Introductory Applied Econometrics

EEP/IAS 118
Fall 2014

Professor Elisabeth Sadoulet (esadoulet@berkeley.edu)

GSI: Becca Taylor (becca.taylor@berkeley.edu)

Lectures: Tuesday & Thursday 9:30-11 am, 213 Wheeler
Sections: Wednesday 9-10 am (
209 Dwinelle)
                                    4-5 pm (
103 Moffitt)

Office Hours
Professor Sadoulet: Wednesday 11am-12pm (213 Giannini Hall)
GSI
Becca Taylor: Thursday 12:00-1:00pm (236 Giannini Hall)

                              Mondays 1:30-3:00pm (234 Giannini Hall) before problem sets are due

Syllabus

Class Handouts

Daily Assignments

Problem Sets

Section Materials

Exams

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS

 

December 9:

Solutions to previous finals questions have been posted to bCourses.

 

December 8:

The last sections will be this Wednesday (12/10) at their normal times and locations.

 

Becca will hold office hours this week and next at the following times:

·         Monday, Dec 8th, 1:30-2:30pm, Giannini 234

·         Thursday, Dec 11th, 12-1pm, Giannini 236

·         Monday, Dec 15th, 1:30-3pm, Giannini 234

 

December 2:

Final review session on Thursday, December 11 9:30-11am, in normal classroom.  Review material posted in Exams page

 

November 18:

For those who may have missed this announcement in section, here is a roadmap of the upcoming sections:

·         Nov 19 = Normal sections

·         Nov 26 = Both sections will be held at their normal times, but to make it easier on those travelling for Thanksgiving, (1) anyone who can’t make the afternoon section is invited to join the 9am section in 209 Dwinelle and (2) fully completed section notes will be posted on the course website for those who can’t make either section.

·         Dec 3 = No section because Becca is out of town.  Instead Prof. Sadoulet will hold extended office hours from 10am-12pm in Giannini 234 on Dec 3, which is the day before Problem Set #6 is due.  

·         Dec 10 = Final sections (held at the normal times and locations). 

 

October 7:

There will be a midterm review session on the evening of Thursday, October 16. Details on time and location to follow.

 

September 24:

A few small edits were made to problem set #2.  Additionally the data was cleaned up slightly to make it more clear for use in the problem set.  The new versions of the assignment and data are available on the Problem Sets tab of the web page (if you can’t find the variable expclothes try re-downloading the dataset).

 

Reminder: Becca’s office hour session on Thursday 9/25 will be from 3pm-4pm in Giannini 236.  Based on the poll taken in section, the remainder of Becca’s Thursday office hours will be 12:00-1:00pm in Giannini 236.

 

September 22:

Becca’s office hour session on Thursday 9/25 will be from 3pm-4pm in Giannini 236. The time and location of the remainder of Becca’s Thursday office hours will be determined later this week. Becca’s office hours on the Mondays before problem sets are due are 1:30-3:00pm in 234 Giannini.

 

September 17:

Sylvan’s final office hour session on Thursday is being shifted half an hour earlier due to a conflict in his teaching schedule.  It will now be in Giannini 236 from 12-1pm.  Becca is sorting out her schedule and will confirm the time/place of her office hours going forward. 

 

September 9:

An additional Stata crash course session will be held tomorrow, September 10, in Giannini 234 for those who were not able to attend last week.

 

September 2:

The course’s bCourses site has now been launched and you should be able to log in.  This website will still be the primary source of information and resources for the course, but the bCourses site will be used for giving you back your grades and posting solutions to problem sets.  Now, there is also a mandatory survey posted on bCourses so that we can confirm your satisfaction of the Statistics 2 prerequisite.  Please fill it out as soon as possible.

 

A number of additional important announcements from the beginning of class:

1.     Please remember to hand in a hard copy of your assignments to Sylvan at the beginning of class.  You do not need to send soft copies unless you are going to be absent.

2.    For general email correspondence about the course such as questions about assignments or technical problems, you should just email Sylvan, you do not need to copy Professor Sadoulet on the email.  Sylvan can determine when/if it is necessary to discuss the issue with her.

3.    Sylvan will post some notes on getting started with Stata on this website under “Section Materials”.  If you are struggling with getting the program working, then you can come to an additional GSI session on Thursday evening, September 4th, for help with Stata basics.  The sessions will be held in Giannini 236.  For those in the morning GSI Wednesday session, the Thursday session will be from 5-6pm.  For those in the evening Wednesday session, you should come to the session on Thursday from 6-7pm.

4.    There are now 7 text books on reserve in Moffitt library reserves.  Two copies are restricted to two hour withdrawals.  The other five allow you to keep them for up to a week at a time.

 

August 25:

   Text
We will use Introductory Econometrics: A Modern Approach, by Jeffrey M. Wooldridge.  The most recent edition is the 5th
th, but earlier editions are acceptable substitutes.  There will be several copies on reserve at Moffitt Library.  Reserve call numbers will be posted here when they are available.

Software
Problem sets will require you to use a data analysis and statistical software program called Stata. We will begin using Stata in a tutorial during the second week of class.  If you want to purchase your own copy of the software for your laptop or home computer, a single-user six-month license for Small Stata  (sufficient for this course) is available through Berkeley’s GradPlan for $35. (An annual license is $49.)  Note that a license allows you to install the software on up to three of your own computers.  See http://www.stata.com/order/schoollist.html to purchase (Select University of California, Berkeley, then look for the product you want). Software is delivered to campus for pick-up after your online purchase. There are often delays in delivering copies of Stata at the beginning of the semester, so if you are sure that you will take this class you should order a copy ASAP to ensure you receive it on time.