Counterfactuals and Causal Inference in the Social Sciences

Questions about causal effects and processes are critical in the social sciences, and range from macro-level concerns such as Does capitalism cause democracy? to micro-level ones such as Does educational attainment increase individual earnings / health /civic participation?. This course trains students in quantitative approaches designed to address causal questions with observational and quasi-experimental data, including propensity score methods, fixed and random effects, instrumental variables, and regression discontinuity, among others. The underlying intuition, statistical formulation, and implementation of each approach will be discussed. The course will also examine topics relevant for researches addressing causal questions such as sensitivity analysis, mediation analysis, and integration of quantitative and qualitative approaches. Prerequisites: Soc 381 and Soc 382 or equivalent. Undergraduate students should request instructor's permission