Empirical Economics
Welcome to the Empirical Economics (Utrecht University) website. On this website, you can find all lecture slides, tutorial exercises, tutorial answers and mock exams. This page also contains the course manual (syllabus) for 2026-2027.
Course Description
This course aims to provide students with an understanding of basic econometric methods, and with knowledge on how to apply them. Students learn to understand the modern empirical economic literature and to independently analyze data to answer a research question. The course contains an introduction to statistical programming, followed by the linear regression model, and proceeds to focus on frequently-used techniques and settings in the empirical economics literature, such as panel data, and difference-in-differences. The course focuses on the theory, but also on applying these methods using a statistical programming language, Python or R.
Format
- Each week, 1 lecture and 1 tutorial. These are two-hour sessions on campus. Whereas the lecture focuses on more theoretical aspects, in the tutorials, students will apply the techniques and concepts learned during the lecture. The tutorials also allow you to ask questions about the lecture material.
- Changing tutorial groups: each student is assigned to a tutorial group according to his/her master’s specialization. It is not recommended to switch tutorials. If this is necessary under special circumstances, please contact Studiepunt.Economie.
- For tutorial times, rooms and group assignment, please refer to MyTimeTable. Log in with your student ID, click Add Timetable, search for “Empirical Economics”, click “Add timetables”, and select your corresponding tutorial group (e.g. USEMEE-2026-V-1-TUTORIAL-1-05). Optionally, you can also add the lectures and examinations.
Lecture Schedule
| Lecture | Date and Time | Topic |
|---|---|---|
| Lecture 1 | 05-09 at 15:15 | Introduction to Econometrics and Data |
| Lecture 2 | 12-09 at 13:15 | The Linear Model I |
| Lecture 3 | 19-09 at 13:15 | The Linear Model II |
| Lecture 4 | 26-09 at 15:15 | Panel Data I |
| Lecture 5 | 03-10 at 13:15 (+ Question Hour after) | Panel Data II |
| Midterm Exam | 07-10 | — |
| Lecture 6 | 10-10 at 15:15 | Track-specific |
| Lecture 7 | 21-10 at 11:00 | Track-specific |
| Lecture 8 | 24-10 at 13:15 (+ Question Hour after) | Track-specific |
| End-term Exam | 07-11 | — |
| End-term Retake | 30-01-2027 | — |
Lectures 6, 7 and 8 differ per master’s specialization. The topics are listed on the track pages: Economics, Finance and Entrepreneurship.
| Week | Economics | Finance | Entrepreneurship |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | Binary Outcome Data | Difference-in-Differences | Difference-in-Differences |
| 7 | Time Series and Prediction | Asset Pricing | Clustering and Factor Analysis |
| 8 | Applications II: Replication | Replicating Fama & French (1993) | Applications in Business |
Tutorial Schedule
Tutorials follow the same weekly topics as the lectures. Times, rooms and group assignments are on MyTimeTable, not below.
| Tutorial | Topic |
|---|---|
| Tutorial 1 | Introduction to Econometrics and Data |
| Tutorial 2 | The Linear Model I |
| Tutorial 3 | The Linear Model II |
| Tutorial 4 | Panel Data I |
| Tutorial 5 | Panel Data II |
| Tutorial 6 | Track-specific |
| Tutorial 7 | Track-specific |
| Tutorial 8 | Track-specific |
Course Materials
- Required material: lecture slides & tutorial exercises.
- Recommended (but not required) material: Wooldridge, J.M. (2014), Introduction to Econometrics, EMEA Edition, ISBN 987 1 4080 9375 7.
- Recommended (but not required) material: Cunningham, S. (2024), Causal Inference, The Mixtape. Available here.
- Recommended (but not required) material: Huntington-Klein, N. (2024), The Effect: An Introduction to Research Design and Causality. Available here.
| Lecture | Literature |
|---|---|
| Lecture 1 | Wooldridge 1 & 2 |
| Lecture 2 | Wooldridge 3 & 4 |
| Lecture 3 | Wooldridge 10, 11, 12, 18.5 |
| Lecture 4 | Wooldridge 13.3, 13.4, 13.5, 14.1 |
| Lecture 5 | Wooldridge 13.1, 13.2, 14.2, 14.3 |
| Lecture 6 (Economics) | Wooldridge 17 |
| Lecture 6 (Finance and Entrepreneurship) | Causal Inference The Mixtape 4 and 9 |
| Lectures 7 and 8 | Announced on the track pages |
Assessment
- The course will have a mid-term exam (40%) and an end-term exam (60% of the grade). Both of these will be conducted on Remindo, but in person. Utrecht University will provide Chromebooks. The exam is closed book, you can bring a pen/pencil and a calculator. Scrap paper will be provided.
- The mid-term will be about the first four weeks, the end-term will cover the entire course curriculum.
- A mock mid-term and end-term exam will be provided to make you acquainted with the format.
- Retake policy: There is one retake. If you have a grade \(4 \leq \text{Grade} \leq 5.5\), you are eligible for the retake.
- Inspection policy: there will be an inspection possibility organized by the course coordinator following the mid-term and end-term exams. These will be announced on Brightspace and will take place on Remindo.
- Grading: Your final grade will be your raw grade rounded to the nearest \(1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, \dots, 10\).
- Last course provision: A written exam (similar to the retake exam) takes place after period 4. Students who passed all courses (including thesis) except Empirical Economics can request the Board of Examiners for this last course provision.
Illness and Deregistration
- In case of illness on the day of the exam, you have to report via this form before the exam starts. You will then be eligible for the retake exam.
Effort Requirement
- Active participation in the tutorials is expected, since they build directly on the exercises and discussion from the previous session. There is no separately graded component for attendance; any formal minimum-attendance requirement will be communicated via Brightspace.
Learning Objectives
- Apply econometrics to analyze research questions using empirical data, and justify the chosen approach.
- Use basic statistics and mathematics to understand and derive the basic properties of several econometric models.
- Interpret and critically evaluate quantitative empirical studies to provide policy recommendations.
Overview
| Code | ESEMEE |
| Period | 1 |
| ECTS | 5 |
| Course Type | MSc Course |
| Programme | All Utrecht University School of Economics MSc Programs |
| Coordinator/Lecturer | dr. Bas Machielsen (a.h.machielsen@uu.nl) |
| Tutorial Teachers | dr. Jelena Arsenijevic, dr. Tina Dulam, dr. Vincent Kunst, dr. Mads Nielsen |
| Language | English |
| Entry Requirements | Knowledge of Statistics and Econometrics (Bachelor level); alternatively, attendance at the UU Summer School. |
Contact
- The course coordinator is Bas Machielsen (a dot h dot machielsen at uu dot .nl).
- Tutorial teachers:
Credits
The lecture slides are partially based on earlier lectures by Wolter Hassink and owe a lot to discussions and brainstorms with various colleagues.