| Unit name | Applied Economics |
|---|---|
| Unit code | ECONM1008 |
| Credit points | 15 |
| Level of study | M/7 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
| Unit director | Dr. Bergemann |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
None |
| Co-requisites |
ECONM1010, ECONM101, ECONM1009 |
| School/department | School of Economics |
| Faculty | Faculty of Social Sciences and Law |
This unit will consist of lectures in applied econometrics and statistics with the applications drawing from both microeconomics and macroeconomics. The unit will emphasise the practical issues arising from the analysis of data. An important component of this will be the continuous application, throughout the unit, of statistical tools being taught in the co-requisite unit, Econometrics. To help students in their preparation for doing a dissertation, they will also be introduced to the process of doing quantitative research, with a discussion of initial data analysis, the pre-suppositions needed to actually collect or create data, the meaning of statistical testing, strategies for exploring data and the appropriate means of presenting empirical research. Material will be delivered by lectures accompanied by practical exercises on data analysis. Students will obtain practice in organising and analysing data using the statistical package STATA in computer classes. Topics considered will include the estimation of wage equations and production functions.
1. Students will be able to organise data in computer readable form ready for econometric analysis;
2. Students will be able to describe the important features of published examples of econometric analysis and evaluate strengths and weaknesses in such work;
3. Students will be able to conduct econometric analyses of data using techniques taught in the accompanying Econometrics unit.
16 hours of lectures, two hours of exercise lectures and classes meeting six times
The unit will be summatively assessed by the completion of an applied economics project (maximum 10 pages). The project will test the intended learning outcomes specified above. In particular (a) students will be asked to access, merge and transform data, (b) they will be expected to read specified papers and critique them and (c) they will then use their data to conduct their own empirical analysis that will link into the critique in (b). Formative assessment will be done based upon exercise sheets.
Cameron A.C. and P.K. Trivedi (2010), Microeconometrics: Methods and
Applications, 2nd ed. Cambridge University Press.
Wooldridge, J. (2012), Introductory Econometrics: A Modern Approach 5th ed.., Cengage Learning.
Wooldridge, J.(2010), Analysis of Cross Section and Panel Data 2nd ed., MIT Press.
Baum, C. (2006), An Introduction to Modern Econometrics Using Stata, Stata Press.
Angrist, J and J. Pischke (2009), Mostly Harmless Econometrics, Princeton University Press.
