Topics in Methodology: Scaling of Latent Traits (n/a)

Location: Columbia University, n/a

Time: n/a

Semester: n/a

Abstract

In this course, we review foundational estimation practices that stretch all the way back Catholic monasteries of the 1400s and into the modern era. Then, we apply the practices of NOMINATE, natural language processing, and joint scaling to study topics in economics, politics, finance, and marketing.

Level

Upper level course for college juniors, seniors, and graduate students.

Objective

Understand the theory and practice of scaling, the method that lets us order politicians by ideology, draw inferences from machine analysis of texts, and personalize content at scale with artificial intelligence.