Dr Jordi Blanes i Vidal

This course is available with permission to General Course ‘Spring Semester’ students.

Quantitative Methods (Mathematics) (MA107) or equivalent and Quantitative Methods (Statistics) (ST107) or equivalent

Simple and Multiple Regression; Hypothesis Testing; Mechanics and Limitations of OLS; Causality; Natural, Field and Laboratory Experiments. Panel Data and Fixed Effect Models. Instrumental Variables Regression.

The main aim of this course is to provide a thorough understanding of the quantitative techniques which guide evidence-based managerial decision-making. It seeks to develop a framework in which students can examine whether the predictions of managerial, social or economic theory are supported by empirical evidence. Particular emphasis is made on (a) illustrating the many ways in which evidence is abused in the academic or managerial debate, and (b) trying to establish causality in the relationship between variables. The approach is both formal, as the course makes extensive use of econometric theorems and techniques, and solidly grounded in intuition, as it provides numerous examples of tests of real-life relations. Many of these examples will be illustrated using the STATA software package, and the students will be expected to learn the basics of data manipulation and regression running. A solid base of introductory statistics and probability (equivalent to that provided by ST107) and introductory algebra and calculus (equivalent to that provided by MA107) will be expected.

20 hours of lectures and 10 hours of classes in the MT. 20 hours of lectures and 10 hours of classes in the LT. 2 hours of lectures and 1 hour of classes in the ST.

Students on this course will have a reading week in Week 6, in line with departmental policy.

Students will be expected to produce 1 problem sets in the MT and 1 problem sets in the LT.

There will be one formative assessment each term.

The textbook for the course is:

• James H. Stock and Mark W. Watson, Introduction to Econometrics, Second Edition, Pearson, 2007.

Two other very useful (complementary) books are:

• Christopher Dougherty, Introduction to Econometrics, Third Edition, Oxford University Press, 2007;
• Jeffrey M. Wooldridge, Introductory Econometrics - A Modern Approach, Third Edition, South-Western, 2006.

Exam (100%, duration: 3 hours) in the summer exam period.