Statistical Analysis and Evaluation of Macroeconomic Policies: A Selective Review

In this paper, we highlight some recent developments of a new route to evaluate macroeconomic policy effects, which are investigated under the framework with potential outcomes. First, this paper begins with a brief introduction of the basic model setup in modern econometric analysis of program evaluation. Secondly, primary attention goes to the focus on causal effect estimation of macroeconomic policy with single time series data together with some extensions to multiple time series data. Furthermore, we examine the connection of this new approach to traditional macroeconomic models for policy analysis and evaluation. Finally, we conclude by addressing some possible future research directions in statistics and econometrics.