Course Offerings:

I teach this course each spring; the attached course description is for Spring 2010.

The course has a prerequisite of Statistics. In addition, you should have had the Intermediate Theory courses, or get my permission.

The ideal time to take this course is in the spring of your junior year, before Senior Project.

Course Description:

This course provides an introduction to the methods for quantitative research in economics. We will be concerned with the proper formulation of economic hypotheses, hypothesis testing, estimation, modeling and forecasting.

In the process, we will examine some of the "diseases" to which economic research is susceptible (multicollinearity, heteroscedasticity, autocorrelation, simultaneous-equations bias) and their remedies.

A continuing class project, time permitting, will be to build, estimate and evaluate our own macroeconomic model of the economy.

In addition, each of you will undertake a significant empirical research project of your own and present your work to the class. Past students have found these projects to be excellent preparation for Senior Project.