Teaches the basic economic concepts and methods to be used for further study and analysis of educational finance, education and inequality, education and economic growth, the impact of educational policies on education; and outcomes, school reform, and school choice. Offered annually in the fall.
This course teaches students key perspectives on development and economic growth; the theoretical and empirical arguments linking education to economic growth; the main economic issues behind persistently low education levels in the developing world; the progress in raising these education levels being made through deliberate intervention and market responses; how students can become professionally involved in this progress; and a core set of empirical and theoretical skills useful in parsing these topics. Offered annually in the spring.
Methods of economic evaluation are a critical component of evidence for policymaking. Economic evaluations, mainly cost-effectiveness and benefit-cost analysis, contribute information about costs relative to impacts. Rigorous evidence on effects, and the resources used to produce them, aids in selecting between policy alternatives. This course is designed to provide a strong foundation to prepare researchers to apply the “ingredients method,” a method of evaluating the costs of educational programs. Students will also become familiar with statistical approaches to educational resource use and the use of cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit techniques in education.
The purpose of the course is to provide students with the main theoretical tools and concepts for microeconomic analysis in the field of education and elsewhere, and to make students conversant in their application to real world issues and in the debates surrounding their strengths and weaknesses. These are powerful, yet controversial, tools, and are at the heart of much of today’s education and social policy debate. Topics covered include supply, demand, consumer optimization, expected value, uncertainty, insurance, producer optimization, equilibrium, perfect competition, monopoly, imperfect competition, externalities, and public goods. Offered annually in the Fall.
This course uses theoretical and empirical economic analysis to analyze the behavior of higher education students and institutions and to study private and public policy related to post-secondary education. Offered regularly, typically in the fall.
This course introduces students to key concepts and methodological tools in international comparative analysis of education finance. It examines fundamental and diverse perspectives in global school finance, focusing on the theory and policies of how nations in different parts of the world mobilize and allocate resources for education, and use these resources to address pressing issues in educational attainment and equity. Intended for both U.S. and international graduate students in education who may subsequently work as policy makers, education administrators and academic researchers in a variety of educational organizations and institutions, nationally and internationally.
Educational privatization and school choice raise fundamental questions about the purposes of education, the nature of community, the meaning of freedom, the boundaries of the market, and the definition of the public good and of public goods. Through close reading of court decisions and legislative acts as well as works in economics, sociology, history, political science, pedagogy, and investigative journalism, we will explore these questions.
This seminar is intended to develop students’ research and writing skills as applied to an in-depth independent project in the Economics of Education, to develop professional skills, and to promote a supportive scholarly and professional community among Econ & Ed students. The course will examine the stages of research development and provide structured guidance to students as they develop an independent project and prepare for their careers after graduation. Since the course will be run as a seminar, students are expected to contribute to class discussions as well as to provide critical and thoughtful feedback on their classmates’ work in progress. Priority will be given to master’s students in Economics & Education, but the course is open to EPSA students as well. Offered annually.
Permission of advisor required. Supervised training in diverse settings designed to gain work experience and/or research skills related to economics of education.
For doctoral students and others with research projects or potential research projects in the field. Participation required for doctoral students writing their dissertation. Students who are beginning to think about their dissertation topic or working on proposals are also encouraged to participate. Faculty members may also be invited from within or outside the department to present their work. Offered annually.
The course focuses on the evaluation of state-of-the art research papers in the economics of education. The purpose is to provide critical readings and reviews of articles and papers across many different methods. Offered occasionally.
This course is essentially one in applied econometrics, but is well suited to anyone in policy, sociology, political science, etc. looking to do empirical research about the causal effects of some X on some Y. The goal of this class is for students to learn a set of statistical tools and research designs that are useful in conducting good empirical research on public policy topics. The course will emphasize the importance of research design (relative to statistical technique) for the identification of causal effects, as well as the limitations in the applicability of many commonly used techniques. The pedagogical philosophy behind the class is guided by the maxim “show, don't tell." While we will learn the statistical properties of a variety of common estimators using some black/white-board math, the formal requirements of the class will consist primarily of problem sets requiring students to analyze real data and replicate results from published papers in the hope that doing applied work will help you to learn the theory behind it. Learning Objectives Students who successfully complete this course will: • Be familiar with the most common econometric research designs, and have a firm grasp on the conditions under which each can produce valid causal inferences. • Have a grounded understanding of the theoretical properties of common econometric estimators. • Understand how to critique the empirical methodologies of papers that use the most popular research designs.
This doctoral course covers the design, implementation, and interpretation of econometric methods used for evaluating causal relationships in education research, reading and discussing applied methodological texts as well as journal articles using advanced causal methods. The course covers randomized experiments, natural experiments, differences-in-differences, instrumental variables, regression discontinuity, and propensity score matching. Offered occasionally.
The purpose of this course is to introduce students familiar with causal methods to the design and implementation of field experiments in economics and education. In the first part of the course, students will study experimental design. In the second part of the course, students will focus on the practical aspects of running an experiment. The course assignments will lead up to a completed proposal outlining the theory, design, and implementation of a field experiment. In addition, students will complete an IRB application for human-subjects approval and present their proposals. Offered occasionally.
This course provides an advanced discussion of the links between education and economic development, including both theoretical frameworks and a review of frontier empirical research, with a focus on how such studies are conceived and executed. Offered occasionally.
This course covers important concepts in labor economics, with a focus on how those concepts can be applied and tested in practice. The course will provide an overview of labor market topics such as the returns to education and training, non-monetary forms of compensation, models of labor migration, and models of imperfect or asymmetric information about skills. For each topic, we will examine influential papers and the empirical methods they use. The course is intended for doctoral students and will count towards the Labor Economics requirement for the Economics of Education Ph.D. program. Offered occasionally.
A doctoral-level survey of microeconomic theory with applications of relevance to the economics of education. Includes the theory of the firm and its implications regarding factor demands, educational production functions, and the demand for education. Consumer theory and the theory of labor supply, human capital externalities, inter-temporal decision-making, public finance and local public goods will also be covered. Offered every other year.
Through presentation and discussion of their research studies, students learn research skills and improve their understanding of various issues in the research process from the initial stage to dissemination.
Individual advisement on doctoral dissertations. Fee to equal 3 points at current tuition rate for each term. For requirements, see section in catalog on Continuous Registration for Ed.D./ Ph.D. degrees.
Program Director: Professor Alex Eble
Box: 011
Teachers College, Columbia University
212 Zankel, Suite B
Contact Person: Katherine Y. Chung, Program Manager
Phone: (212) 678-3677 Fax: (212) 678-3677
Email: kc2610@tc.columbia.edu