大学

Applied microeconomics: Research methods

Numbering Code U-AGR04 3D316 LJ43 Year/Term 2022 ・ First semester
Number of Credits 2 Course Type Lecture
Target Year 3rd year students Target Student
Language Japanese Day/Period Wed.4
Instructor name MITANI YOUHEI (Graduate School of Agriculture Associate Professor)
MIURA KEN (Graduate School of Agriculture Assistant Professor)
Outline and Purpose of the Course Course Description

D316 is an intermediate course in applied microeconomics for undergraduates. This course specifically provides students with an introduction to research methods used in applied microeconomics. These include include literature review, experiments, econometrics, and empirical strategies. The topics covered include bounded rationality, social preferences, risk and time preferences, OLS, field experiments and randomized control trials (RCT), instrumental variables (IV), and regression discontinuity designs (RD).

The course consists of two parts.

The first part of the course, taught by Yohei Mitani, emphasizes developing reading skills and introducing experimental and behavioral economics. In this part, you are expected to learn the basic structure of economics articles, how to find the information you need, how to summarize single or multiple articles, and how to review economic literature. It also provides an overview of findings in behavioral and experimental economics and demonstrates how experimental methods can be used to better understand human behavior.

The second part of the course, taught by Ken Miura, provides students a quick overview of the modern econometric methods in applied microeconomics. Each module consisting of two lectures corresponds to one research design. In the first week, for each research design, you are expected to get an intuitive sense of basic concepts and identification assumptions required to achieve causal inference. In the second week, we read and discuss empirical papers that utilize the research designs covered to learn about their practical applications that are mostly derived from development economics. By discussing high-quality papers, this part also teaches students how to interpret figures and estimation tables.

本講義は応用ミクロ経済学の中級コースとして方法論を議論します。日本語による講義を予定していますが、受講生の状況により英語で実施するかもしれません(初回に連絡します)。ただし、受講生は質問・課題・試験などにおいて、日本語・英語、どちらの言語も使用できます。
Course Goals Course Objectives

After completing the first part of the course, students will be able to better understand human economic behavior through the lens of behavioral and experimental economics; become familiar with experimental games by participating in economic classroom experiments; understand the structure of journal articles; find key elements (e.g., research question, method, contribution) of journal articles; and become familiar with literature review in economics.

After completing the second part of the course, students will be familiarized with state-of-the-art empirical tools used in applied microeconomics; explain identification assumptions required for causal inference; understand how economists use research designs in practice; and develop skills to judge the quality of empirical papers.

本講義は、実証研究を遂行する上で不可欠な方法論として、(1) 学術論文の読み方、(2) 文献レビューの仕方、(3) 実験・行動経済学、(4) 因果推論のための計量経済学、(5) 開発経済学、(6) 実証論文の読み方、を扱います。
Schedule and Contents Course Modules

This course consists of lectures, classroom activities, class discussions, take-home assignments, and written examinations. The lectures provide an overview of the background and basis of the topic and methodological remarks. The classroom activities and take-home assignments help students better understand the issues.

講義形式で行いますが、課題などで英語の学術論文を読んでもらう予定です。初回授業は最初の15分程度でオリエンテーションを実施した後、講義を開始します。

Course plan (subject to change)
* The detailed syllabus will be provided on the first day of the course.

Course guidance (Week 1)
Course syllabus and logistics, key elements of a journal article

Part 1 (taught by Yohei Mitani):

Module 1 (Weeks 1 & 2)
Topic: Bounded rationality
Method: Laboratory and field experiments, guessing game, game theory, basic structure and key elements of journal article, single and multiple article summaries.

Module 2 (Weeks 3 & 4)
Topic: Social preferences
Method: Laboratory experiment, bargaining games, game theory, sourcing necessary information, understanding figures.

Module 3 (Weeks 5 & 6)
Topic: Risk and time preferences
Method: Expected utility, lottery and price list, behavioral economics.

Midterm exam (Week 7)

Part 2 (taught by Ken Miura):

Module 4 (Weeks 8 & 9)
Topic: OLS and RCT
Coverage: Exogeneity, properties of OLS estimators, omitted variable bias, good and bad controls, potential outcome framework, empirical applications.

Module 5 (Weeks 10 & 11)
Topic: IV
Coverage: Instrument relevance and exclusion restriction conditions, 2SLS, natural experiments, common IVs in the literature, empirical applications.

Module 6 (Weeks 12 & 13)
Topic: RD
Coverage: Sharp and fuzzy RD, RD plots, continuity assumptions, falsification tests, spatial RD designs, GIS, empirical applications.

Final exam (Week 14)

Feedback (Week 15)
Evaluation Methods and Policy Grading policy

Your course grade will be determined by your performance in take-home assignments and written exams. Class participation is strongly recommended. Our grading policy follows the department guidelines (“2022 Guide to Degree Programs”).

成績は課題と試験に基づきます。
Course Requirements None
Study outside of Class (preparation and review) This course involves take-home assignments and (potentially) some group work. The detailed information will be announced on the first day of the course.
Textbooks Textbooks/References Others, Textbook

There is no prescribed textbook for this coure. The lecture slides/notes and assigned papers will serve as the primary learning material. The reading list will be provided on the first day of the course.
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