Introduction to Econometrics

This course teaches basic skills in econometrics, which is the statistical analysis of economic data. The emphasis in this class is on doing! Over the course of the semester, you will learn how to (i) develop a regression model, (ii) estimate it, and (iii) interpret it. General topics that we will cover include OLS regression, prediction, dummy variables, model specification, model selection, hypothesis testing, robust standard errors, endogeneity, qualitative choice models (logit and probit), simulations, and Directed Acyclic Graphs (DAGs). You will gain much hands-on experience estimating statistical models using the programming language R, a widely used, free software environment for statistical computing. One hour each week is devoted to learning the mathematical foundation for econometrics that will equip you to go on to do further coursework in econometrics.