Students

ECON6034 – Econometrics and Business Statistics

2020 – Session 1, Weekday attendance, North Ryde

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Due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, any references to assessment tasks and on-campus delivery may no longer be up-to-date on this page.

Students should consult iLearn for revised unit information.

Find out more about the Coronavirus (COVID-19) and potential impacts on staff and students

General Information

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Unit convenor and teaching staff Unit convenor and teaching staff Unit convener/Lecturer
Fazeel Mohamed Jaleel
Contact via 98504849
4ER 452
TBA
Credit points Credit points
10
Prerequisites Prerequisites
Admission to GradCertFin or GradDipAppFin or MAppEcon or MAppFin or MAppFin(Adv) or MkgFin or MBusAnalytics
Corequisites Corequisites
Co-badged status Co-badged status
Unit description Unit description

This unit is designed to bring students with no econometrics background to an intermediate level in econometrics. Starting from first principles, the unit outlines standard econometric methods to the extent necessary for students to understand key concepts, apply basic methods, and interpret empirical research results in economics, finance and business. The unit material also includes elementary discussions of violations of the standard assumptions for a regression model, such as autocorrelation and heteroscedasticity.

Important Academic Dates

Information about important academic dates including deadlines for withdrawing from units are available at https://www.mq.edu.au/study/calendar-of-dates

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  • ULO1: Apply basic statistical techniques to different economic and business problems.
  • ULO2: Evaluate and use appropriate econometric tools to model, estimate and forecast economic data.
  • ULO3: Apply research skills to select, compare and utilize econometric models.
  • ULO4: Utilize appropriate practices involved in today's working environment to work effectively in a group.

Assessment Tasks

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Update

Assessment details are no longer provided here as a result of changes due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Students should consult iLearn for revised unit information.

Find out more about the Coronavirus (COVID-19) and potential impacts on staff and students

Delivery and Resources

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Update

Any references to on-campus delivery below may no longer be relevant due to COVID-19.

Please check here for updated delivery information: https://ask.mq.edu.au/account/pub/display/unit_status

This unit is taught as a mix of tutorials and lectures. The lectures are designed to introduce the underlying knowledge in probability, statistics and econometrics, and to explain the methods which will be used to analyse and interpret data. Tutorials are based mainly on numerical problems which allow students to practice and understand the methods taught in the lectures. The tutorials include empirical applications which require the use of econometric software packages. Students will be taught how to use these packages in tutorials which are held in the computer labs. 

Lectures – large group learning (2 hour each teaching week)

Lectures are intended to provide an overview of statistical and econometrics techniques that are critical to the core themes of the unit. Students are expected to read the relevant material before each lecture.

Tutorials – 1 hour per week

Tutorials will go through assigned problems which may be mathematical exercises, or which may require use of the econometric software available in the computer lab to estimate a model. 

Self-study activities – learning by doing (about 6 hours each teaching week and 9 hours each week during the 2-week mid-semester recess) 

This subject  heavily relies on independent learning where students read the lecture notes, relevant chapters in the useful text books and prepare answers to the pre-set tutorial questions.

Useful but not required texts include:

  1. Hill, C. H., Griffiths, W. E. and Lim, G. C. (2011) Principles of Econometrics (4th ed.) Wiley -- Available online through our library: http://ebookcentral.proquest.com.simsrad.net.ocs.mq.edu.au/lib/MQU/detail.action?docID=4806586
  2. Gujarati, N. G. and Porter, D. C. (2009) Essentials of Econometrics, 4th Edition, McGraw-Hill
  3. Keller, Gerald (2014) Statistics for Management and Economics (10th, ed.), Cengage Learning.
  4. Stock, J. H. and Watson, M. W. (2014) Introduction to Econometrics, 3rd Edition, Pearson 

Material such as lecture slides, examples, and tutorial questions will be available on the unit home page. The lecture notes, together with the lectures and additional references will provide students with a clear indication of the basic content of the unit.

It is recommended that students attend all lectures and tutorials for several reasons including:

  1. Not all the material in the texts is included in the unit, and not all the material in the unit is covered in the texts. In some places the texts deals with issues in greater depth than is necessary for the unit, and in other places it doesn’t go far enough. The lectures contain all the unit material taught at the level required for the assessment tasks, and are your guide to the unit content.
  2. The approaches to some problems that are recommended by the lecturer are different to those in the text.
  3. The lectures will include guidance about the style and content of the final exam and recommendation about study technique.
  4. It is difficult (and often impossible) for staff to provide meaningful assistance to students outside class times on topics for which they did not attend the relevant lectures and tutorials.

 

Unit Schedule

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Update

The unit schedule/topics and any references to on-campus delivery below may no longer be relevant due to COVID-19. Please consult iLearn for latest details, and check here for updated delivery information: https://ask.mq.edu.au/account/pub/display/unit_status

 

Week No. 

 Lecture Topic

 Activities

 

1

Introduction & Descriptive Statistics

Lecture

 

2

Descriptive Statistics (continued)

Lecture & Tutorial

 

3

Probability and Random Variables

Lecture & Tutorial

 

4

Probability Distributions

Lecture & Tutorial

 

5

Sampling Distributions:

Point Estimates and Confidence Intervals

Lecture & Tutorial

 

6

Class Test in Lecture

Tutorial & Class Test

 

7

Hypothesis Testing

Lecture & Tutorial

 

 

 MID-SEMESTER BREAK

 

 

8

Introduction to Regression Analysis

Lecture & Tutorial

 

9  

Multiple Linear Regression

Lecture & Tutorial

 

10  

Class Test in Lecture

Tutorial & Class Test

 

11

Multiple Linear Regression (continued)

Lecture & Tutorial

 

12

Regression Model Diagnostics

Lecture & Tutorial

 

 

13

Review

Exam preparation

Lecture & Tutorial

Assignment Due

 

Exam Period

 

Final Exam

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Students seeking more policy resources can visit the Student Policy Gateway (https://students.mq.edu.au/support/study/student-policy-gateway). It is your one-stop-shop for the key policies you need to know about throughout your undergraduate student journey.

If you would like to see all the policies relevant to Learning and Teaching visit Policy Central (https://staff.mq.edu.au/work/strategy-planning-and-governance/university-policies-and-procedures/policy-central).

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Macquarie University students have a responsibility to be familiar with the Student Code of Conduct: https://students.mq.edu.au/study/getting-started/student-conduct​

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Students with a disability are encouraged to contact the Disability Service who can provide appropriate help with any issues that arise during their studies.

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