The following topics are covered in Quantitative Analysis II and are necessary background for Quant III courses.Since the Proficiency Exam is an open book exam, students may bring any econometrics statistics textbook with which they are comfortable.
Multiple Regression I: Dummy Variables and Interactions (this is just carry-over from Quant)
· Categorical Independent Variables
o Understand the concept of the base (omitted) category
o Be able to interpret b-coefficients for a set of (J - 1) dummy variables
· Interaction terms
o Understand and be able to interpret an interaction term that is the product of one or more dummies and a single continuous regressor
o Understand and be able to interpret interaction terms that is a product of two dummy regressors
Specification I: Choosing the Right Variables
· Multiple Regression
o Understand and be able to interpret standardized betas
o Understand and be able to calculate and interpret the Adjusted R-square
· Omitting a Relevant Independent Variable
o Understand the consequences of omitting a relevant independent variable
o Be able to anticipate the direction of omitted variable bias in an application
· Including an Irrelevant Independent Variable
o Understand the consequences of including an irrelevant independent variable
Specification II: Correct Functional Form
Multicollinearity
Difference in Differences
· Understand the basic DID setup as a comparison of four sample means (i.e., Y’s)
· Understand a DID setup with two independently pooled cross-sections
· Understand a DID setup with two period of panel data on the same cross-sectional units
· Be able to calculate and interpret the DID estimate in either of the two above setups
· Understand the key identifying DID assumption (“common trends”), and how one might demonstrate emirically the plausibility of this assumption
Instrumental Variables
· Understand the idea of the four compliance types using a potential outcomes framework
· Understand the econometric formulation of the IV estimand (two composite assumptions)
· Understand and be able to compute the IV estimand as the ratio of two causal effects (i.e., the Wald estimate)
o Understand the numerator (ITT)
o Understand the denominator (causal effect of Z on D)
· Be able to interpret 2SLS regression estimates (with and without covariates)
· Understand how 2SLS can be extended to incorporate multiple instruments
· Understand how 2SLS can be extended to incorporate a continuous treatment (D)
Panel Data Methods
· Understand how pooled OLS can be used when analyzing panel data (and what its limits are)
· Understand how panel data can help with the problem of omitted variable bias
· Understand how we control for unit fixed effects and time fixed effects
· Understand how to assess between and within variation on the treatment variable
· Understand how first-differencing eliminates the unit fixed effects prior to estimation
o Understand how to interpret the coefficient estimates in first-differences models
· Understand how to apply and interpret the deviations from the means estimator
o Understand how to interpret the coefficient estimates
o Understand xtreg, fe output (including post-estimation)
· Understand how to apply and interpret the LSDV estimator
o Understand how to interpret the coefficient estimates (included the estimated fixed effects)
· Understand the key identifying assumptions behind fixed effects regression models