Introduction to Econometrics@NJU
Learning to use data to explore economic and social logic in China and the world
Instructor
- Prof. Zhaopeng Qu
- qu@nju.edu.cn
- An Zhong Building Room 2017
- Gulou Campus
Time and Location
- Thursday
- 14:00–17:00
- Yifu Building B-410
- Xianlin Campus
News
Tomorrow will be the first lecture of the course. I have prepared a few slides for it. You can download them from the schedule. Looking forward to meeting you all tomorrow.
Welcome to the course website for the 2025 edition of Introduction to Econometrics, also known as “Intro’Metrics”(计量经济学). This course is delivered by Prof. Zhaopeng Qu and his teaching assistants at the Business School, Nanjing University.
Course Description
This course introduces students to modern econometrics, mainly focusing on causal inference techniques, and their applications in economics and other social sciences. The course focuses more on intuition and practical examples, while keeping the mathematical content to a minimum. Notably, matrix notation is not used.
The goal is to help students develop a solid theoretical background in introductory level econometrics, an ability to implement modern econometric methods, and a critical thinking about empirical studies in economics and other social sciences.
Specifically, we will learn several common econometric research design techniques that aim to credibly estimate causal effects on economic and social relationships:
Randomized Controlled Trial(RCT)
Regression(OLS)
Matching(Matching)
Instrumental Variables(IV)
Regression Discontinuity Designs(RDD)
Panel Data and Differences-in-Differences(DID)
At the end, students will use at least one of them above to finish a team-based empirical research proposal.
Acknowledge
This course has greatly benefited from materials shared by Scott Cunningham and Ed Rubin. Their slides and the textbook Data Analysis for Business, Economics and Policy by Gábor Békés and Gábor Kézdi have enriched the content. The website is built with Quarto and inspired by Andrew Heiss.