Economics 741 Advanced Topics in Public Economics Second Half Fall 2022 Syllabus Version of October 28 2022 Prof Jeffrey Smith Email econjeff ssc wisc edu Web page https ssc wisc edu econjeff Office hours By appointment Office Sewell Social Sciences Building 7454 Course meetings MW 11 00 12 15 Objective Economics 741 examines topics in public economics The purpose of this course is to gain an understanding of the literature to develop insight into current research in the field and to provide training in seeing what is missing in the literature i e in developing paper ideas Prerequisites The prerequisites for the course are Economics 711 and 713 and a graduate level course in econometrics Presentations There will be one 20 minute presentation at the start of each class except for the two lecture classes Two students will work together on the initial portion of the presentation which should provide a context for and summary of the day s paper Each student will then individually present their own questions comments suggestions for further analysis and so on Please bring your slides to class on a memory stick and please email them to me as well Two pagers All students not presenting on a given day should turn in a two page typed double spaced document in 12 point font by midnight the preceding day It should consist of two parts a written summary of the paper or papers being presented and their comments questions and suggestions for further analysis Please upload to canvas Auditors Auditors are welcome to attend the lecture classes On the remaining days the price of admission is the same two page document on the paper required of those actually registered for the class This will get read but obviously will not count toward any sort of grade This requirement seeks to ensure that everyone present in the room has read the paper for the day Paper proposal and presentation The proposal should be a 10 15 page paper excluding tables figures and references and include an abstract It can be on any topic related to public economics but the student should meet with one of the instructors at some point preferably on the early side of the semester for approval of their topic You should use this as an opportunity to get in the habit of checking in with faculty to discuss ideas and research progress Please ensure that the version you submit is double spaced and carefully proofread Due on December 20 2022 Grading The two pagers the in class presentations and class participation will each represent 20 of your grade for my portion of the course Your paper proposal and presentation will make up the other 40 Your overall course grade will be an average of your grades in the two halves of the course Public economics seminar You are strongly encouraged to attend the student public economics seminar on Mondays and the regular public economics seminar on Tuesdays Gratitude Thanks to Clint Harris Heather Little and Lois Miller for thoughts on the choice of papers for the section on college quality and match All errors are alas my own Active labor market programs within study designs Background readings Albrecht James Gerard van den Berg and Susan Vroman 2009 The Aggregate Labor Market Effect of the Swedish Knowledge Lift Program Review of Economic Dynamics 12 1 129 146 Barnow Burt 1987 The Impact of CETA Programs on Earnings A Review of the Literature Journal of Human Resources 22 2 157 193 Barnow Burt and Jeffrey Smith 2015 Employment and Training Programs In Robert Moffitt ed Means Tested Transfer Programs in the United States II Chicago University of Chicago Press for NBER 127 234 Cal nico Sebastian and Jeffrey Smith 2017 The Women of the National Supported Work Demonstration Journal of Labor Economics 35 S1 S65 S97 Card David Jochen Kluve and Andrea Weber 2018 What Works A Meta Analysis of Recent Active Labor Market Program Evaluations Journal of the European Economic Association 16 3 894 931 Cohen Goldner Sarit and Zvi Eckstein 2010 Estimating the Return to Training and Occupational Experience The Case of Female Immigrants Journal of Econometrics 156 86 105 Cook Thomas William Shadish and Vivian Wong 2008 Three Conditions under Which Experiments and Observational Studies Produce Comparable Causal Estimates New Findings from Within Study Comparisons Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 27 4 724 750 Cr pon Bruno Esther Duflo Marc Gurgand Roland Rathelot and Philippe Zamora 2013 Do Labor Market Policies have Displacement Effects Evidence from a Clustered Randomized Experiment Quarterly Journal of Economics 128 2 531 580 Fortson Kenneth Dana Rotz Paul Burkander Annalisa Mastri Peter Schochet Linda Rosenberg Sheena McConnell and Ron D Amico 2017 Providing Public Workforce Services to Jobseekers 30 month Impact Findings on the WIA Dislocated and Adult Worker Programs Princeton NJ Mathematica Policy Research Heckman James and V Joseph Hotz 1989 Choosing Among Alternative Nonexperimental Methods for Estimating the Impact of Social Programs The Case of Manpower Training Journal of the American Statistical Association 84 408 862 874 Heckman James Neil Hohmann and Jeffrey Smith with the assistance of Michael Khoo 2000 Substitution and Dropout Bias in Social Experiments A Study of an Influential Social Experiment Quarterly Journal of Economics 115 2 651 694 Heckman James Hidehiko Ichimura Jeffrey Smith and Petra Todd 1998 Characterizing Selection Bias Using Experimental Data Econometrica 66 5 1017 1098 Heckman James Robert LaLonde and Jeffrey Smith 1999 The Economics and Econometrics of Active Labor Market Programs in Orley Ashenfelter and David Card eds Handbook of Labor Economics Volume 3A Amsterdam North Holland 1865 2097 Klerman Jacob Correne Saunders Emily Dastrup Zachary Epstein Douglas Walton and Tara Adam with the assistance of Burt Barnow 2019 Evaluation of Impacts of the Reemployment and Eligibility Assessment REA Final Report Cambridge MA Abt Associates Lechner Michael and Smith Jeffrey 2007 What is the Value Added by Caseworkers Labour Economics 14 2 135 151 Lechner Michael and Conny Wunsch 2013 Sensitivity of Matching Based Program Evaluations to the Availability of Control Variables Labour Economics 21 111 121 Lise Jeremy Shannon Seitz and Jeffrey Smith 2004 Equilibrium Policy Experiments and the Evaluation of Social Programs NBER Working Paper No 10283 McCall Brian Jeffrey Smith and Conny Wunsch 2015 Government Sponsored Vocational Training In Eric Hanushek and Ludger Woessman eds Handbook of