Lectures: Mondays & Wednesdays, 1:10 – 2:30 PM,
PAC 107
Instructor: Professor Michael S. Hanson
Office Hours: Mondays, 3:00 – 4:30 PM, and Tuesdays, 10:00 – 11:30 AM, in PAC 308. Also by appointment.
Course Web Page: http://mshanson.web.wesleyan.edu/econ385/
Course Assistant: Ken Sui,
vsui@wesleyan.edu
(Mondays, 7 – 8:30 PM, in PAC 104)
- Goals and Descriptions:
- This course should help you develop a strong intuitive and
theoretical foundation in econometrics. Additionally, you should
gain experience both interpreting published econometric work and
implementing your own empirical analysis.
- Pre-requisites:
- Either Econ 301 (Microeconomic Analysis) or
Econ 302 (Macroeconomic Analysis),
and either Math 221 (Vectors and Matrices) or Math 223
(Linear Algebra). Concurrent enrollment in Math 221 is
acceptable (although not necessarily advised). Completion of both
Econ 301 and 302 is recommended.
The course assumes knowledge of and familiarity with topics
from Econ 300. Previous experience with statistical
software is assumed.
- Readings:
- There is one required text for this course:
Jeffrey Wooldridge,
Introductory Econometrics: A Modern Approach, 3rd edition
and one strongly recommended text: Peter Kennedy,
A Guide to Econometrics, 5th edition.
You are responsible for all assigned readings, whether covered in
class or not. Additional readings may be handed out in class or
made available on the course web page.
Prior editions of either text may be used as substitutes; however,
all assignments will be made from current editions.
Assignments and Credit:
| |
Problem Sets |
15% |
| |
Take-Home Exams |
35% |
| |
Research Project |
45% |
| |
Participation |
5% |
- Problem Sets:
- Problem sets will be assigned regularly. They have several
purposes: to review and extend concepts from lecture or the
notes, to introduce related topics not covered in lecture, and
to provide feedback on your comprehension of the material to
date. Most assignments will require use of
Stata, which is available
in the data labs on campus. Resources for learning Stata
are available on-line, and an introductory session will be
offered on Monday, February 5th, from
1:00 – 2:30 PM in PAC 100.
Additional assistance for Stata programming may be available
from the QAC Statistics Tutors.
Assignments are due in class on the date specified. Seriously
deficient or late assignments will not receive credit. You
are encouraged to discuss the problem set with your classmates,
but you must submit your own original work.
- Take-Home Exams:
- There will be two take-home exams exams in this course.
The first will be available at the end of class on Friday,
March 2nd, and due at the beginning of class on Monday,
March 5th.
The second will be available on Friday, May 4th, and due at the
beginning of class on Monday, May 7th.
Exams will be offered at these times only. Do not
enroll in this class if you cannot take the exams at the
above scheduled times.
- Research Project:
- A major goal of this course is to produce a well-written,
carefully constructed, original piece of econometric research. The
analysis employed in the paper should be more sophisticated than
what would be acceptable for Econ 300, using techniques
drawn from this course. Excellent papers will take a creative
approach towards an interesting topic.
The project has four stages: a proposal, an outline with a statistical
summary of your data, a first draft, and a final submission.
In addition, each student is responsible for providing public
written comments on two other students' drafts.
The schedule and credit for each part of this assignment is as follows:
- Apportionment of Credit for Research Project:
| |
Prospectus |
Wed, Feb 28, at start of class |
5% |
| |
Bibliography & Data Summary |
Mon, April 2, at start of class |
15% |
| |
First Draft |
Mon, April 23, 4 PM |
20% |
| |
Comments on Drafts |
Mon, Apr 30, at start of class |
20% |
| |
Final Submission |
Tue, May 15, 2 PM |
40% |
- Further information about the research project will be
provided shortly. You are strongly encouraged to speak
with me in person about the project as soon as possible.
- Participation:
- Participation will be assessed primarily upon attendence to
lectures; asking and answering questions in class is
expected. Additional credit towards participation can be
earned through participation in written discussions on the
course mailing list and through attendence at the Economics
Department's weekly research seminar.
- Honor Code:
- By enrolling in this course you agree to abide by the
Wesleyan Honor Code. Submitting for a grade anything
that is not your own original work, whether for a problem
set, exam or research project, is a violation of the
Honor Code and will not be tolerated. In accordance with
the Honor Code, you are obligated to report any suspected
violations.
- Contact:
-
Electronic mail is the best way to contact me.
As I sort my e-mail automatically, placing "ECON 385" and a
descriptive phrase in the subject line will likely yield a
quicker response from me.
In addition to regular office hours, I am also available by
appointment. If my door is open, feel free to drop in, but
understand I may have other commitments then. In such
circumstances, we can schedule an appointment at a mutually
convenient time.
There is a
mailing list for this course, of which I will make
regular use for announcements, corrections, and the like. If
you are enrolled in this course you should be subscribed to this
mailing list automatically; if you are not enrolled but would
still be interested in being on the mailing list, please let me
know.
- Feedback:
- I welcome suggestions for improving the quality of this course.
Please feel free to contact me in person or via e-mail. Useful
feedback will be beneficial to all!
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