Econ 312: Introduction to Econometrics Summer 2024Python

Java Python Econ 312: Introduction to Econometrics

Summer 2024

Course Objective

This course deals with the applications of statistical models and theories for modeling and analyzing economic and social problems. The purpose of the course is to train students in the quantitative modeling approaches to understanding  and  analyzing  economic  and  social  phenomena.  Economic  events  and  outcomes  often  show considerable level of uncertainties. As a result, a government planner or a business executive often must take recourse to conjectures in making policy decisions. This course will give students exposure to how decisions based on conjectures are formally tested and substantiated, using statistical body of knowledge. Economic uncertainties often have a complex blend of certain (deterministic) and random  (probabilistic)  components. Applications of economic and  statistical  tools  help  us  separate  out  the  deterministic  features  of  an economic and social phenomenon from the probabilistic features. This is done by using existing quantitative information (data) on an economic or social event.

The primary objective of this course is to learn how to apply statistical and econometric tools to address numerous economic and social issues within the abovementioned framework. For  instance,  we may be interested to know the expected  rate of return on a common stockor to formally verify if the risk associated with an investment is within acceptable level. We may also want to see how a price of a product affects the volume of sales of a company; we may be interested to investigate what contributes the most in determining house price. We may want to know how elastic the demand for gasoline is, or we may want to forecast the  likely sales of smart phones ten years from now. Addressing these issues require availability of quantitative economic information commonly called data. A portion of this course will help students learn how to gather and use relevant economic data and make them suitable for statistical and econometric applications using computer and statistical software, primarily STATA and EXCEL.

Prerequisites

•  Economics 301 (Intermediate Microeconomics)

•  Economics 311 (Introductory Statistics)

•  Math 226 (calculus)

•  Working knowledge of Microsoft EXCEL

Course Organization

This course will be offered asynchronously, meaning there will be no scheduled classes. Everything about this course, including course outline, Office Hours ZOOM link, link to all recorded video lectures, study materials, exams, online submission of tests is available on the Canvas website (canvas.sfsu.edu). All registered students have access to the SFSU Canvas site with login and password credentials. Each video lecture recording will contain lecture on econometric theory as well as lab-based application of data analytic techniques. Students MUST watch each video multiple times with pen and paper at hand for practice.

For data analytic techniques,  EXCEL, and a statistical  software,  called STATA, will be  the  primary statistical packages to be used.  There  will be three homework assignments. Homework 1 and  2 will be due rig Econ 312: Introduction to Econometrics Summer 2024Python ht before exams 1 and 2, respectively. Homework 3 will be due during week 5 of class. Instead of a final exam, every student will carry out an INDEPENDENT MODELING PROJECT, which will be due for evaluation on the last day of class.

Grading Weights and Letter Grades

Grading Weights		Letter grades
Two Midterm (25% weight each)	50%	95-100%	A
		90-95%	A-
Modelling Project	30%	85-90%	B+
		80-85%	B
Three homework assignments	20%	75-80%	C+
		70-75%	C
		65-70%	D+
		60-65%	D
		<60%	F

•  Watching recorded video lectures is the most important factor in the overall performance and course grade.

Required Text and Course Material

Required Text: Author: Christopher Dougherty, Introduction to Econometrics, Fifth Edition or later (preferred), Oxford University Press

Course Material: Handouts and  lecture  notes  will be  posted on CANVAS for this course on a weekly basis. Homework exercises, data sets for homework assignments and for class discussion purposes will be put up on the CANVAS website  on a weekly basis. Students are required  to download  the data set for their work from the CANVAS website or from the Textbook website at 

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