Courses

Fall 1998,1999,2000

Economic Analysis for Business Decisions (15.011)

Spring 2001

Empirical Analysis in Applied Microeconomics

The aim of this course (new for 2001) is to provide an overview of the state-of-the-art in empirical modeling in applied microeconomics. The focus is on building, estimating and intrepring output from models using microeconomic data, the primary activity of academics in both marketing and industrial organization. Many of the techniques we'll examine are also increasingly used in non-academic settings, to evaluate mergers, to forecast demand for new products and to practise price-setting techniques like yeild management. Essentially, you need an empirical model to do any kind of counterfactual economic analysis, whether government policy analysis or managerial-decision making. Time permitting we will cover the following topics

Supply side modeling and estimation (cost and production functions)
Estimating demand models from individual and market level data
Estimation of static Nash equilibrium models ( Cournot, pricing equations, entry models)
Estimating static Bayesian Nash equlibrium models (Eg., auction models)
Estimating dynamic single agent models
Estimating dynamic Multi-agent models

A full syllabus is available here: syllabus

In each case, we'll cover the main techniques available to applied researchers as well as look at some recent applications of these ideas. The focus will be on why, how, and where the literature should go next.

The course is designed for second year Ph.D. students with a suitable background in econometrics and microeconomics, such as the first year Economics Ph.D. sequence.

Time and Location

Office Hours