Tag Archives: Econometrics

Econometrics: A Difficult Tool

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

Econometrics an important tool for economists to explore relationships between different aspects in society and measure causality. I like to think it is more than a way to confuse new econ majors and scare off the less mathematical inclined ones. But by combining statistical and mathematical methods, econometrics can be used to answer economic questions such as the progress of African Americans. Russ Roberts and James Heckman discuss this topic as related to econometrics on Econtalk and how this method can be trouble for more than just undergraduates. Heckman sheds light on the African American progress measurement and brings up the issue Continue reading Econometrics: A Difficult Tool→

Your Brain on Economics (Pt. II)

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

Although I didn’t intend to initially, I wanted to return to my blog post from 2 weeks ago. In that post, I attempted to address some points made by Brian M. Lucey on what happens to students who are taking more economics. His article is fairly concisely summarized by the following photo that he posted on his blog: So the question is: is this accurate? Do students who take economics become greedier and less inclined to cooperation than those who do not, based on the studies outlined in the post above? I think I unfairly smeared his point before, when I Continue reading Your Brain on Economics (Pt. II)→

Your Brain on Economics

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

A few weeks back my parents ran into my old high-school principal. After having a lovely chat with her, the topic came up as to what exactly I was doing with my life these days, and eventually it came out that I was studying economics. Her reaction was, putting it lightly, negative. It was reminiscent of how to politely behave if someone informed you that their child had taken up the habit of rotating their head 360 degrees and chanting in tongues. This reaction, though understandable given the general opinion of economics outside of the discipline, led me to wonder Continue reading Your Brain on Economics→