DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS



Department of Economics

University of Ghana

Level 300

Econ306: Applied Statistics For Economists

Course Outline

Lecturer: Dr. D. K. Twerefou and Mr T.O. Antwi-Asare

Prerequisites: ECON 203 and ECON 204

Course Description

The course covers statistics and data analysis for the most commonly used study designs in economics. We will cover inferential statistics and their use in studies comparing means, variances and slopes including the t-test, index numbers, analysis of variance as well as time series analysis.

Course Objectives

Upon successful completion of the course, students can:

1. Use common distributions (z, t ,[pic], and F) to compute statistical tests.

2. Analyze data for designs in which the independent variables are categorical.

3. Analyze data for designs in which the independent variables are continuous (correlation, regression,)

4. Analyze time series data and calculations of various economic indices

Probability Distribution and Hypothesis Testing: Binomial, Poisson, normal, Chi-squared, t and F-distributions. Confidence interval and hypothesis testing for means, proportions and variances, differences between mean and variances.

Time Series Analysis: Classical time series models/Components of time series - Trends, cyclical fluctuations, seasonal variations, irregular variations, forecasting based on trends and seasonal factors, simple exponential smoothing

Index Numbers: Price and quality index numbers. Compound index - Laspeyre's and Paasche's methods. Splicing and shifting the base of Index numbers. Deflation of economic time series data, consumer price index, forecasting. Applications

Correlation and Regression Analysis: Scatter diagram. Pearson' s Correlation coefficient (r), testing the significance of r, Spearman' s correlation coefficient, Least squares estimation methods. Standard error of estimation. Significance of correlation analysis. Differences between correlation and regression, multiple linear regression. Applications.

Survey Statistics: Random and non-random sampling, types of data, questionnaire designing, methods of collecting data and preparations. Applications.

Analysis of Variance: One and two factor Analysis of variance (ANOVA). Applications

Main Text

MICHEAL BARROW, (2006). Statistics for Economics, Accounting and Business Studies, Prentice Hall

Other Textbooks

1. T. H. WANACOTT and R. J. WANNACOTT (2000). Introductory Statistics for Business and Economics. John Wiley and Sons, New York.

2. J. E. FREUND (2001). Modern Elementary Statistics. Prentice-Hall Int. Inc.

3. M. R. SPIEGEL and IJ. Stephens (2008). Theory and Problems of Probability and Statistics. Schaum's Outline Series. McGraw-Hamll Book

Other references will be provided

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