On 24 February 2026, JRC will welcome Professor David Card, the 2021 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics winner. His foundational contributions focus on how to use “natural experiments” in labour economics to infer causal relations. He used them to challenge conventional wisdom on the effects of minimum wages, immigration, and education on the workforce using observational data.
Join us for the unique chance to listen from and discuss with Professor Card during a hybrid “JRC in Conversation with” morning event, on the history of causal analysis – the scientific study of cause and effect - and its link to JRC work in science and evidence-based policymaking.
This will be followed by a more technical session in the afternoon, with a panel discussion and presentation of the upcoming publication “Data-Driven Learning in the EU: From Administrative Sources to Public Value”, Springer.
How to participate
- Register here (link coming soon) to participate in presence (the deadline is February 19th at 12 p.m.)
- Write a message to EC-CC-ME@ec.europa.eu to participate to the morning session online
- Connect here to participate to the afternoon session
Full programme
- 11.30 - 13.00Morning session: “JRC in conversation with David Card”
- Introduction by Bernard Magenhann, Director-General for the JRC
- Keynote by David Card, University of California at Berkeley
This talk presents a brief history of causal analysis – the scientific study of cause and effect -- with examples from the economics literature on minimum wages and immigration. I trace the development of the idea of “counterfactuals,” and how this is central to the interpretation of randomized controlled trials (RCT’s) and quasi-experimental methods such as the difference in differences technique. I also briefly discuss the impacts that rigorous empirical evidence has had on immigration and minimum wage policies.
- Debate and Q&As. Michaela Saisana, Head of JRC Unit S.3, will moderate.
- 13.00 - 15.00Lunch break
- 15.30 - 17.30Afternoon session: “The relevance of administrative data to produce reliable evidence”
- Fabio Berton and Paolo Paruolo, CC-ME JRC: presentation of “Data-Driven Learning in the EU: From Administrative Sources to Public Value”, Springer
- Keynote by David Card, University of California at Berkeley
- Discussion by Lia Pacelli, University of Torino
- Discussion by Astrid Kunze, Norwegian School of Economics
- Q&As
- 17.30 - 18.30Aperitif
| Event date | 24 Feb 2026 - |
| Event location | Hybrid: Ispra & Online, Cisco WebEx (circulated upon request for the morning session) |
| Related organisation(s) | JRC - Joint Research Centre |
| Knowledge service | Metadata | Microeconomic Evaluation |