ECON 103: Introduction to Econometrics
Course Notes and Lecture Materials
Welcome to the course notes for ECON 103. I update these throughout the quarter to bridge the gap between the textbook, lectures, and problem sets. The textbook is the fifth edition of Principles of Econometrics by Hill, Griffiths, and Lim (HGL).
Slides
| Topic | Handout | Presentation |
|---|---|---|
| What Is Econometrics? | ||
| Random Variables and Distributions | ||
| Expectation, Variance, and Covariance | ||
| Normal Distribution and the CLT | ||
| The Simple Linear Regression Model | ||
| OLS Estimation | ||
| Properties of OLS and Gauss-Markov | ||
| Variance Estimation and Prediction | ||
| Confidence Intervals | ||
| Hypothesis Testing | ||
| Prediction and Goodness of Fit | ||
| Functional Forms | ||
| The Multiple Regression Model | ||
| Interpreting MR and Assumptions | ||
| Hypothesis Testing in MR | ||
| Interaction Terms | ||
| F-Tests and Joint Hypotheses | ||
| Model Specification and Selection | ||
| Indicator Variables | ||
| Treatment Effects and DiD |
How to Use These Notes
Each chapter covers one topic from the lectures. The notes are written in paragraph form to complement the slides: the slides give you the structure and formulas, the notes give you the intuition and context. At the end of each chapter you will find a practice problem to test your understanding, plus links to download the slides.
Prerequisites
You should have completed ECON 11 (Microeconomic Theory) and ECON 41 (Statistics for Economists). We build heavily on Econ 41 material, especially probability, distributions, and hypothesis testing. No prior coding experience is required.
If you are new to R, install swirl and complete the first few modules before the first lab. This modest investment pays off enormously throughout the course.
Acknowledgements
I thank all past instructors and TAs of Econ 103 at UCLA for their shared resources. All errors are mine: please email me at jakeanderson@g.ucla.edu with corrections.