Graduate Applied Econometrics Robert Pollin and Michael Ash Econ Fall 2003 Monday-Wednesday 2:05-3:30 Location

Good econometrics ● Interesting economic questions ● Causality and modeling ● Data ● Estimation ● Presentation of economic and econometric results

Interesting economic questions ● Good econometrics serves good economics – Not vice versa ● Interpret the world ● Analyze differences within systems ● Evaluate policy ● Compare systems ● Criticize econometric findings

Causality and modeling ● Identification beyond correlation – Source of variation – Counterfactual ● Critiques of causal claims – Selection – Reverse causality – Endogeneity ● Models, simple and less simple – Nonlinearity, categories, heterogeneity

Data ● Organization – Unit of observation ● Sources – Quality problems underappreciated ● Input and management

Estimation ● Focus of most econometrics and statistics classes ● Confronting violated assumptions ● Standard errors and how to use them ● OLS and related methods (AR, panel) ● Dichotomous models (LPM, probit, logit) ● New methods

Presentation of economic and econometric results ● Econometrics is worthless without presentation ● Use effective tables and graphs ● Learn to write about econometric results – Sign, significance, and size – Useful elasticities – Teach the reader to read your tables