| Type | Intensifying Course (IK) |
| Language | English |
| Room | HF 9915 |
| Time | Tue, 10:15-11:45, every other week |
| ECTS credits | 2.00 |
| Requirements | Course (KS) and Intensifying Course (IK) "Ökonometrische Modelle" (OR SIMILAR!!!) |
| Start | 06-10-09 |
| Lecturer | René Böheim |
| Office hours | Wed, 9-10am and by appointment |
| Textbook | Wooldridge, Jeffrey M. (2003, 2006 or 2009), Introductory Econometrics: A Modern Approach, 2nd Edition or higher, South Western College Publishing, Mason (Ohio). |
| Final Exam | 26-01-10 |
| Next offer | Winter 2010/11 |
| Registration |
Via KUSSS |
Master copies of the additional literature are available from the secretaries' office, Ms Meister or Mr Reitberger, room K149D.
| TIME & PLACE | TOPIC |
PROBLEM SET
|
| Tue, 06.10.09, 10:15-11:45, HF9915 |
Basic Regression Analysis with Time Series Data (Ch. 10) > Read me! |
|
| Tue, 20.10.09, 10:15-11:45, HF9915 | Further Issues in Using OLS with Time Series Data (Ch. 11) | PS-1 |
| Tue, 10.11.09, 10:15-11:45, HF9915 | More on Specification and Data Problems (Ch. 9) Individual Appointments (Empirical Project) |
|
| Tue, 24.11.09, 10:15-11:45, HF9915 |
Serial Correlation and Heteroskedasticity in Time Series data (Ch. 11)
|
Excercises: C11.4 C11.5 C12.10 |
| Tue, 15.12.09, 10:15-11:45, HF9915 | Instrumental Variables Estimation and 2SLS (Ch. 15) Simultaneous Equation Models (Ch. 16) |
PS-4 |
| Tue, 26.01.10, 10:15-11:45, HF9915 | Presentation of Empirical Projects |
Grades in the course will be determined through a combination of
practical exercises (take home problem sets), an empirical project and
a take home exam. The task of the take home exam will be to write a
so-called referee report. Each subject will be discussed in detail
below. Weighting will be as follows:
Each subject will be graded according to the Austrian system of scholastic grades. [This is a 5-point grading scale, where 1 ("sehr gut" - "very good") is the best possible grade, 2 ("gut" - "good") is the next-highest, 3 ("befriedigend" - "satisfactory") indicates "average" performance, 4 ("genügend" - "adequate") is the lowest passing grade and 5 ("nicht genügend" - "unsatisfactory") is the lowest possible grade and the only failing grade.] Your final grade will be a weighted average over the three subjects.
The problem sets can be downloaded next to the relevant date in the
table above. Each problem set consists of 5 practical exercises. To
solve the problem sets, you are free to use any calculator, computer,
or software package. Before the lecture you register which exercises
you have completely solved. In order to register for an exercise it is
necessary that you have worked and thought through the whole exercise.
Of course, you may work together with other students to solve the
problem sets. However, each of you must be able to explain the solution
to the class clearly. The grading for this subject will be as follows:
| Share of solved exercises | Grade |
| 100%-90% | very good |
| 89%-80% | good |
| 79%-70% | satisfactory |
| 69%-60% | adequate |
| >60% | unsatisfactory |
Please make sure, when you are assigned to present the solution to an exercise in class that you do that in a clear and efficient way. I suggest you save a log-file or any text-file with your solutions in your email account!
For this course, you have to carry out an empirical project. Make sure to read Wooldrige, Chapter 19, which discusses the ingredients of a successful empirical analysis. Although I will provide some suggestions for projects, it is best if you research your own project. Make sure you are really interested in the topic as you will be working on this for the next six months and you do not want to become bored with it. (Consider this the lead-up to your thesis.)
You may not know where to begin to find a question that is interesting for both of us. One systematic way to search for an economic research question is to consult the Journal of Economic Literature, JEL (link). The JEL classification system quickly narrows the research areas and you may search databases such as RePec, using the classification system. (Advanced students should aim to read JEL on a regular basis, it is one of the best journals economists have.)
On having found an adequate research question, you should read (some of) the existing literature, aim to read the latest relevant publications in the better journals. (See, for example, the Handelsblatt's ranking of journals.)
The next step, data collection, can be exciting, but also frustrating. The best way is to first think carefully about which kind of data you need to answer your question, e.g., what is the relevant unit of observation (individuals, firms, countries, etc.)? If you have a good research question but you do not find appropriate data, please contact me (but search first!).
The choice of econometric methods is in principle yours, but you will have to use one or several of the methods taught in the course Econometrics II, i.e., time-series analysis, 2SLS/IV, and/or panel-regression. This should not prevent you from exploring other methods! However, you will have to justify your choice of econometric technique.
On having decided on the question and the data, your next steps are the inspection, cleaning and description of the data. Then formulate an econometric model and choose the appropriate method of estimation. In that step the existing literature may help you a lot. A good paper contains also some robustness checks of the main results. To sum, an empirical project involves the following steps:
For details, please refer to Wooldridge's Chapter 19. The typical outline of the paper:
The paper should be between 7 and 15 pages long (spacing one and a half lines and a 12-point serife font), excluding any graphs and tables. Put all the figures and tables in the Appendix.
At the end of the term you will have to present your empirical paper in class. Details on the presentation will be announced!
A few remarks from my past experience:
And, above all, have fun carrying out the project!
At the end of the semester you will have a take home exam (individual
effort!). This exam will require you to write a so-called referee
report on an economic research paper you will receive via email. You
will have 48 hours to work on your report. No late exams will be
accepted! Due to the time constraint I strongly encourage you to work
through the task of an academic referee in advance.
A referee report is a critique of an unpublished academic research paper. E.g. the Wikipedia entry on ‘peer review'.
In order to learn how to write a referee report read Chapter 3 (pp. 103-118) of Thomson, William (2003), A Guide for the Young Economist, M.I.T. Press, Cambridge.
The referee report should be no more than 3 pages (one and a half spaced, 12-point font). You should first provide a brief summary of the paper. In the main part of the report comment on the empirical model and the results. In particular, evaluate the empirical implementation and point out potential shortcomings. In other words you should write a critical assessment of the paper, not simply a summary!
Please note that any forms of plagiarism or other forms of academic misconduct will not be tolerated!This inicludes submitting an old research paper.
European Union (Eurostat, European Central Bank, etc.)
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
United Nations (WHO, World Bank, etc.)
World Trade Organization
Data bases
Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR)
Bibliographic databases, e. g. for economics: