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Course and content
Contact details and office hours: It is best to contact me by email with questions - since I receive lots of mail, please mark messages with "IENAC22", somewhere in the subject line, otherwise they may get lost.
In case of problems, you can also contact me on Teams or by (internal) phone on 719532, or on the Google Chat thread.
Please contact me in advance by email to arrange individual meetings, including the following information: (a) a precise (one-line) description of the problem, (b) any supporting data, files or illustrations (e.g. screenshots), (c) your availability and expected time required. Due to very heavy time constraints on my side, I will have to refuse all meetings unless you follow this procedure.
Language: The lectures, classes, all course material, and the assessments, will be in English.
Content: This course will guide you through the process of forming economic hypotheses, gathering the appropriate data, analyzing it, and effectively communicating the results. We will see some of the main technical tools necessary for the study of econometrics, and use these techniques in applied work. I will cover all the necessary analytical methods, including matrix algebra, and probability and statistical theory. I will also introduce multivariate regression, and show how to estimate, interpret and assess econometric models in a rigorous manner. The theory is illustrated with detailed empirical examples, using the commercial econometric software package EViews. This course is a pre-requisite for the Econometrics 2 and Forecasting modules.
Cold calling: I will be "cold calling" you during this course, starting from Class 1. The aim of this is not to embarrass you, but simply to figure out whether you are understanding and following the course.
Textbook: I will use my own lecture notes on the subject, and further course material as appropriate. A printed version of all material will be given to you towards the end of the course, before the exam.
Please wait until I contact you before going to the Printshop to collect the polycopy! Thank you.
Optional homework: I may set optional homeworks. These will help you to revise and develop the material that we cover in class. These homework questions will not be compulsory, but we will discuss them during class.
Examinations (in the Econometrics 1 module):
(a) The final grade is partially based on an open-book written examination, in week 9 (~62% of grade): this will cover both applied and theoretical topics. You will not have computer access during the written examination.
(b) There is also an empirical project, to be completed during the course. This will be assessed through a short report and oral presentation, in week 17 (~38% of grade).
I will award a small prize for the final exam performance and for the best applied project.
Corrections and errors: Please contact me if you find any errors or typos in the course material, or on this website.
Administration:
Various I.E.s and Séverine C. (BdP).
Teaching
~24 hours of lectures and classes (these are interchangeable) and ~4 hours of presentation sessions.
Lectures and classes will be held in weeks 2024 // 4 - 7 (Jan / Feb), with the final presentations in week 17 (April).
Class schedules are sometimes subject to change at short notice.
2024 // ✔
Schedule for week 4
✔ Mon 22 Jan 2024 - Class 1/12 - 13:15-15:15 -- room C12 [Elevator pitch] [In My Shoes] #1 #2 #3 (p1-4) also week 4 "to do" list + Jia and Pathak (2010) discussion and survey + past applied projects
✔ Wed 24 Jan 2024 - Class 2/12 - 15:30-17:30 -- room C12 [ChatGPT] [Project] [Form #1] [Form #2] #3 (p5-9, 12-14)
✔ Fri 26 Jan 2024 - Class 3/12 - 13:15-15:15 -- room E1.004 #4 (p1-12, 14, 16, 18) #5
To do this week //
1> Form applied project groups (3 students) and let me know by email (deadline Fri 26 Jan, 17:00) ✔
2> Send me a gmail address (or other) that you can use to access Google tools (Drive, Chat, Jamboard) ✔
3> Read the paper by Jia and Pathak (2010) and prepare a 3-minute "elevator pitch" to be presented in class 4 (1-2 hours) ✔
4> Watch the first episode of "In My Shoes" by César Hidalgo (*optional) (18 mins)
5> Read the project announcement carefully and have a short discussion with your group
6> Complete Form #1 (5-15 minutes) 15 / 16 completed as of 4 Feb 13:00 ✔
Schedule for week 5
✔ Mon 29 Jan 2024 - Class 4/12 - 13:15-15:15 -- room D202 #4 (p19) #6 (p1-9, 15, 17-18) + rapid prototyping example (impact of tweets on the stock market)
✔ Wed 31 Jan 2024 - Class 5/12 - 15:30-17:30 -- room C14 [Jia and Pathak (2010) pre-reading vote] [Goolsbee and Syverson (2008)] + Jia and Pathak (2010) in detail + #9
✔ Fri 2 Feb 2024 - Class 6/12 - 13:15-15:15 -- room D203 [Freakonomics trailer] [Freakonomics blog post (2013)] #10 #12 (p1-5)
To do this week //
1> Have a quick look at the "AEA Papers and Proceedings" reports on the Drive, to see what economists work on! (*optional) (30 mins)
(*) 2> Read the paper by Goolsbee and Syverson (2008) and prepare a 3-minute "elevator pitch" to be presented in week 6 (1-2 hours) Wed 7 Feb
3> Complete Form #2 (this should take about 2 hours, if you watch the videos; otherwise about 30-45 mins) (deadline Mon 5 Feb, 17:00) 12 / 16 completed as of 21 Feb 14:00 ✔
4> Join the class Chat space (2 mins) and your individual project Chat spaces 16 / 16 on class Chat and 10 / 16 on project Chats as of 12 Feb 10:00 ✔
Schedule for week 6
✔ Mon 5 Feb 2024 - Class 7/12 - 13:15-16:15 (3h) -- room D204 #12 #13 #14 #15 #16
✔ Wed 7 Feb 2024 - Class 8/12 - 15:30-17:30 -- room D204 #17 #18 #19
✔ Fri 9 Feb 2024 - Class 9/12 - 13:15-15:15 -- room D204 #20 #21 #22 #23
To do this week //
1> Read the article by Slivinski (2009) on the LTCM hedge fund, and think about the role of assumptions in economics (*recommended) (20-30 mins)
2> Watch Abhijit Banerjee's Nobel lecture on field experiments and poverty (*recommended) (35 mins, this runs from 16:30-50:15 in the video)
3> Have a discussion with your project group about project topics, and post three possible areas for study (not precise topics) on your project Chat space (30-45 mins)
(*) 4> Read the paper by Cabolis et al (2007). You must prepare a *single* presentation slide for <4> (any software is allowed) and upload this in PDF to the Drive before the start of class 11 (in the "Exercises\Cabolis et al (2007) elevator pitch slide" folder) (deadline Wed 14 Feb, 09:00); include your names on the slide. For an example of a (technical, mathematics) 3-minute talk with one slide, see "Proving the Erdös Primitive Set Conjecture" by Jared Duker Lichtman (1-2 hours)
Schedule for week 7
✔ Mon 12 Feb 2024 - Class 10/12 - 13:15-15:15 -- room D204 #24 #25 #26 start work on APS1 [link to APS1] [data for APS1]
✔ Wed 14 Feb 2024 - Class 11/12 - 15:30-17:30 -- room D206 continue work on APS1
✔ Fri 16 Feb 2024 - Class 12/12 - 13:15-16:15 (3h) -- room D206 #27 #28 #30 #31 #32 #33 #34 #35 #37 #39 cover APS1 solutions
To do this week //
(*) 1> Please read the paper on visualization in economics by Schwabish (2014) (1 hour).
(*) 2> "Southwest Airlines has consistently made a profit." To support this statement (or not), you must collect appropriate data and prepare a *single* graphic (you may use any software) and upload it in JPG or PNG to the Drive during week 8 (in the "Exercises\Southwest visualization" folder) (deadline Fri 23 Feb, 20:00); include your names on the graphic. You should use insights from reading <1> when preparing your graphic (3-5 hours split across all members of the group) If you want more of a challenge, then take the following statement instead: "Southwest Airlines has consistently made a profit, and this is unusual in the U.S. airline industry."
3> Each project group must build the Overleaf project report and presentations from the templates. Check that all members have access, and that the projects compile (45 mins)
4> Please continue work on your applied projects.
Schedule for week 8
✔ no classes this week
I will prepare your polycopy (class notes) this week
Schedule for week 9
✔ Mon 26 Feb 2024 - FINAL WRITTEN EXAMINATION - 13:15-15:15 -- room Bréguet
(Econometrics 2 module starts - see Econometrics 2 webpage)
Schedule for week 10
✔ (Econometrics 2 module continues - see Econometrics 2 webpage)
Schedule for week 11
✔ (Econometrics 2 module continues - see Econometrics 2 webpage)
Schedule for week 12
✔ (Econometrics 2 exam - see Econometrics 2 webpage)
Schedule for week 13
✔ no classes this week
Schedule for week 14
✔ (Forecasting module starts - see Forecasting webpage)
Schedule for week 15
✔ (Forecasting module continues - see Forecasting webpage)
Schedule for week 16
✔ (Forecasting module continues - see Forecasting webpage)
Schedule for week 17
(Forecasting module continues - see Forecasting webpage)
✔ Fri 26 Apr 2024 - 10:30-11:15 -- room Amphi Bréguet -- ** PRESENTATION ** // attendance optional for non-presenting students
10:30-10:35 opening
10:35-10:55 Group 3 / Clément + Pauline + Romain
10:55-11:10 Group 3 Questions
11:10-11:15 close
✔ Fri 26 Apr 2024 - 13:15-17:30 -- room Amphi Bréguet -- ** PRESENTATIONS ** (I have booked an extra hour in case of any delays) // attendance required
13:15-13:20 opening
13:20-13:40 Group 1 / Pierre-Alix + Thibault + Paul + Louis
13:40-13:55 Group 1 Questions
13:55-14:05 break
14:05-14:25 Group 2 / Sarah CD + Sarah V + Sariaka
14:25-14:40 Group 2 Questions
14:40-14:50 break
14:50-15:10 Group 5 / Théo R + Théo PTC + Ismael
15:10-15:25 Group 5 Questions
15:25-15:35 break
15:35-15:55 Group 4 / Théodore + Violette + Esther
15:55-16:10 Group 4 Questions
16:10-16:15 close
Schedule for week 18 
(Econometrics 2 paper presentations - see Econometrics 2 webpage)
To do this week //
1> Submit project slides + final report + raw data + data description (single .zip) by Fri 3 May 20:00
Schedule for week 19
no classes this week
Schedule for week 20
no classes this week
Schedule for week 21
(Forecasting exam - see Forecasting webpage)
Resources
Past empirical economics presentations
IATOM23 Fundamental Economics //
(126) "Life expectancy" - Haoran + Le'o + Feng
(125) "Esports earnings" - Quan + Hoang + Minh
(124) "Airbus stocks" - Razvan + Carmen + Ananthu
(123) "Covid-19 and aviation" - Harini + Sameera + Gopinath
(122) "Good place to live?" - Rana + Hyoin + Yashraj
(121) "Is more work a good thing?" - Alexandru-Gabriel + Paula + Toanui + Alexandra
(120) "Fitness industry" - Shubham + Samy + Jose + Iñigo
(119) "Rice and climate" - Bipin + Sai + Abhiram
IENAC21 PREV //
(118) "Crime in the U.S." - Hiba + Baptiste + Samy
(117) "Hip-Hop music" - Youness + Adrien
IENAC20 PREV //
(116) "Divorce" - Xiangyu + Simone + Wenbo + Shuo
(115) "CEO rankings" - Thaïs + Jules + Maxence + Estelle
(114) "Life expectancy" - Pierre-Antoine + Ashraf + Stéphane
(113) "The value of performance in the NBA" - Lorenzo + François-Xavier + Charles
(112) "CO2 emissions" - Afsaneh + Yoosef + Thomas
IENAC19 PREV //
(111) "Are you adventurous?"- Arthur + Evangéline + Victoria
(110) "Hate crimes" - Martin + Romy + Vincent
(109) "Sunshine and happiness" - Leonard + Romain D + Yasmine
(108) "Analysis of ICOs" - Romain B + Ronan
(107) "Popular music" - Jiayi + Marouane
IENAC18 PREV //
(106) "What influences passenger complaints for airlines?"- Hao + Armand + Wei
(105) "What drives CO2 emissions?" - Gwendal + Théo + Antoine
(104) "Which prisoners are likely to reoffend?" - Amal + Alex
IENAC17 PREV //
(103) "Sovereign ratings" - Louis + Lilian
(102) "Absence from class" - Alexandre + Emilien
(101) "Life expectancy" - Tanguy + Paul
(100) "What is a football player worth?" - Sébastien + Cédric + Zhen
(99) "Queueing" - Marie + Lucie
(98) "Messaging apps" - Dina + Benjamin
(97) "Are you a compulsive consumer?" - Clément + Mathis
(96) "Sentiment analysis" - Yohann + Bruno
IENAC16 PREV //
(95) "Choice of travel destination" - Romain + Louis
(94) "Facebook and online relationships" - Auriane + Antoine
(93) "How long do you sleep?" - Jérôme + Adam
(92) "Predicting football results" - Fadi + Loïc
(91) "Online dating" - Milad + Axelle
(90) "Consumer behaviour in the clothing industry" - Kyu-Bin + Nicolas R
(89) "Predicting the Rio Olympics" - Nicolas H + Alexandre L
(88) "Movie box office" - Alexandre C + Arthur
(87) "CEO compensation" - Hélèna + Théo
IENAC15 PREV //
(86) "Is ENAC for the élite?" - Martin + Lucas + Pablo
(85) "Who likes Nutella?" - Sandra + Victor + Sébastien
(84) "Uber" - Guillaume + Pierre + Xavier
(83) "Football betting odds" - Yll + Hugo + Kévin
(82) "Airline travel choice" - Marius + Edouard + Louis
(81) "The impact of sporting results" - Viktor + Julian
(80) "Is rugby for girls?" - Alexandra + Léo + Marion
(79) "Airline travel choice" - Yanis + Heïdi + Lucie
IENAC14 PREV //
(78) "The size of airports in France" - Cassandre + Valentin F.
(77) "What wine do you like to drink?" - Julie + Lucas + Maxence
(76) "How sporty are you?" - Florian + Guillaume
(75) "Why do people vote F.N.?" - Matthieu + Hugo + Sarah
(74) "Is there a gender gap in mathematics? Evidence from the I.M.O." - Bastien + Valentin L.-L.
(73) "Who eats organic?" - Gonzague + Valentin J.
(72) "What makes a successful movie?" - Ghislain + Maxime + Théo
(71) "Are left-handers more successful in sport?" - Alexandre + Ganesh
(70) "The value of secure communication" - Felix B. + Felix M. + Julien
IENAC13TE //
(69) "Going to the movies" - Romain Fl. + Erwann + Thibault
(68) "Why be unfaithful?!" - Jérémy + Jules + Alexis
(67) "Video games" - Guillaume + Louis + Jean-Marie
(66) "How to travel?" - Patxi + Romain Fa. + Aurore
(65) "Politics" - Luc + Benjamin + Paul
(64) "TV shows" - Laura + Elsa + Xavier
(63) "Our relationship with chocolate" - Chloé + Thomas + Marie
(62) "Gambling" - Arthur + Arnaud
IENAC12TE //
(61) "Why buy an iPhone?" - Raphaël + Mathilde
(60) "U.S. airline delays" - Cédric + Magali
(59) "Why do people buy shoes?" - Floriane + Bérénice
(58) "Holiday budget" - Frédéric + Nicolas
(57) "The key to happiness" - Flore-Lou + Thomas
(56) "Who goes to AirExpo?" - Michael + Vincent (http://www.airexpo.org/)
(55) "Restaurant budget" - Jérôme + Thibault
(54) "Is ENAC bad for your health?" - Margaux + Elise
IATOM13 //
(53) "Why buy a smartphone?" - Tom + Kaidi + Francesca-Cristina
(52) "Why study abroad?" - Bruno + Eliza + Matthias
(51) "Drinking habits" - Shafina + Damien + Aria + Tarak
(50) "Drugs" - Aldo + Benison + Yasser + Joel
(49) "Real estate" - Eric + Adel + Sharath
(48) "Understanding birth rate variation" - Jithin + Etienne + Raaghul
(47) "The cost of mobile broadband" - Zhiwei + Adrian + Yongdon
(46) "What determines aircraft market share?" - Sophie + Ruiyang + Jeyhun
(45) "The sources of charisma" - Pratick + Nitish + Renata + Gabriella
IENAC11TE //
(44) "Who plays rugby?" - Erik + Séléné + Ghislain
(43) "IENACT selection procedures" - Etienne L de L + Pierre-Marie
(42) "Why get married?" - Yvanne + Marine
(41) "What makes a Major League Baseball team win?" - Julie + Maxime
(40) "Girls in engineering schools" - Jérôme + Maryne
(39) "Winners and losers in the NBA" - Etienne L + Tanguy
(38) "Online dating" - Marion + Iry
(37) "Predicting olympic gold" - Adem + Romaric
(36) "How much did you pay for your car?" - Christophe + Clément
(35) "Passenger growth at Hong Kong airport" - Alexandre + Aurélien
IATOM12 //
(34) "Why do people buy Macs?" - Xavier + Yvan
(33) "Partners" - Remzi + Romain + Lionel
(32) "Height" - Douwe + Antonina + Tanguy
(31) "Suicide" - Yuxin + Macarena + Maria
(30) "What makes a CEO?" - Madhuri + Shun + Rajachandran
(29) "Hospital activity and health care" - Julien + Jennifer
(28) "Seasonal consumption" - Guillaume + Lucie + Clément
(27) "Road traffic fatalities" - Marion + Kalyanagugan + Ahmed
(26) "Is drinking (wine) good for your health?" - Maryna + Tao + Raju
(25) "Low costs" - Nandhagopal + Adrien
(24) "McDonald's" - Xueqing + Ilke + Zhenni
IENAC10TE //
(23) "Statistical study on the effects of ENAC student life on forthcoming professional life" - Nicolas + Paul *
(22) "Divorce rate" - François + Laure
(21) "Determinants of economic growth" - Guillaume + Lucas
(20) "Abstention rate - Being parents" - Marine de M + Clothilde *
(19) "Wage determination in the US" - Marion + Jean
(18) "An investigation on asthma risk factors" - Rémi + Samy
(17) "Fertility rate" - Francisco + Pol
(16) "Departure delays in American airports" - Caroline + Quitterie
(15) "Football players price in the transfer market" - Clémence + Shervin *
(14) "Analysis of the professional mobility of the ENAC engineers" - Sébastien + Sylvain
(13) "Criminality and police workforce in the US" - Marek + Thibaut *
(12) "Modeling the number of passengers in air transport on a specific route" - Jeremy + Luc
(11) "Body mass index" - Marine D + Jonathan *
IATOM11 //
(10) HEIGHT & WEIGHT - Clothilde + Laura + Louis
(9) BIRTHS - Lekan + Felicia + Sarah
(8) SPORTS - Thomas C + Maxime + Thomas V
(7) CRIME - Guillaume + Dimitri + Alexis
(6) SUNSHINE - Nicolas C + Issam + Claire
(5) CEOs - Florent + Justine + Marc
(4) GRADES - Joseph + Nicolas + Maxence
(3) GAMBLING - Lukas + Martin + Prem *
(2) MOVIES - Renaud + Beata + Iwona
(1) TRADING - Hugues + Jing
Applied Problem Sets
(1) Applied Problem Set 1 / EViews 6 menus [solutions]
(2) Applied Problem Set 2 / EViews 6 programming [solutions]
Data
(1) Cigarette data for Applied Problem Set 1 / EViews 6 menus
(2) Metals data for Applied Problem Set 2 / EViews 6 programming
Statistical tables
(1) Statistical tables (pdf) [standard normal N(0,1)] [Student's t(r)] [Fisher's F(m,p) 5%] [Fisher's F(m,p) 1%] [chi-squared χ2(r)]
Past exams
IENAC12 Econometrics 1 exam [house sales data] [solutions]
Freeware for applied work
==================================== RECOMMENDED ====================================
I suggest the following software as a starting point for the project:
(*) Overleaf
There is often discussion about the use of LaTeX rather than Word, and of Beamer rather than Powerpoint (or equivalents). Here is a nice summary of some of the advantages and drawbacks of LaTeX for written reports: http://www.andy-roberts.net/writing/latex/benefits. On LaTeX presentations, the advantages are less clear-cut: http://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/41116/advantage-of-latex-presentations. Your choice for presentations after this course will depend on (a) how much mathematics you need to include, (b) your personal view on the LaTeX style and philosophy, (c) how much time you have available to prepare. Both LaTeX and Powerpoint have advantages, depending upon your audience, and the content of your talk. I will be interested to have your feedback on your experience with LaTeX and Beamer.
Introduction to LaTeX [local]
LaTeX symbol list [online] [local]
LaTeX math tricks [online] [local]
A small selection of LaTeX Beamer resources (all local versions) [Batts 2007 presentation] [Beamer official documentation] [Hoff 2007 primer] [Mertz and Slough 2005 primer] [Vallverdu 2008 primer (in French)] [Beamer math fonts]
A good LaTeX report (by Jérôme Duguet and Maryne Floch-Le Goff, IENAC11TE) "Why do girls enter engineering schools?"
An example of a research poster using Beamer
(*) EViews (Lite version is free)
(*) Google Drive
(*) Google Chat
(*) Google Jamboard
(*) RStudio
(*) R
(*) Python Anaconda (more advanced)
(*) pdftk
==================================== END OF RECOMMENDED ====================================
Videos and supporting material ✔
(2) Please check the Freakonomics Twitter feed regularly for novel applications of economic theory and "economic thinking". Steve Levitt won the John Bates Clark medal in 2003, and is a Professor of Economics at Chicago, known especially for his applied work on crime, education, race, and cheating.
(3) Here is Donohue and Levitt's paper on the impact of legalized abortion on crime: http://pricetheory.uchicago.edu/levitt/Papers/DonohueLevittTheImpactOfLegalized2001.pdf
✔ (4) Roland Fryer on field experiments [Colbert Nation]
✔ (5) Here is the paper on the "financial incentives for students" field experiment that Roland Fryer talks about on The Colbert Report: [link to paper] (Note: this paper refers to experiments run in Dallas, not Washington as mentioned in the video clip; as well as Chicago and New York)
(6) Here is a 15 min talk by Emily Oster on empirical work on AIDs in Africa: [local version] Emily Oster's TED page.
(7) Here is an article on the impact of changing traffic laws on fatalities: https://object.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa346.pdf.
✔ (8) Here is a paper by Marianne Bertrand and Sendhil Mullainathan on labour market discrimination: [link]
(9) Here is a link to a paper by Jennifer Doleac and Luke Stein on racial discrimination in online transactions: http://www.frbsf.org/economic-research/files/VisibleHand_Doleac.pdf.
(10) Here is a paper by Steve Levitt on use of repeated interactions in estimating the impact of campaign spending on election outcomes: http://pricetheory.uchicago.edu/levitt/Papers/LevittUsingRepeatChallengers1994.pdf.
(11) The International Mathematical Olympiad website is here: http://www.imo-official.org/?language=en. Here is the trailer of a documentary, Hard Problems, that gives a flavour of what the competition is all about: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kxi_uzPLqV0. (Alternatively, Google ``hard problems movie'').
(12) Here is a paper by Angrist and Krueger that uses quarter-of-birth as an instrument for education on salary: http://piketty.pse.ens.fr/files/AngristKrueger1991.pdf. The raw data is downloadable from: https://dataverse.harvard.edu/dataset.xhtml?persistentId=doi:10.7910/DVN/ENLGZX.
(13) Bettencourt and West's idea of attaining a critical mass of concentrated population in a city (which may subsequently lead to innovation) has parallels in the architectural design of some modern research facilities: http://projectmanager.com.au/news/collaborative-architecture-research-facility-19102011/. For fun, see what Google does to foster innovation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clbut_xq67Q.
Nobel Prizes for Economics with a strong empirical or econometric focus (2000 onwards)
2021 / Joshua Angrist (1/4) David Card (1/2) Guido Imbens (1/4)
2019 / Abhijit Banerjee (1/3) Esther Duflo (1/3) Michael Kremer (1/3)
2013 / Gene Fama (1/3) Lars Peter Hansen (1/3) Robert Shiller (1/3)
2011 / Thomas Sargent (1/2) Christopher Sims (1/2)
2003 / Robert Engle (1/2) Clive Granger (1/2)
2000 / James Heckman (1/2) Daniel McFadden (1/2)
Blogs / podcasts / columns
(1) Freakonomics blog / podcasts (Steve Levitt, Stephen Dubner)
(2) Paul Krugman's New York Times columns [this was previously The Conscience of a Liberal blog]
Reading list ✔
Journal and media articles, and book chapters:
(3) Blue, L. (2011), "The science of health", Scientific American, October 2011: 18-19
This short Scientific American article discusses exceptions to the empirical "rule" that higher income or levels of formal education correspond to greater longevity and better health. The "healthy immigrant effect" and the "Hispanic paradox" in the U.S. appear to run counter to this rule, and the article first raises a number of reasonable popular explanations before detailing research on the effects of smoking behaviour on life expectancy, by ethnic group. One main finding is that "smoking explained more than 75 percent of the difference in life expectancy at age 50 between Hispanic and non-Hispanic white men". (Here is the author's Princeton PhD)
The work illustrates the importance of (a) asking good questions, (b) challenging the conventional wisdom with new data and appropriate techniques, (c) expressing mathematical or statistical results in plain English (always remember to answer the question that you have asked, and to focus on intuition and interpretation), and (d) providing policy advice or forecasts where appropriate (here, the author suggests that the relative rise of smoking in the developing world will annihilate the immigrant advantage and the Hispanic paradox within the next 20 years or so).
(8) Levitt, S. D. and Dubner, S. (2005), "Why do drug dealers still live with their Moms?", Chapter 3 of "Freakonomics" - see Additional Reading (9) below, for a discussion of the academic research behind this chapter
(9) Levitt, S. D. and Venkatesh, S. A. (2000), "An economic analysis of a drug-selling gang's finances", Quarterly Journal of Economics, 115: 755-89 - see Additional Reading (8) above, for a popular account of this research
Textbooks (for reference only):
A comprehensive econometrics reference is Greene, W. H. (2000), Econometric Analysis, 4th edition, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall / Chapters 1-4 matrix algebra, statistical theory, Chapter 6 multivariate regression, Chapter 7 inference. [A revised 6th edition is available in the library]
Of particular use for the topic of matrix algebra is Abadir, K. M. and Magnus, J. R. (2005), Matrix Algebra, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press / Chapter 1 vectors, Chapter 2 matrices, Chapter 3 vector spaces, Chapter 4 rank, inverse, determinant, Chapter 5 partitioned matrices, Chapter 6 systems of equations, Chapter 7 eigenvalues and eigenvectors, Chapter 8 positive (semi) definite, and idempotent matrices, Chapter 9 matrix functions, Chapter 10 Kronecker products, vec operator, Moore-Penrose inverse.
Assessment
- Exam (~62% of grade, notes / polycopy allowed, no textbooks) - week 9 - Mon 26 Feb - 13:15-15:15 - room Bréguet
- Empirical study report and presentation (~38% of grade) - week 17 - Fri 26 Apr - 13:15-17:30 - room Bréguet; week 18 - Fri 3 May 20:00 - final deadline for receipt of the report and all supporting material
