Economic Statistics and Econometrics, Third Edition

Rating:
Summary: Horrible textbook...
Review: I'm an econ major and I'm taking Applied Econometrics this semester. My professor thinks that this book is great for his class, but that tells me one of two things: 1. there is a severe lack of "good" textbooks for applied econometrics classes, or 2. he hasn't done his homework. The worst part about this book is that there are no examples. It is mostly straight theory. The three or four examples I found in the book are long and detailed and are not of help when doing a problem set for class. I hope someone writes a better textbook because, as a struggling econ major, this book definitely did not make my learning experience any easier.

Rating:
Summary: Horrible textbook...
Review: I'm an econ major and I'm taking Applied Econometrics this semester. My professor thinks that this book is great for his class, but that tells me one of two things: 1. there is a severe lack of "good" textbooks for applied econometrics classes, or 2. he hasn't done his homework. The worst part about this book is that there are no examples. It is mostly straight theory. The three or four examples I found in the book are long and detailed and are not of help when doing a problem set for class. I hope someone writes a better textbook because, as a struggling econ major, this book definitely did not make my learning experience any easier.

Rating:
Summary: Good Introductory Text
Review: The author does a good job of introducing basic econometrics with a touch of theory and some applications. OLS and basic regression tests are well covered and various other topics are covered on the surface. I'd say one needs only a little math or statistical background to read and understand the book since several chapters are dedicated to explaining these necessary concepts.

I'd say the text is at about the 2-3rd year level of an undergrad program.

Rating:
Summary: Good Introductory Text
Review: The author does a good job of introducing basic econometrics with a touch of theory and some applications. OLS and basic regression tests are well covered and various other topics are covered on the surface. I'd say one needs only a little math or statistical background to read and understand the book since several chapters are dedicated to explaining these necessary concepts.

I'd say the text is at about the 2-3rd year level of an undergrad program.

Rating:
Summary: Learning to use statistics to work on problems in economics
Review: This is a book about learning to use statistics to work on problems in economics. It focuses on regression and hypothesis testing rather than Bayesian methods, so make sure that is the kind of statistics you want to study (most everyone but the most advanced statisticians does).

After the intro, Part I gets into Data and Description - the kinds of data available, how to use them and what to look out for. It also introduces univariate, linear, bivariate statistics, and frequency distributions.

Part II provides three chapters on the specification and estimation of regression models. The chapters discuss theory and application.

Part III provides three very valuable chapters on probability distributions (if that is a topic you don't have down pat already). Part IV consists of three chapters on inference in regression. This is vital stuff if you want to understand what hypothesis testing is about.

Part V is four chapters on various topics in econometrics and Part VI is two chapters on topics in statistics.

The book also provides statistical tables, answers to selected problems (always valuable to the reader who wants to verify his or her comprehension of what has been read), a three and a half page bibliography for further reading and an index.

I found the book to be interesting, focused, and helpful. The writing is clear and does not let the complexity of the topic obscure understanding. However, if you are a general reader who wants to read this, it would be good to have a handle on math through at least calc 1. The book is not all that complex, however, you cannot just dash through it. You need to take your time and understand the material as it is presented, work through some of the problems to be sure you understand what has been presented. Once you have a good grasp on what you have just been presented you can move on. Just do not dash ahead because you will get lost and then blame the author and that would be unfair to both the reader and the author.

Solid text and I am glad to have it on my shelf. It is exactly what I had hoped it would be.