Boston University Economics Student Association - MAG Meeting, October 26, 2014

1. Boston University
Undergraduate
Economics Association
4th MAG Meeting

2. Quantitative analysis
Overview of main concepts:
Some Theory:
Statistical Software:
R
JMP
STATA
SAS

3. Overview of main concepts
What is statistics?
Statistics can be though of as a branch of mathematics,
though is better defined as a separate discipline. Statistics
is the since of extracting useful information from data.
Statistical Modeling
Statistical modeling is the application of statistical
principals to problems that use data to find solutions. For
example I believe that there is a way to understand the
overall effectiveness of a new drug by testing it and
collecting data. (Nondeterministic)
Econometrics
Similarly I can ask questions regarding economic
phenomena or economic policies, and believe that data
can help me understand the economy, or the implications
of a new policy. (Predictions, Confirmations)

4. Some Theory
Parametric Statistical Modeling
Sometimes it is reasonable to assume that the exists
some parameter which is constant and can be estimated
using some data. For example we may believe there
there is a specific rate at which wages increase with
experience, with reasonable variations across the
population.
A very useful and versatile type of a statistical models is
called Linear Models.
This basically means that you believe the relationship
between your variables is linear. Y=mX+b+e

5. Some Theory
Because you believe there exist some parameter, but you
don’t know it, you need to estimate it using data. (This
is the reason why it is important that your data is valid
and representative of the population)
Types of estimation
Point estimation vs. interval estimation.
Principals of estimation
Maximum Likelihood principal
Regression analysis (minimization)
Estimation methods
OLS

6. Statistical Software
We have computers to calculate what we need.
Statistical software are programs that have a lot of
functionality required to do statistical modeling, and
statistical analysis.
Regression analysis is probably the most whitely used
functionality, so it can be found in every program.
R, JMP, STATA, SAS, Excel….
Simplicity, Accessibility, Convenience.
If you haven’t used anything, begin with JMP or R.

7. Statistical Software
Interface
GUI
Command Based
Programming
Objects and Data types
Importing Data
Editing Data
Exporting Data
Analysis
Reading the output
Graphics

8. Boston University
Undergraduate Economics Association
General info page
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