CEU Summer University course: Policy Design and Evaluation (call for applications)

22/01/2015

A ten-day long course offered by senior staff of Budapest Institute - along with distinguished researchers from CEU, Austrian Institute of Economic Research, and European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research - will be held on policy design and evaluation at the CEU Summer University between 20 July - 31 July, 2015. Who should apply? Students finishing their social science studies at an MA or MSc level and planning to enter civil services, civil servants early in their careers, and those working for NGO’s. The deadline for application is 14 February, 2015.

The course covers several facets and methods of public policy, with an introduction to quantitative evaluation of policy interventions. After discussing each element of the policy cycle process (agenda setting / policy formulation / decision / implementation / evaluation) in detail, quantitative evaluation methods relying on randomised-controlled experiments and also those using observational data (matching methods, difference-in-differences, instrumental variables, regression discontinuity) as well as the assessment of distributional and equilibrium effects of policy interventions are also demonstrated.

The course stresses independent group work and relies heavily on case studies. Theoretical background is presented at lectures (including invited lectures by hands-on experts on their recent policy-related work) and discussed during seminars, and actual instances of policy-related work by the lecturers are also shown in class and discussed. 

The teaching faculty includes Balázs Váradi, Ágota Scharle and Anna Adamecz (senior researchers at Budapest Institute for Policy Analysis), Gábor Kézdi (Department of Economics, Central European University), Hans Pitlik (Austrian Institute of Economic Research - WIFO), and Pieter Vanhuysse (European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research, Vienna, Austria).

The prerequisite of the course is a first degree (BA or BSc) in one of the social sciences or law. For more information on the course, eligibility, financial information and the application process, please visit the CEU SUN website on the course: http://summer.ceu.hu/poldesign-2015/