Welcome to Econometrics
(posted: 22 Jan 2024)
Welcome to
Econometrics.
This website helps me organize the course.
I hope you find it helpful.
I have posted a copy of the
syllabus.
Please review it and the materials listed on the
metrics page.
And in case you ever need them,
I keep old messages on the
message board page.
I hope this way of organizing the course helps.
working with data
As an example of how to measure the effect of a policy change,
I will often discuss my
Analysis of the "Biagi Law".
To explain my choice, I wrote a page about
Teaching with the "Biagi Law" Data.
And to learn econometrics, you must do econometrics, so this course provides
a few datasets
and some null hypotheses to help you learn how to conduct an analysis of the data.
And to help you more, one student produced a
video of me
exploring a dataset. I hope you enjoy it.
software
To conduct an econometric analysis, we'll use
Gretl.
And when we study econometric theory, we'll use
wxMaxima.
Please install both.
The security features of macOS quarantine
wxMaxima,
preventing its installation. To lift the quarantine:
xattr -d com.apple.quarantine $HOME/Downloads/Maxima-5.43.0-VTK-macOS.dmg
For more details, see the
wxMaxima installation instructions
by Univ. of New Haven.
textbooks
The textbooks that we will use are A.H. Studenmund's
Using Econometrics: A Practical Guide
and Peter Kennedy's
A Guide to Econometrics.
To get the best deal on the Studenmund textbook, compare prices at
Amazon and
Alibris. And go ahead and buy a used copy.
Then use your savings to buy a used copy of Kennedy's Guide.
To get the best deal, compare prices at
Amazon and
Alibris.
let's get started
After reviewing background
on statistics and probability, we'll discuss
ordinary least squares.
To prepare, please read Studenmund, chaps. 1, 2 and 3.
And please begin studying the
problem set.
We'll discuss problem #4 first, then return to #1.
And to assist you, I have provided my
answers to #1.
I'm looking forward to working with you this semester.
Sincerely,
- Eryk Wdowiak