Philip Ganderton's Teaching Web |
|
|
Other links for Ec309:
Syllabus |
Economics 309Introductory Econometrics Fall 2003
This course provides the link between economic models and the observations of the economic behavior being modeled. Economic theories acquire validity by being compared to real world behavior, and only data can provide evidence of the size of effects predicted by our models. You will learn how to apply many of the statistician’s analytical tools to economic data: from simple descriptive statistics (averages and spreads) to sophisticated multi-variable regression tools. Continually the emphasis is on the use of econometric tools to better model the world, to better understand our models, and to better communicate the findings from our economic analysis. The text is Economics Statistics and Econometrics by Thad Mirer, third edition. I chose this book because it is organized in a nice way—basic theory is split into two parts: descriptive statistics first and then inferential statistics. Using this split, the text looks at similar problems and issues first intuitively (which roughly relates to the descriptive method) and then using probability theory (which roughly relates to the inferential method.) We will do a lot of econometrics intuitively, and then again using the underlying probability theory. Consequently, the course builds up over the semester (novel idea) but there may be times when you will have to accept an incomplete answer, awaiting more detailed explanation later in the course There will be 4 exams. They will be take home, and so require more thought and I will have higher expectations of your performance. I will count your highest 3 exams, so if you are satisfied with your 3 midterms, you can choose not to sit the final. I will weight the homework 100 points, the lowest exam score 0 points, the next highest 200 points, the second highest 300 points and the highest exam score 400 points for a total of 1000 points. The grading scale is established using the rule: A+=97-100, A=90-96.9, A-=85-89.9, and so on. A complaints, review and re-grade policy is in place that I will explain in class. It is identical to the one I have used in all my previous classes. There is no computer usage component to this class. You won’t be running econometric analyses on computers, but we will be discussing all aspects of using computers in econometrics, and I will be providing you with computer output to analyze and interpret. |