Master’s Seminar “Applied Empirical Health Economics” (WT 2026/27)

In the upcoming winter term (WT 2026/27) the Professorship of Health Economics offers a Seminar “Applied Empirical Health Economics”. The idea behind this module is to introduce students of the relevant master’s programs to applied empirical research concerned with health-related research questions.

Students replicate – and possibly extend – an empirical paper from the field of health economics. The participants are assigned a paper, and work independently on an empirical question, using the software Stata®. Yet, you can always ask us for help if you feel you need it.

For those who are not already familiar with Stata® we will offer a one-day Stata® crash course early in the winter term (October 23rd). Please let us know if you are interested in participating in this course. All participants have to write a short thesis, in which they document their empirical analysis. On January 22nd, 2027 a one-day seminar will complete the module, where each participant presents his or her work and discusses it with the group. Students who have participated in the module ‘Microeconometrics’ or have attended similar lectures elsewhere will greatly benefit from these courses.

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Organizational details:

• Module compatibility: Master in Economics (MSE), Master in Gesundheitsmanagement und Gesundheitsökonomie (MiGG), Master in Sozialökonomik, and Master programs that include free elective modules (5 ECTS)
• The number of participants is limited to a maximum of 9.
• Please apply via application form:
  https://www.studon.fau.de/studon/goto.php?target=lcode_LrfFrPiQ
  (open the link after you log in to StudOn)
• Preliminary Meeting (topic assignment, course enrollment):
  Thursday, September 17th, 2026, 6 pm,
  via Zoom: https://fau.zoom-x.de/j/66166293552
  If you cannot attend the meeting, please get in touch with us before the scheduled time of the meeting.
• Requirement: (i) Doing empirical work autonomously, (ii) 15 pages thesis, (iii) 20 minutes presentation, (iv) participation in the discussion
• Contact: Elena Yurkevich elena.yurkevich@fau.de, 0911 / 5302 95601

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Seminar topics:

Difference-in-Differences in Historical Public Health Interventions

1) Alsan & Goldin (2019), “Watersheds in Child Mortality: The Role of Effective Water and Sewerage Infrastructure, 1880 to 1920”
Method: Staggered DiD.

2) Bailey & Goodman-Bacon (2015), “The War on Poverty’s Experiment in Public Medicine: Community Health Centers and the Mortality of Older Americans”
Method: Staggered DiD and event study.

3) Goodman-Bacon (2021), “The Long-Run Effects of Childhood Insurance Coverage: Medicaid Implementation, Adult Health, and Labor Market Outcomes”
Method: State-by-cohort DiD and event study.

Regression Discontinuity in Health and Social Policy

4) Carneiro, Løken & Salvanes (2015), “A Flying Start? Maternity Leave Benefits and Long-Run Outcomes of Children”
Method: Sharp RDD at the maternity-leave reform cutoff.

5) Finkelstein, Hendren & Shepard (2019), “Subsidizing Health Insurance for Low-Income Adults: Evidence from Massachusetts”
Method: RDD at income-based subsidy thresholds.

6) Miller, Pinto & Vera-Hernández (2013), “Risk Protection, Service Use, and Health Outcomes under Colombia’s Health Insurance Program for the Poor”
Method: Fuzzy RDD at insurance-eligibility thresholds.

Survival Analysis in Fertility and Family Planning

7) Babiarz et al. (2026), “The Limits and Consequences of Population Policy: Evidence from China’s Wan Xi Shao Campaign”
Method: Staggered DiD; extension with fertility hazard models.

8) Bassi & Rasul (2017), “Persuasion: A Case Study of Papal Influences on Fertility-Related Beliefs and Behavior”
Method: Event study and fertility hazard model.

9) Karra et al. (2022), “The Causal Effect of a Family Planning Intervention on Women’s Contraceptive Use and Birth Spacing”
Method: RCT and Cox survival analysis.

Distributional Effects in Health Economics

10) Reichert & Tauchmann (2017), “Workforce Reduction, Subjective Job Insecurity, and Mental Health”
Method: Panel fixed effects and quantile regression.

11) Finkelstein et al. (2012), “The Oregon Health Insurance Experiment: Evidence from the First Year”
Method: Randomized lottery, IV, and quantile regression