The course is divided into two parts. In the first part, the major contemporary issues infamily demography are introduced. In the second part, following the life course approach, the course presents an introduction to event-history analysis thecniques. During the course, the students will develop their own research project using the STATA statistical software.
Scherer S. (2013). Analisi dei dati longitudinali. Bologna: Il Mulino. Capitoli I, II, II + Appendice
Mencarini L. & Vignoli D. (2018). Genitori cercasi. L'Italia nella trappola demografica. Milano: Università Bocconi Editore.
Learning Objectives
Understanding and interpreting major contemporary demographic issues. Utilizing methods of event-history analysis to address specific research questions on family dynamics.
Prerequisites
Basic Statistics
Teaching Methods
The course includes: traditional lectures; labs with the statistical software STATA; students' presentations
Type of Assessment
Attending students: writing of a mini-project on a topic to be agreed with the teacher (60% of the final mark) and a presentation of the mini-project (40% of the final mark)
Non attending students: written exam composed by 5 questions (each question counts max 6 points). Duration of writtem exam: 2 hours
Course program
Macro and micro approaches in demography; Topics (fertility, union formation, union dissolution, subjective well-being and family dynamics); Methods (basic concepts of event-history analysis, longitudinal data and life table estimator; Kaplan-Meier and analysis by subgroups; Episode splitting; Basic models; comparison between models and interactions; Limits and potentials of EHA); lab (application of event-history analysis thecniques through the software STATA)