Welcome to my blog

Here you will find my random thoughts on various aspects of econometrics and statistics and more …

 

Data sources

One of the problem that our students here at Umeå face during their master thesis is finding relevant data. Hence here is a list of possible data sources collected with the…
Sep 15, 2024
Giovanni Forchini

 

Teaching econometrics: R or Stata?

Last year we decided to switch from Stata to R in our Master program. This has had huge problem for the Econometrics 1 course that I teach. Econometrics 1 is an introduction…
Nov 9, 2023
Giovanni Forchini

 

Computing exact distributions part 4

It may be difficult to calculate Jacobians as the determinant of matrices of derivatives, especially when one has many variables. However, there is an alternative method…
Sep 18, 2023
Giovanni Forchini

Computing exact distributions part 3

We now review a general definition of integral. Although there are some techicalities the focus is on the main ideas.
Sep 17, 2023
Giovanni Forchini

 

Computing exact distributions part 2

The normal distribution is used to define other distributions by taking ‘squares’.
Sep 8, 2023
Giovanni Forchini

 

Computing exact distributions part 1

The normal distribution is one of the basic distributions used in statistics. I occurs very often especially in asymptotic theory. All students of statistics and…
Sep 3, 2023
Giovanni Forchini

 

Computing exact distributions

The computation of exact distributions relies on a set of techniques that do not seem to be part of the modern econometrician’s toolbox. Here and in the next few blog…
Aug 24, 2023
Giovanni Forchini

 

Assessing IV models

Endogeneity is a big problem in econometric modelling and as such it is usually treated extensively in intermediate/advanced econometric courses at master level. In my…
Mar 1, 2020
Giovanni Forchini

 

Flipping out 2

In my previous post I discussed how I flipped the Master course Introduction to Mathematical Economics 1. But the main question is whether it worked.
Nov 1, 2019
Giovanni Forchini

 

Flipping out

My first attempt at flipping Mathematical Economics 1 starts today. This is a unit for Master students - obviously - in economics covering basic calculus, linear algebra…
Sep 1, 2019
Giovanni Forchini

 

The trouble with doing statistics without understanding it

The average economics student takes at least one module in econometrics as an undergraduate. Master students normally take further econometric modules - now mostly covering…
Jun 1, 2018
Giovanni Forchini

 

Identification of Structural Vector Autoregressive Models

In the last lecture for Econometrics B in the Economics MSc at Warwick we discussed structural vector autoregressive (SVAR) models. These are very similar to simultaneous…
Feb 8, 2018
Giovanni Forchini

 

Tests for over-identification in a single structural equation: what is what?

There is a large number of tests for over-identification for a single structural equation and there seems to be confusion about what test is what and who suggested what.…
Feb 1, 2018
Giovanni Forchini

 

Econometrics and Data Science

Unless you have a degree in economics or business you are unlikely to know what econometrics is. Econometrics is a set of statistical methodologies used to link economic…
Dec 3, 2017
Giovanni Forchini

 

Installation and other things…

I was ‘installed’ as a professor of Econometrics at Umeå University on October 21, 2017. It was a wonderful day which made me feel valued. As part of the ‘installation’…
Nov 1, 2017
Giovanni Forchini

 

Interpreting the coefficients of the endogenous variables in IV models

In the simple linear model \(y=x \beta +u\), the (scalar) parameter \(\beta\) has a very simple interpretation:
Jul 18, 2017
Giovanni Forchini

 

A PhD thesis defense

Last Friday I attended my first PhD ‘defense’ in the Swedish system. It was definitely enjoyable and it was interesting to discover what Mattias, the ‘defendant’, has…
Mar 3, 2017
Giovanni Forchini

 

The rank condition for identification in linear simultaneous equations

The first two lectures of Econometrics B in the economics MSc at Warwick cover endogeneity and the challenges that it creates for statistical inference. In the third lecture…
Feb 8, 2017
Giovanni Forchini

 

The Makita Drill

“Data Scientist: The Sexiest Job of the 21st Century” was the title of an HBR article from 2012. It is unclear what a data scientist is, but it seems to be an individual who…
Jan 26, 2017
Giovanni Forchini

 

PhD Level Econometrics

In the summer 2016 I was asked to contribute to the teaching of the first year MRES unit Econometric Theory at University of Warwick. The first term - my part - covered…
Dec 2, 2016
Giovanni Forchini

 

Welcome To My Blog

This is the start of my blog. I am not sure I know why I want to do this. Maybe I want to rationalize my thoughts? Think through some issues? Connect to people? Maybe I am…
Dec 1, 2016
Giovanni Forchini
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