The objective of the course is to establish, revise, and systematize students' econometrics knowledge. First, we will recapitulate the essentials of statistics and afterwards, we will mainly focus on the practical applications of econometric techniques. For most of the semester we will be discussing the linear regression model and its Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) estimation, a simple, yet very powerful method in every economist’s toolbox. During the course we will together go through the basics of econometrics: from the statistical background through the theory and intuition behind the OLS estimation; properties of OLS; hypotheses testing; the linear regression model assumptions, their potential violations, and proper remedies; to some advanced topics such as the issue of endogeneity. For a good understanding of the limitations of the regression analysis, the issue of causality will be repeatedly discussed. Each topic will be backed up with an applied example and practised during seminars.
