Research on Productivity, Trade, and Growth

This course provides a self-contained set of lectures to bring PhD students and practitioners up to speed in the area of empirical research using firm-level data. The course starts with an introduction to models of firm dynamics. Next, attention is paid to estimation of productivity, including methods to cope with sample selection, endogeneity of inputs, and lack of firm-level quality adjusted prices. Finally, the course discusses recent empirical work on structural modeling of productivity, trade and growth. Besides theory, the course will include a set of lectures on data handling, programming, and algorithms for empirical applications, as well as daily hands-on practical sessions. To enroll, students are expected to have finished first-year PhD economics and econometrics courses and have some experience in applied research.

The course consists of:

Before each class, students are expected to have read the required papers in the syllabus. Each day will have two lectures and two tutorials. The tutorials will be address technical aspects (computer set-up, data cleaning and handling) as well as provide time for hands-on practice with empirical assignments.