UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES

Department of Economics

Economics 143 - APPLIED REGRESSION ANALYSIS
Fall, 1998, Professor Cameron

Lectures: T, Th, 9:30 - 10:45 a.m., Public Policy 1246
Final: Thursday, December 17, 8-11 a.m. (no exceptions)
Instructor's Office: Bunche Hall 9367
Phone: 825-3925 (or leave message at 825-1011)
e-mail: tcameron@econ.ucla.edu
Office Hours (revised Oct 14): Tuesday 3-3:50; Thursday 2-4 pm, and by appointment
Discussion Board: http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/98F/econ143-1/wwwboard
Announcements: http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/98F/econ143-1/announce.php

Detailed Course Outline:
The course outline represents an ex ante course plan, to be revised and amended during the quarter as warranted. The pace may be adjusted if necessary, but the order of topics will probably remain as shown.
TA: Sylvia Guillermo-Peon
TA Office: Bunche 9372
TA Office hours: Thursday 11-12
e-mail: sguiller@ucla.edu


Prerequisites: Good grades in Economics 40 (or very good grades in Statistics 50, which is at a much more introductory level than is really needed for Economics 143). Economics 143 picks up where Economics 40 leaves off. It is differentiated from Economics 147(A,B) in that no prior knowledge of matrix algebra is presumed.

Course Objectives:

  • Regression is one of the most important statistical techniques used by econometricians in their efforts to confront economic theories with real-life data.


  • We will emphasize the intuition behind the procedures involved in regression analysis and concentrate upon achievement of proficiency in the implementation and interpretation of regression models in an economic context.


  • Upon successful completion of this course, you should be familiar with regression fundamentals. You should understand the statistical underpinnings of this method, the assumptions that are required, ways in which these assumptions may be violated and remedial measures that can be employed when they are.


  • You should also appreciate some of the "art" of choosing among alternative regression models, but you will be aware of the dangers of "data mining."


  • You will have experienced considerable hands-on practice at implementing regression techniques using stylized and actual data and econometric computer software. A selection of applications will be explored in conjunction with the weekly problem sets.


    •  Computer Orientation: In the first lecture, you will be asked to sign up for a Bunche Microcomputer Lab ID, and for one of three weekly laboratory sessions. Scheduling is dependent upon whether the Division of Social Sciences allocates the Economics department additional funding that will support a TA for this course (and other similar courses):
         Tuesday, 2:00
         Wednesday, noon
         Thursday, 12:30-1:30 (assuming the course has a TA)
         Wednesday, l:00 (if the course does not have a TA)

    Review Sessions: will be scheduled for a late afternoon/early evening time slot a few days prior to each exam.

    Textbooks and Other Useful Materials:

    This quarter, the text will be:

    Hill, Carter, William Griffiths, and George Judge Undergraduate Econometrics New York: Wiley, 1997.

    Until winter quarter of 1998, I used:

    Gujarati, Damodar Essentials ofEconometrics (First Edition) New York: McGraw-Hill, 1992. This is now available in a Second Edition, but was not published soon enough for me to order it for this quarter. Nevertheless, it is a good book and could be used in either edition if your budget constraint precludes buying the Hill et al. text.

    The manual for the computer software we will use is:

    White, Kenneth J., SHAZAM: The Econometrics Computer Program; User's Reference Manual, Version 8.0. We will be using the Windows version of the software (SHAZAMW) as implemented at Social Sciences Computing,UCLA.)
    Self-scoring Online Practice Quizzes
    Course Requirements: Course Conduct and Policies:
    Monitoring: daily usage statistics. 
    Updated: 6:14 PM 8/27/98
    Prepared by: TrudyAnn Cameron