Download ECON 3818-200 Introduction to Economic Statistics

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University of Colorado -- Boulder
Department of Economics
Economics 3818
Prof. Jeffrey S. Zax
Syllabus and Schedule
15 January 2002
Welcome. I am Prof. Jeffrey S. Zax. This is Economics 3818, Introduction to Statistics With
Computer Applications. This class will meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 11 :00 a.m.
until 12:15 p.m. throughout the semester in Clare Small Arts and Sciences 207. Sergey
Makarevich will conduct three recitation sessions each week: Monday l:00p.m. -l:50p.m. in
Economics 13, Wednesday 3:00p.m.-3:50p.m. in Duane Physics and Astrophysics G1B39,
and Thursday 8:00a.m.-8:50a.m. in Humanities Building 245 . I will hold regular office
hours between 10:00 a.m. and 11:00a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays in my office, Economics 111. Appointments can be made for meetings at other times, if these are inconvenient.
In particular, any student eligible for and needing academic adjustments or accommodations because of a disability should arrange to meet with me immediately.
The purpose of this course is to establish basic competency in statistical analysis. This
includes familiarity with the formal properties of the covariance, the correlation coefficient,
essential probability distributions, hypothesis tests, confidence intervals and regression
analysis. It also includes an intuitive understanding of the value of these properties, as
well as of the appropriate use of numerical data as evidence. Lastly, it includes some
capacity to distinguish between appropriate and inappropriate statistical arguments.
The material to be mastered in this class is contained in the lectures and recitations, the
assigned textbook, Statistics for Economics: An Intuitive Approach by Alan S. Caniglia,
problem sets and computer exercises. The material on summations in Caniglia's Chapter 2
is prerequisite for this course.
Performance in this class will be judged on the basis of several instruments. The final
examination will be worth 150 points. Two midterm examinations, worth a total of 130
points, will take place on 19 February and 21 March, unless class progress deviates from
my current expectations. Problem sets or computer exercises worth 120 points, in total,
will be assigned for most, if not all recitations. Solutions to the midterm examinations,
problem sets and computer exercises will be available soon after they are due, hopefully via
WebCT.
The course as a whole is valued at 400 points. The score attained by each student,
evaluated relative to those of other students in the class and to the score which would be
attained by an intelligent student of introductory statistics, will determine final letter
grades.
This course has the following tentative schedule, referencing chapters in the Caniglia
textbook:
- 1-
..
Introduction
15 January
Course logistics, prerequisites,
philosophy. Review of the summation operator.
Chapters 2, 3
17, 22 January
Descriptive statistics: measures of
central tendency and dispersion.
Chapter 4
24 , 29 January
The relationships between
populations and samples.
Chapter 5
31 January,
5 February
Basic probability concepts, the
addition rule , the multiplication
rule, and Bayes' Theorem.
Chapter 6
7, 12, 14 February
Essential univariate probability
distributions, especially the binomial, normal and t distributions.
Midterm examination
19 February
65 points
Chapter 7
21, 26, 28 February
The expectation operator.
Chapter 8
5, 7, 12 March
Joint probability distributions,
covariance and correlation, functions of random variables.
Chapter 9
14, 19 March
Applications of chapter 8: properties of the sample average.
Midterm examination
21 March
65 points
Chapter 10
2, 4 April
Statistical properties of estimators.
Chapter 11
9, 11 April
Confidence intervals.
Chapter 12
16, 18 April
Hypothesis tests.
Chapter 13
23, 25 April
The two-variable regression model.
Chapter 14
30 April, 2 May
The multi-variate regression
model.
Final Examination
7 May,
1:30p.m.-4:00p.m.
150 points
-2-