A Concise Introduction to Econometrics: An Intuitive Guide

Rating:
Summary: Of little value
Review: I used to know a bit of econometrics and hoped this would jog my memory and give some practical pointers. I found it almost useless for my purposes. It reads almost like a really detailed glossary of terms.

Rating:
Summary: An unique gem of a book
Review: I'm really surprised that there haven't been more knowledgable reviews of this book before now. I'm also surprised that there isn't a lot of buzz out there about *A Concise Introduction to Econometrics.* This is an unique gem of a book for anyone who is interested in econometrics but does not have a PhD in economics.

What is this book about? This is one of the few books that lives up to its title.

It is concise (the heart of the book is about 100 pages) and is reminiscent of Oxford UP's 'A Very Short Introduction' series.

It deals with econometrics - the statistical analysis of economic data. The book provides a brief but informative remedial section on basic statistics necessary to understand the heart of the book, regression analysis (both cross-sectional and time-series). The book dissects some case studies -- examples from actual, real-life econometric studies (as opposed to made up 'toy' examples used in much more dense books) -- with a special emphasis on topics relevant to finance (financial econometrics) and marketing.

Finally, it lives up to its byline "An Intuitive Guide." It really does deliver a (relatively) intuitive guide to a highly mathematical subject. Even though the book recommends familiarity with calculus and linear algebra, it can easily be read and understood by an intelligent person with a more limited mathematical background (high-school algebra is probably all you need, but you do need mathematical 'maturity' and patience). The emphasis is on understanding the underlying reasoning and not on calculation or formal proofs. It even deals with advanced topics like ARCH/GARCH in this relatively intuitive way.

Who is this book for? I think that the audience for this book are beginning students of econometrics or regression analysis outside of economics. This would obviously include undergrads in economics, finance, etc. and non-quant MBA students. But what many people don't realize is the extent to which econometrics has gained in importance in seemingly unrelated fields. Many law schools, lawyers, and legal scholars make use of econometrics and they could benefit from a book like this. Those people in public policy (academics or in practice), public health, and non-econ social sciences could also benefit from this book. The book is written on a level that intelligent law and policy students should be able to get a lot of knowledge about a topic they would normally be intimidated by.

Another audience for this book are people who have to deal with econometrics on a PRACTICAL level. One of the things that many people who studied econometrics in school find when they have to use it in the real world (on-the-job) is that the formal academic training both OVER-prepared them and UNDER-prepared them for the real world uses of econometrics in finance and marketing (the two areas of emphasis in this book). At least in non-academic settings (and in research assistant work in academe), you don't really need to formally derive a proof or have memorized the content of Greene's econometrics textbook. In fact, a lot of the gibberish one learns in a formal setting will confuse you and often times not clarify how you would model a situation you confront and what kind of data (and how to get it) you need to properly answer the problems you're tackling.

Philip Hans Franses, the author of this book, actually relays to the readers that he is very cogniscent of these types of issues. In fact that was his main motivation for writing this book. He comes from a marketing and financial econometrics background so he is very familiar with on-the-job issues relevant to making practical use of econometrics.

I contrast all of the above with a book like Peter Kennedy's famous guide to econometrics. I don't want to knock or disparage that book, because (for what it is intended to do) it does a great job. But Kennedy's book is designed as a way for economics students (especially graduate and advanced undergrad) and PhD economists to have a reference and general overview of a variety of topics in academic econometrics. That isn't to say that it is not useful -- it would be especially useful for financial engineers dealing with advanced issues in financial econometrics. But, in spite of its strengths for those taking formal econometrics courses or in need of a academically oriented refresher or intro, it does not do what Franses' book does: A practically oriented and brief light-on-the-math introduction to econometrics especially useful for legal and policy scholars and for econonomics, finance, MBA, etc. students that find even Kennedy's book to be over their heads.

I don't know of any other book of its kind out there in the marketplace. If you're even vaguely intrigued, I suggest you buy this relatively inexpensive book. Frankly, it's a lot better than books ten times its price and size.

Rating:
Summary: Of little value
Review: This book is about the wierd subject of econometrics. Econometrics iis a subject that uses math, economics, and statistics. They take an economic question and use data that some what relates to that to try to predict what is going to happen. If this interests you you might like this book. I have never read anything about econometrics before and this book helped to explain it. Sometimes the book would get really complicated and get really hard to follow. The key points in the book are in italics and the practical questions are in bold. These are really helpful. If you read this book make sure you understand how to read functions and how to work with them. You will also have to be able to follow multi-variable equations. You also need a basic understanding of integrals and what they do. If you can understand all of this math and are interested in learning about math in economics you might like this book. The final chapter was helpful becuase it looks at actual questions that have been answered with econometrics. This should it in action. Overall I think this book was informative, but really confusing.

Rating:
Summary: Learn the basics of econometrics
Review: This book is about the wierd subject of econometrics. Econometrics iis a subject that uses math, economics, and statistics. They take an economic question and use data that some what relates to that to try to predict what is going to happen. If this interests you you might like this book. I have never read anything about econometrics before and this book helped to explain it. Sometimes the book would get really complicated and get really hard to follow. The key points in the book are in italics and the practical questions are in bold. These are really helpful. If you read this book make sure you understand how to read functions and how to work with them. You will also have to be able to follow multi-variable equations. You also need a basic understanding of integrals and what they do. If you can understand all of this math and are interested in learning about math in economics you might like this book. The final chapter was helpful becuase it looks at actual questions that have been answered with econometrics. This should it in action. Overall I think this book was informative, but really confusing.