DOC PREVIEW
UW-Madison ECON 310 - Economics 310 Syllabus

This preview shows page 1 out of 4 pages.

Save
View full document
View full document
Premium Document
Do you want full access? Go Premium and unlock all 4 pages.
Access to all documents
Download any document
Ad free experience
Premium Document
Do you want full access? Go Premium and unlock all 4 pages.
Access to all documents
Download any document
Ad free experience

Unformatted text preview:

Prof. William H. Sandholm Department of Economics University of Wisconsin-Madison Fall 2005 Syllabus - Economics 310 Course Description Economics 310 is a semester long course in probability and statistical inference. Probability is a branch of mathematics which provides us with a method of reasoning about uncertain environments. During the first half of the course, we will study both probability theory and applications of the theory to portfolio selection, financial market efficiency, and gambling. The theory of statistical inference provides the basis for the rigorous analysis and interpretation of numerical data obtained through random samples. The second half of the course will be spent learning how the basic tools of statistical inference work and how to use them, what information statistical testing does and does not provide, and how to be sensitive to statistical abuse and misrepresentation. Reading Materials The main source of readings for this course is the reading packet, which can be purchased at the Social Science Copy Center. Included in this packet are the first five chapters of my forthcoming textbook: W. H. Sandholm and B. A. Saraniti. Vital Statistics: Probability and Statistics for Economic and Business Decisions. To be published by Addison-Wesley. Chapter 6 will be posted on the course website within the next few weeks. In addition, there is an optional textbook for the class: G. Keller. Statistics for Management and Economics. 7th ed. Belmont, CA: Duxbury–Thomson–Brooks/Cole, 2005. It is available for purchase in the University Bookstore, and I have also put copies on reserve at the Social Science Library. The textbook contains supplementary readings for many other topics and plenty of examples. Finally, just before the midterm we will read the following journal article: A. Tversky and T. Gilovich. “The Cold Facts about the 'Hot Hand' in Basketball.” Chance 2 (1989), 16-21. A link to an electronic copy of this article can be found on the course website.–ii– Readings and Problem Sets The class is divided up into twelve sections. The topics to be covered in each section are listed on the next page, and the chart on the page iv shows which lectures correspond to which sections. In the course packet you will find the readings and the problem sets that correspond to each of the twelve sections. Of these, nine problem sets will be collected in class. Due dates for the problem sets are listed in the chart on page iv. Problem sets can be turned in one lecture late for half-credit. Problem set solutions will be posted on the course website after the problem sets are collected. There will also be one or two computer-based extra-credit assignments offered during the semester. Exams There will be a midterm covering probability and a final that emphasizes statistics. The exams are open book and open notes. If you know that you have a conflict with an exam time and let me know a week in advance, we can try to reschedule the exam at a time which will work for you, and you can still take the exam open book. On the other hand, if there is a last-minute emergency which requires you to miss the exam, you can still take it late, but in this case it will not be open book. Grading Problem sets will count for 20% of the course grade, the midterm for 35%, and the final for 45%. Contact information My office is 7436 Social Science. You can reach me by e-mail at [email protected] or by phone at 263-3858. My office hours are on Thursdays from 3:30 to 5:30 or by appointment. Finally, the course website is: http://www.ssc.wisc.edu/~whs/teaching/310 TA Information Michael Malcolm Ratul Lahkar Sec. 301 (W 3:50-5:45, 6240 SS) Sec. 304 (W 4:00-5:55, 6228 SS) Sec. 302 (Th 3:50-5:45, 4322 SS) Sec. 305 (F 8:50-10:45, 223 Van Hise) office hours: Tu 2:00-3:00, Th 6:00-7:00 office hours: M 3:30-4:30; W 1:00-2:00 office: 6473 SS, 263-3884 office: 7230 SS, 262-1981 [email protected] [email protected] Acknowledgment I thank Itzhak Gilboa and Robert Weber for allowing me to use of some of the materials in the second half of the reading packet.–iii– Course Outline Part I: Probability Section 1: Probability models Conditional probability Independence Section 2: Discrete random variables Traits of random variables and random variable pairs Functions of random variables Section 3: Application: Diversification, portfolio selection, and the CAPM Section 4: Bernoulli trials processes Families of discrete random variables: indicator, binomial, Poisson Continuous random variables Families of continuous random variables: uniform, exponential, normal Section 5: I.I.D. random variables The Central Limit Theorem Section 6: Applications: Gambling Financial market efficiency Perception of chance events Part II: Statistical Inference Section 7: Statistical abuse and misrepresentation Section 8: Objective and subjective probability Bayesian statistics Introduction to classical statistics Section 9: Descriptive statistics Point estimation Confidence interval construction Section 10: Hypothesis testing Section 11: The regression line as a descriptive statistic Section 12: The classical normal regression model (if time permits)–iv– Class Meetings Week of Tuesday Thursday September 5 section 1 section 1 September 12 section 1/2 section 2 ps 1 due September 19 section 2 section 2/3 September 26 section 3 ps 2 due section 3 October 3 section 4 ps 3 due no lecture October 10 section 4 section 4 October 17 section 4 section 5 ps 4 due October 24 section 5 section 6 ps 5 due October 31 section 6/7 section 7/8 November 7 section 8 ps 7 due section 8 November 14 section 9 ps 8 due section 9 November 21 section 9 no lecture November 28 section 9 section 10 ps 9 due December 5 section 10 section 11 ps 10 due December 12 section 11/12 no lecture Midterm: Friday, October 28th, 7:15 PM Final: Tuesday, December 20th, 12:25


View Full Document

UW-Madison ECON 310 - Economics 310 Syllabus

Documents in this Course
week9a

week9a

5 pages

week8a

week8a

6 pages

week7a

week7a

12 pages

Load more
Download Economics 310 Syllabus
Our administrator received your request to download this document. We will send you the file to your email shortly.
Loading Unlocking...
Login

Join to view Economics 310 Syllabus and access 3M+ class-specific study document.

or
We will never post anything without your permission.
Don't have an account?
Sign Up

Join to view Economics 310 Syllabus 2 2 and access 3M+ class-specific study document.

or

By creating an account you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms Of Use

Already a member?