Undergraduate Econometrics Instruction: Through Our Classes, Darkly

Joshua Angrist and Jorn-Steffen Pischke

Journal of Economic Perspectives, 2017, vol. 31, issue 2, 125-44

Abstract: The past half-century has seen economic research become increasingly empirical, while the nature of empirical economic research has also changed. In the 1960s and 1970s, an empirical economist's typical mission was to "explain" economic variables like wages or GDP growth. Applied econometrics has since evolved to prioritize the estimation of specific causal effects and empirical policy analysis over general models of outcome determination. Yet econometric instruction remains mostly abstract, focusing on the search for "true models" and technical concerns associated with classical regression assumptions. Questions of research design and causality still take a back seat in the classroom, in spite of having risen to the top of the modern empirical agenda. This essay traces the divergent development of econometric teaching and empirical practice, arguing for a pedagogical paradigm shift.

JEL-codes: A22 C01 C18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
Note: DOI: 10.1257/jep.31.2.125
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (33)

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Working Paper: Undergraduate econometrics instruction: through our classes, darkly (2017)
Working Paper: Undergraduate Econometrics Instruction: Through Our Classes, Darkly (2017)
Working Paper: Undergraduate Econometrics Instruction: Through Our Classes, Darkly (2017)
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