This webinar provides an overview of economic modeling: why modeling is necessary to understand and estimate the influence of public policies on household decisions and outcomes, the different types of modeling approaches and data sources used, the outputs from economic models and how they can be used to inform both policy design and policy evaluation, and how economists can evaluate and improve upon the quality of their own models. Examples will be provided using the Penn Wharton Budget Model. This session is open only to Wharton Public Policy Certificate Program participants. Lecturer: Kent Smetters, PhD, Boettner Chair Professor of Business Economics and Public Policy at the Wharton School and Faculty Director of the Penn Wharton Budget Model.