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《Wooldridge J.M. Introductory econometrics (South-Western College Pub., 2003)(ISBN 0324113641)(820s)_GL_》由会员上传分享，免费在线阅读，更多相关内容在学术论文-天天文库。
1、d7/14/994:34PMPage1ChapterOneTheNatureofEconometricsandEconomicDatahapter1discussesthescopeofeconometricsandraisesgeneralissuesthatresultCfromtheapplicationofeconometricmethods.Section1.3examinesthekindsofdatasetsthatareusedinbusiness,economics,andothersocialsciences.
2、Section1.4providesanintuitivediscussionofthedifficultiesassociatedwiththeinferenceofcausalityinthesocialsciences.1.1WHATISECONOMETRICS?Imaginethatyouarehiredbyyourstategovernmenttoevaluatetheeffectivenessofapubliclyfundedjobtrainingprogram.Supposethisprogramteacheswor
3、kersvariouswaystousecomputersinthemanufacturingprocess.Thetwenty-weekprogramofferscoursesduringnonworkinghours.Anyhourlymanufacturingworkermayparticipate,andenrollmentinallorpartoftheprogramisvoluntary.Youaretodeterminewhat,ifany,effectthetrainingprogramhasoneachworke
4、r’ssubsequenthourlywage.Nowsupposeyouworkforaninvestmentbank.Youaretostudythereturnsondif-ferentinvestmentstrategiesinvolvingshort-termU.S.treasurybillstodecidewhethertheycomplywithimpliedeconomictheories.Thetaskofansweringsuchquestionsmayseemdauntingatfirst.Atthispoi
5、nt,youmayonlyhaveavagueideaofthekindofdatayouwouldneedtocollect.Bytheendofthisintroductoryeconometricscourse,youshouldknowhowtouseecono-metricmethodstoformallyevaluateajobtrainingprogramortotestasimpleeco-nomictheory.Econometricsisbaseduponthedevelopmentofstatisticalm
6、ethodsforestimatingeconomicrelationships,testingeconomictheories,andevaluatingandimplementinggovernmentandbusinesspolicy.Themostcommonapplicationofeconometricsistheforecastingofsuchimportantmacroeconomicvariablesasinterestrates,inflationrates,andgrossdomesticproduct.W
7、hileforecastsofeconomicindicatorsarehighlyvisibleandareoftenwidelypublished,econometricmethodscanbeusedineconomicareasthathavenothingtodowithmacroeconomicforecasting.Forexample,wewillstudytheeffectsofpoliticalcampaignexpendituresonvotingoutcomes.Wewillconsidertheeffec
8、tofschoolspendingonstudentperformanceinthefieldofeducation.Inaddition,wewilllearnhowtouseeconometricmethodsforforecastingeco
