ECOM30001

Basic Econometrics

SUBJECT GUIDE

Semester 1, 2024

Prepared by
Dr. Andy J. Clarke
andrew.clarke@unimelb.edu.au

Department of Economics
Faculty of Business and Economics

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Contents
1 Subject Outline 4
1.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.2 Subject Aims . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

2 Learning Outcomes 4
2.1 Subject Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.2 Generic Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

3 Eligibility and Requirements 6

4 Academic Staff Contact Details 7

4.1 Subject Coordinator Contact Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
4.2 Email Protocol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

5 Lectures and Tutorials 8

5.1 Lecture Times . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
5.2 Recorded Lectures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
5.3 Lecture Slides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
5.4 Required Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
5.5 Lecture Schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
5.6 Tutorials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
5.7 Ed—Digital Learning Platform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
5.8 Tutor Consultation Hours . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
5.9 Private Tutoring Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
5.10 Tutorial Schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
5.11 Accessing R . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

6 Assessment 15
6.1 Assessment Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
6.2 On-line Feedback Assessment Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
6.3 End of Semester Exam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
6.3.1 Information on Calculators in Examinations . . . . . . . . . . . 21
6.3.2 Exam Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

7 Academic Integrity 21
7.1 Academic Honesty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
7.2 Plagiarism and Collusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
7.3 Referencing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

8 University Services 22
8.1 Stop 1: Connecting Students and Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
8.2 Academic Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
8.3 Service Finder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

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 8.4 Student Counselling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
8.5 Student Equity and Disability Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
8.6 University of Melbourne Library Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

9 Policy 24
9.1 Alternative Exam Arrangements (AEA) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
9.2 Assessment and Results Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
9.3 Academic Progress Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
9.4 Exam Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
9.5 Special Consideration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
9.6 Subject Withdrawal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

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1 Subject Outline
1.1 Introduction
Econometrics provides a bridge between economic theory and real-world data. It uses
theory from economics, finance, management, and marketing, tools from statistics,
and data to answer ‘how-much’ type questions. It is a set of techniques that allow the
measurement and analysis of economic phenomena and the prediction of future trends.
In this subject, emphasis is given to the intuitive understanding of these techniques
with practical application of these techniques using the popular econometric software
R and RStudio.

1.2 Subject Aims

The overall aim of this subject is to provide students with the skills to complete
quantitative analyses of data in the broad areas of Economics and Commerce. These
skills will be invaluable in many of the careers pursued by Economics and Commerce
graduates.
Empirical methods in Business and Economics seek to determine the impact of
realised or hypothetical interventions in order to assess theories and improve policies.
Causal inference is concerned with building models to measure these impacts and
provides tools for their estimation from observational data. This subject will provide
an overview of modeling approaches to causal inference and econometric methods for
working with these models, with applications in Business and Economics.
This subject is a capstone subject and a key component of the subject will involve
the completion of a research project. This subject will develop a range of skills in the
latest econometric techniques, as well as skills in critical and analytical thinking, that
are likely to be encountered during the completion of a Research Project, as well as
in your future professional work.
Upon successful completion of this subject, students should be able to:

- identify, apply and implement the appropriate (Econometric) technique to anal-

yse different types of data

- interpret correctly the results from a well-specified econometric analysis and

- answer research questions by testing hypotheses about parameters of interest

2 Learning Outcomes
2.1 Subject Objectives
This subject examines multiple regression analysis and its use in economics, man-
agement, finance, accounting and marketing. Topics to be covered will include the
properties of estimators, hypothesis testing, specification error, multicollinearity, het-

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eroskedasticity, endogeneity, discrete dependent and independent variables, and time
series analysis. Empirical assignments undertaken by the student form an integral
part of the subject.
On successful completion of this subject students should be able to:

- Apply the classical model of ordinary least squares to data sets drawn from
economics, finance, accounting and management using single and multiple re-
gression equations;

- Test hypotheses concerning the relationship between variables;

- Explain in detail the consequences of the violation of any one of the classical
assumptions;

- Test for violations of the classical assumptions;

- Estimate models in the presence of non-classical errors and stochastic explana-

tory variables;

- Diagnose model mis-specification using the most appropriate tests, and where
appropriate identify the appropriate remedial actions;

- Use computer software to perform simple data descriptions and to graph re-
lationships between variables, to estimate econometric models using OLS and
Instrumental Variables, and to estimate simple dynamic models;

- Apply econometric methods to real world data and perform diagnostic testing
to ensure the model is adequately specified.

2.2 Generic Skills

In this subject you will have the opportunity to develop important generic skills.
These skills are classified below according to their level of development:

High level of development: written communication; application of theory

to practice; interpretation and analysis; critical thinking; synthesis of data and
other information; evaluation of data and other information; use of computer
software.

Moderate level of development: problem solving; statistical reasoning; ac-

cessing data and other information from a range of sources.

Some level of development: oral communication; collaborative learning; re-

ceptiveness to alternative ideas.

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3 Eligibility and Requirements
The primary prerequisites for this subject are:

1. Quantitative Methods 2 (ECON20003) or Statistics (MAST20005) and

2. One (1) of the following subjects: Intermediate Macroeconomics (ECON20001),

Intermediate Microeconomics (ECON20002), Business Finance (FNCE20001),
or Principles of Finance (FNCE10002).

Note: You are not allowed to take this subject if you have already completed or
currently completing Econometrics 1 (ECOM20001).
Note: Students who have achieved a grade of H2A or above in Quantitative Methods
2 (ECON20002) and plan to undertake an honours degree in Economics are strongly
advised to consider taking Econometrics 2 (ECOM30002) instead.

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4 Academic Staff Contact Details
4.1 Subject Coordinator Contact Details
Your coordinator for Basic Econometrics (ECOM30001) is:

Name: Dr. Andrew (Andy) Clarke

Email: andrew.clarke@unimelb.edu.au
Room: 331, 3rd Floor, FBE Building, 111 Barry Street
Phone: 8344-5298
Consultation Hours: Wednesdays 1:00pm - 3:00pm

4.2 Email Protocol

While I will endeavour to address questions received via email, it will generally be
more appropriate to resolve substantive questions during lectures and tutorials and
during normal consultation hours. With this in mind, I encourage you to attend all
lectures and tutorials and to utilise the consultation hours offered by myself and tutors
in this subject.
Please note that I am only able to respond to student emails coming from a University
email address. Please do not use personal email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo,
Hotmail or even business email addresses. Emails from non-University email addresses
may be filtered by the University’s spam filter, which means that I may not receive
your email. All correspondence relating to this subject will only be sent to your
University email address. Note that you must first activate your University email
address before you can send or receive emails at that address. You can activate your
email account at this link:

http://accounts.unimelb.edu.au

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5 Lectures and Tutorials
5.1 Lecture Times

Day Time Location

Mondays 1:15pm-2:15pm Public Lecture Theatre [PLT], Old Arts

Lecture Recording
Wednesdays 4:15pm-5:15pm Copland Theatre, Spot Building
Lecture Recording

5.2 Recorded Lectures

Audio and video recordings of lectures delivered in this subject will be made available
for review, as ‘screen-capture’ videos. These recordings will allow you to revise lectures
during the semester, or to review them in preparation for the end of semester exam.
Recordings are not a substitute for attendance; rather they are designed for revision.
On rare occasions, the recordings can fail to take place due to technical reasons. In
such cases, a substitute recording will be made available if possible.
In order to assist with your preparation for tutorials and assignments, additional
pre-recorded materials will be made available each week.
You will be able to access all recordings for this subject by clicking on the Lecture
Capture menu item on the Canvas page for this subject.

5.3 Lecture Slides

The lecture notes, and any additional background material, will be available for down-
loading prior to each lecture. The lecture slides and other subject material may be
accessed from the Basic Econometrics web pages on the University’s Canvas Learning
Management System:

https://canvas.lms.unimelb.edu.au/

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5.4 Required Reading
No single textbook covers all the material in this course. The following textbook is the
closest to the subject material. Chapter references will be given during the lectures.

Hill, R. C., W. E. Griffiths, and G. C. Lim (2018). Principles of Econometrics,

5th ed.,New York: John Wiley & Sons. [UniM ECO 330.015195 HILL], ISBN:
978-1-118-45227-1 (Print) or 978-1-119-32094-4 (E-Book)

Previous editions of this textbook are a close substitute for the current edition.
A non-exhaustive list of other textbooks that serve equally well include:

Wooldridge, J. M., Wadud, M, and Lye, J. (2017). Introductory Econometrics,

Cengage Learning Australia [UniM ECO 330.015195 WOOL]

Stock, J. H., Watson M.W. (2011). Introduction to Econometrics, 3rd ed,

Boston, Addison-Wesley [UniM ECO 330.01595 STOC]

Wooldridge, J. M. (2013). Introductory Econometrics: A Modern Approach, 5th

ed.,Ohio, US: South Western. [UniM ECO 330.015195 WOOL]

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5.5 Lecture Schedule

Lect. Day Date Topic Reading

No. 5th Ed.
1 Monday Feb-26 Introduction to Econometrics
2 Wednesday Feb-28 The Basic Linear Model I POE Ch. 5
3 Monday Mar-04 The Basic Linear Model: Statistical Properties POE Ch. 5
4 Wednesday Mar-06 The Basic Linear Model: Hypotheses Testing POE Ch. 5, Ch. 6
5 Monday Mar-11 The Basic Linear Model: Model Specification POE Ch. 6
6 Wednesday Mar-13 Dummy Variables I POE Ch. 7
7 Monday Mar-18 Dummy Variables II POE Ch. 7
8 Wednesday Mar-20 Heteroskedasticity I POE Ch. 8
9 Monday Mar-25 Heteroskedasticity II POE Ch. 8
10 Wednesday Mar-27 Autocorrelation POE Ch. 9
Monday Apr-01 Mid-Semester Break
Wednesday Apr-03 Mid-Semester Break
11 Monday Apr-08 Non-Stationary Time Series POE Ch. 12
12 Wednesday Apr-10 Time-varying Volatility & POE Ch. 14
ARCH/GARH Models I
13 Monday Apr-15 Time-varying Volatility & POE Ch. 14
ARCH/GARH Models I
13 Wednesday Apr-17 Binary Outcomes I POE Ch. 16
13 Monday Apr-22 Binary Outcomes II POE Ch. 16
14 Wednesday Apr-24 Binary Outcomes III POE Ch. 16
15 Monday Apr-29 Writing Up Research in Econometrics
16 Wednesday May-01 Stochastic Regressors I POE Ch. 10
17 Monday May-06 Stochastic Regressors II POE Ch. 10
18 Wednesday May-08 Stochastic Regressors II POE Ch. 10
19 Monday May-13 Panel Data I POE Ch. 15
20 Wednesday May-15 Panel Data II POE Ch. 15
21 Monday May-20 Models for Count Data POE Ch. 16
22 Wednesday May-22 Revision

POE: Hill, R. C., W. E. Griffiths, and G. C. Lim (2018). Principles of Econometrics,

5th ed.,New York: John Wiley & Sons. [UniM ECO 330.015195 HILL]

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5.6 Tutorials
Tutorials are a fundamental component of the subject and will give you the oppor-
tunity to review, practice, and apply the material covered in the lectures. These
tutorials will also assist in your preparation for completing the (capstone) research
project in this subject.
You are expected to attempt the assigned tutorial questions prior to your tutorial
each week. Most of the tutorials will require you to complete practical computer-based
exercises using the R software.
Tutorial questions and any data required to complete the questions will be posted on
the Canvas subject page for this subject.
To assist with the RStudio preparatory work, computer code will be provided for,
and in advance of, each tutorial. This ensures that all students have access to the
computer code for use in class well beforehand. Prior to the start of each tutorial,
there will also be available an instructional video explaining, in fine detail, the specific
R code provided for each tutorial. Of course, you are very welcome come up with
own code based on the materials provided, which represents a good opportunity to
learn and practice. These instructional videos will also be an invaluable resource to
help you complete the programming code for your (capstone) research project.
Tutorials will commence in the first week of semester.

5.7 Ed—Digital Learning Platform

Ed Discussion is an online communication tool that can be used to facilitate syn-
chronous and asynchronous online discussions in a user-friendly interface, which can
be accessed directly from the Canvas page. You will be able to post questions about
the subject material, as well as view responses to questions posted by other students.
You will also have the option to post questions anonymously.

5.8 Tutor Consultation Hours

There are several different tutors in this subject. Outside your allocated tutorial time
you will have an opportunity to contact your tutor about the subject material.

5.9 Private Tutoring Services

The Faculty of Business & Economics (FBE) has become increasingly concerned about
the existence of a number of private tutoring services operating in Melbourne that
heavily target University of Melbourne students enrolled in FBE subjects.
Students are urged to show caution and exercise their judgement if they are consid-
ering using any of these services, and to please take note of the following:

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 - Any claim by any of these businesses that they have a ‘special’ or ‘collaborative’
or ‘partnership’ style relationship with the University or Faculty is false and
misleading.

- Any claim by a private tutoring service that they are in possession of, or can sup-
ply you with, forthcoming University exam or assignment questions or ‘insider’
or ‘exclusive’ information is also false and misleading.

- The University has no relationship whatsoever with any of these services and
takes these claims very seriously as they threaten to damage the University’s
reputation and undermine its independence.

- It is also not appropriate for students to provide course materials (including

University curricula, reading materials, exam and assignment questions and
answers) to operators of these businesses for the purposes of allowing them to
conduct commercial tutoring activities. Doing so may amount to misconduct
and will be taken seriously. Those materials contain intellectual property owned
or controlled by the University.

We encourage you to bring to the attention of Faculty staff any behaviour or activity
that is not aligned with University expectations or policy as outlined above.

5.10 Tutorial Schedule

Tutorial Week Lecture Topic

No. Beginning Material
1 Feb-26 Introduction to R
2 Mar-04 2 The Basic Linear Model in R
3 Mar-11 3, 4 Hypothesis Testing in R
4 Mar-18 5, 6 Model Specification, Dummy Variables
5 Mar-25 7, 8 Difference-in-Difference Models, Heteroskedasticity
Apr-01 Mid-Semester Break
6 Apr-08 9, 10 Feasible GLS in R, Autocorrelation
7 Apr-15 11 Non-Stationary Time Series in R
8 Apr-22 12, 13 Time-varying Volatility & ARCH/GARCH Models in R
9 Apr-29 14, 15, 16 Binary Outcome Models & Marginal Effects
10 May-06 17, 18 Research Methods in Econometrics; Graphs & Tables in R
11 May-13 19, 20 Stochastic Regressors: 2SLS in R
12 May-20 21, 22 Panel Data Models in R

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5.11 Accessing R
The software used in this subject is R. R is a free software environment for statistical
computing and graphics. It compiles and runs on a wide variety of UNIX platforms,
Windows and MacOS. In almost all surveys of professional data analysts, data scien-
tists, and statisticians, R is consistently ranked as extremely popular. Interestingly,
R has been an important toolkit that has been used by medical researchers during the
COVID19 pandemic. For this reason, programming skills in R represent an important
skill demanded by employers. Further information, including information about how
to download the free software can be found at:

https://www.r-project.org

RStudio is an integrated development environment (IDE) for R, providing a user-

friendly front end interface. It includes a console, syntax-highlighting editor that
supports direct code execution, as well as tools for plotting, history, debugging and
workspace management. It is strongly recommended that you use RStudio for all
work in tutorials and assignments. You will need to first install R before you
can install RStudio. Further information about RStudio, including information
about how to download the free software can be found at:

https://www.rstudio.com

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The latest release of R is version R.4.3.2 (‘Eye Holes’), released on October 31,2023.
I recommend the following actions:
1. If you already have a version of R and RStudio installed on your computer
from a previous subject completed in 2022 or 2023, you do not need to update.
This version of R and RStudio will be suitable for all the analyses undertaken
in this subject.
2. If you do not have any version of R installed on your computer, then you should
download version R.4.3.2 (‘Eyes Holes’).
(a) [Windows] If you are intending to use R in a Windows 64-bit operating
environment, the executable file can be downloaded here:
https://cloud.r-project.org
Note: You will require a 64-bit operating environment to run RStudio
(b) [Mac-OS] The instructions for setting up R in a Mac-OS environment are
somewhat more detailed. The precise instructions will depend on the exact
Mac-OS that you are using. Please read the following instructions first:
https://cran.r-project.org/bin/macosx
There are different executable files, depending on the version of Mac-OS
that you are using. You might find it easier to install and run R if you are
using Mac-OS X release 11 (Big Sur) and above.
Note: You may require some additional files to get R working in the Mac-
OS environment. The actual files that you will require will depend upon
the actual Mac-OS environment that you are using. The additional file
XQuartz is available here:
https://cran.r-project.org/bin/macosx
(c) [Windows or Mac-OS] The latest version of RStudio is version 2023.12.0+402
and is available for download from:
https://posit.co/download/rstudio-desktop/
Please select the appropriate executable file for your operating system.
R and RStudio can also be accessed remotely (off campus) using the virtual lab.
You will need to download some software to access R and RStudio through the
VPN. For further information please see the website:
https:studentit.unimelb.edu.au/software/myuniapps
There is an extremely active (and passionate) online community devoted to R and its
applications. There are extensive online resources and help for almost any task that
you might want to achieve with R. Regardless, all of the necessary commands and
code necessary to complete the tutorials will be provided in advance.

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6 Assessment
6.1 Assessment Overview

Assessment Task Individual Week Due Date Weight

Group
Capstone Project Proposal Group 4 Sunday March 24, 2024 5%
Online Mid-semester exam Individual 6 Wednesday April 12, 2024 10%
Capstone Project Progress Report Group 8 Sunday April 28, 2024 10%
Capstone Project Final Report Group 12 Sunday May 26, 2024 25%
End-of-semester exam Final Exam Period 50%

A total of 40% of your grade will be allocated to the capstone research project in
this subject. The individual elements of assessment for the research project are linked
together and are designed to provide you with the maximum amount of feedback on
your report before the final submission.
The research project will involve completing an econometric analysis of a topic, chosen
by you, using one of the six (6) ‘real-world’ data-sets that will be provided to you. In
addition, you will also be provided with:

- a full data description

- a full variable listing and data dictionary

- a non-exhaustive list of possible research questions to examine with the data

- a sample research proposal and report for each data-set

- a sample R-script file for the sample report to generate the results

- a full set of guidelines and advice for completing the report

You are encouraged to work in small groups to complete the research project. Except
in exceptional circumstances, all members of this group will be given the same mark.
No more than four (4) students may submit the research project as a group and there
is no restriction that all group members be enrolled in the same tutorial group. Of
course, you may choose not to work in a group and submit an assignment on your
own. However, in my experience you will further develop your technical, analytical,
and communication skills by completing the research project as a group.

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Signed Group Contract
The expectation is that you will remain with your chosen group until the submission
of the final research project in Week 12. Consequently, your choice of group members
is important. As part of the assessment, you will be required to submit a written
group contract where you outline:

- GOALS: What are your team goals for this project? What do wish to accom-
plish? What skills do you want to develop or refine?

- EXPECTATIONS: What do you expect of one another in regard to attendance

at meetings, participation, frequency of communication, the quality of work?

- POLICIES & PROCEDURES: What rules do you agree on to help the group
meet its goals and expectations?

- CONSEQUENCES: How will you address non-performance in regard to these

goals, expectations, policies and procedures?

This signed group contract will be required to be submitted with your project proposal
in Week 4.
Group Self-Assessment Review
At the end of Week 6, the group will also be required to complete a self-assessment
questionnaire to reflect on your group’s dynamics and to diagnose who well your
group is functioning to meet its objectives. This will be completed in Canvas and
you will receive immediate feedback about your group dynamics. This will be a great
opportunity to discuss the results with your group and formulate clear pathways to
improve the group processes. At this point, you will also be able to consult with your
tutor or subject coordinator to resolve any major hurdles or obstacles to your group
meeting its objectives.
Group Collaboration Tools
You may to use a collaboration tool to create a shared workspace and communicate
with members of your group. There are many tools available, however the University
currently provides support for Microsoft Teams:

https://lms.unimelb.edu.au/learning-technologies/microsoft-teams

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Research Methods in Econometrics
The lectures, tutorials, and assessment in this subject has been designed to provide
you with invaluable skills in completing applied best-practice empirical research in
Economics and Commerce. You will be provided with a full set of online lectures and
tutorials that will help you to complete the research project. These will cover:
- How to begin research in Econometrics
- Tips for working with data
- Producing high-quality graphs and tables in R
- Some practical advice
- Research ethics
- Drafting and writing up research in Econometrics
Research Proposal (Week 4) [200 words]
This first piece of assessment will not require you to provide any estimation results.
The purpose of the proposal will be for you to provide information on the feasibility
of your proposed project and will provide an opportunity for you to receive valuable
and useful feedback on your proposed project. Specifically, you should provide:
- A description of your research question to be examined.
- Data: a brief description of the data used.
- Model: a description of the model to be estimated. This should include an
explicit definition of your dependent variable, as well as a list of your intended
explanatory variables.
- Analysis: a description of the proposed estimation methodology to be used, as
well as a statement of any identifying assumptions required for the methodology
to be appropriate. At this stage, I expect that this will be the method of Ordi-
nary Least Squares. This might be further refined when you actually undertake
your analysis, as you progress through the subject and learn more advanced
econometric techniques and methods.
You will receive extensive feedback on your proposed project. This will take the form
of written feedback provided on your proposal. Additionally, during Week 5 your
group will be required to schedule and attend an on-line consultation with a tutor to
discuss your proposal to provide additional feedback. Attendance at this consultation
is mandatory and will be allocated a weight of 2.5% of your final grade (from the total
10% allocated to the progress report due in Week 8).
Research Project Progress Report (Week 8) [800 words]
For the progress report you will be asked to incorporate your feedback that you have
received about your proposal. This might involve:

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 - a refinement and narrowing of your research question to become more specific
and focused.
- a more precise description of the data used, including details and the motivation
for any additional sample restrictions that you impose.
- a more precise description of your empirical model, including a discussion of the
functional form for your dependent variable (in logs or levels) and the functional
form of your conditional mean function, and whether you have included any
quadratic terms or other interactions in your model.
- a refinement of your proposed methodology, incorporating any material that we
have covered since you submitted the first assignment.
In addition, you will be required to provide the following:
- Summary Statistics: a description and interpretation of the summary statistics
associated with your chosen sample. This would involve a table of means and
standard deviations of the variables used in the analysis. A key component will
be a discussion of the sample characteristics of your sample.
- Results: a description and interpretation of your main results, which will need
to be presented in table(s). Your report should also include a discussion of the
‘robustness’ of your results to different modeling assumptions, if applicable, such
as functional forms, the set of included explanatory variables, and/or robust v.
ordinary standard errors.
- Conclusions: a discussion of your main conclusions (‘What did we learn about
your research question?’), as well as a discussion of the limitations of your
project.
- Software Requirement: You are required to complete this assignment using the
R statistical software and you will need to include a copy of your R script file
with your submission .
You will receive extensive feedback on your progress report. This will take the form
of written feedback provided on your proposal. Additionally, during Week 10 your
group will be required to schedule and attend an on-line consultation with a tutor to
discuss your progress report to provide you with additional feedback. Attendance at
this consultation is mandatory and will be allocated a weight of 2.5% of your final
grade (from the total 25% allocated to the final report due in Week 12).
The progress report is the only time that you will receive feedback on the whole report
before it is to be submitted. This is why it is important to hand in as complete a
draft as possible.
Research Project Final Report (Week 12) [1,700 words]
For the final report you will be asked to incorporate your feedback that you have
received about your proposal and progress report. This might involve:

18
 - a refinement and narrowing of your research question to become more specific
and focused.

- a more precise description of the data used, including details and the motivation
for any additional sample restrictions that you impose.

- a more precise description of your empirical model, including a discussion of the

functional form for your dependent variable (in logs or levels) and the functional
form of your conditional mean function, and whether you have included any
quadratic terms or other interactions in your model.

- a refinement of your proposed methodology, incorporating any material that we

have covered since you submitted the first assignment.

In addition, you will be required to provide the following:

- Summary Statistics: a description and interpretation of the summary statistics

associated with your chosen sample. This would involve a table of means and
standard deviations of the variables used in the analysis. A key component will
be a discussion of the sample characteristics of your sample.

- Results: a description and interpretation of your main results, which will need
to be presented in table(s). Your report should also include a discussion of the
‘robustness’ of your results to different modeling assumptions, if applicable, such
as functional forms, the set of included explanatory variables, and/or robust v.
ordinary standard errors.

- Conclusions: a discussion of your main conclusions (‘What did we learn about

your research question?’), as well as a discussion of the limitations of your
project.

- Software Requirement: You are required to complete this assignment using the
R statistical software and you will need to include a copy of your R script file
with your submission .

Capstone Project Weighting

The principal aim of the proposal and progress report is to provide you with exten-
sive feedback on your proposed research project that will be completed in your final
report. Since these two tasks are linked together, I will be awarding you final marks
based on the maximum of your grade in the final report (40%) only or the sum of
the grades in each assessment piece (project proposal and progress report), whichever
gives you a higher grade. This provides you with an excellent opportunity to con-
siderably improve your final report by incorporating your feedback from the proposal
and progress report.

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Submission
You will submit your research proposal, progress report, and final report electronically
using Canvas. When including graphs or charts in reports, patterns rather than
colours should be used to distinguish data series. This is because reports might be
printed by your tutor who is marking your assignment.
Please note that you are required to keep a copy of your report after it has been
submitted as you must be able to produce a copy of your reports at the request of
teaching staff at any time after the submission due date.
Due to the on-going nature of the research project, it will not be possible for you
to submit the assignment after the due date. If you have a genuine and acceptable
reason for not completing an assessment task (or any other assessment task), such as
illness, please apply for special consideration.

6.2 On-line Feedback Assessment Test

An on-line mid-semester test worth 10% of your final grade for this subject will be
held on Wednesday April 10, 2024. It will cover the material covered in the lectures
up to Monday March 25, 2024, tutorials 1 through 6.
The primary objective of this on-line test is to provide feedback to you on your
understanding of the subject material and to help you identify any areas that require
further revision.
The test will contain twelve (12) multiple choice questions to be answered in forty (40)
minutes. You will be provided, with a set of practice questions and worked solutions
to assist with your preparation for the test. A copy of the formula sheet included on
the test will be provided in advance.

6.3 End of Semester Exam

The end of semester exam, worth 50% of the final grade for this subject, will cover
all the material covered during lectures and tutorials throughout the semester. This
exam will occur during the University’s normal end of semester assessment period,
with the time, date and location provided by the University’s administration later in
the semester. The exam will be 2 hours in duration. All critical value tables for each
distribution required to complete the exam will be provided to students in the exam
package, as will a formula sheet.
Please note that successful completion of this subject requires a passing grade in the
end-of-semester examination.
You will be required to bring a non-programmable calculator to the end of semester
exam. The approved calculator for all subjects at the University of Melbourne is the
Casio FX82 (any suffix). No equivalent models of calculators will be permitted.

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6.3.1 Information on Calculators in Examinations
Effective from 1 January 2017, the approved calculator for all subjects is the Casio
FX82 (any suffix). No equivalent models of calculators will be permitted in exams.
You are required to purchase your own calculator and are responsible for ensuring
your calculator is in good working order with fresh batteries.

6.3.2 Exam Policy

The University requires that you are available for the entire examination period. Spe-
cial exams will not be routinely provided in cases of absence during the examination
period, unless the absence is due to serious illness or other special serious circum-
stances. Please see the Special Consideration web site for more information:
https://students.unimelb.edu.au/your-course/manage-your-course/
exams-assessments-and-results/special-consideration
The examination period for this semester is from Monday June 3 to Friday June 21,
2024.

7 Academic Integrity
7.1 Academic Honesty
The University maintains high academic standards in its courses and subjects and ex-
pects students to conduct themselves in a manner which is fair, honest and consistent
with the principles of academic integrity, particularly when undertaking assessment
and research. Please see:
http://academicintegrity.unimelb.edu.au
You should also be aware of the University’s policy regarding the use of artificial
intelligence tools and technologies such as Chat GPT:
https://academicintegrity.unimelb.edu.au/plagiarism-and-collusion/
artificial-intelligence-tools-and-technologies
There is an online module on academic integrity on the Canvas page that I recommend
you complete at your convenience.

7.2 Plagiarism and Collusion

Presenting material from other sources without full acknowledgement (referred to as
plagiarism) is heavily penalised. Penalties for plagiarism can include a mark of zero
for the piece of assessment or a fail grade for the subject.
Plagiarism is the presentation by a student of an assignment identified as his or her
own work even though it has been copied in whole or in part from another student’s

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work, or from any other source (e.g. published books, web-based materials or period-
icals), without due acknowledgement in the text.
Collusion is the presentation by a student of an assignment as his or her own work
when it is, in fact, the result (in whole or in part) of unauthorised collaboration
with another person or persons. Both the student presenting the assignment and the
student(s) willingly supplying unauthorised material are considered participants in
the act of academic misconduct.
There is an online module on how to avoid plagiarism on the Canvas page that I
recommend you complete at your convenience.

7.3 Referencing
Each source used for a written piece of assessment must be referenced. This is to
acknowledge that your material is not based entirely on your own ideas, but is based,
in part, on the ideas, information, and evidence of others.
You will be required to use the APA system or Harvard system of referencing. The
library has prepared a website to assist students:

http://www.library.unimelb.edu.au/recite

It is important that all material you present for assessment is referenced correctly.
Material that has not been referenced correctly may be considered to be plagiarised,
and as such may be penalised. We will also look for evidence that material included
in the bibliography of your assessment has been used.
Further referencing resources can be found on the Academics Skills website:

https://students.unimelb.edu.au/academic-skills/resources/referencing

There is an online module on how to avoid plagiarism on the Canvas page that I
recommend you complete at your convenience.

8 University Services
8.1 Stop 1: Connecting Students and Services
Stop 1 provides you with a range of support services throughout your university
degree, from help with enrolment, administration and wellbeing to advice on building
your skills and experiences.

https://students.unimelb.edu.au/student-support/advice-and-help/stop-1

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8.2 Academic Skills
Academic Skills offers a range of workshops and resources to help you with study
skills including researching, writing and referencing, presentation skills and preparing
for exams. Visit their website via:

https://students.unimelb.edu.au/academic-skills

8.3 Service Finder

The University of Melbourne offers one of the most comprehensive student support
networks in Australia. Use this site to locate a wide range of services:

http://services.unimelb.edu.au/finder

8.4 Student Counselling

You may attend counselling to talk about personal, emotional, or mental health issues
which might be affecting their study and life. The University’s Counselling and Psy-
chological Services (CAPS) provides free, confidential, short-term professional coun-
selling to currently enrolled students and staff.

https://services.unimelb.edu.au/counsel

8.5 Student Equity and Disability Support

Student Equity and Disability Support provides services for students who need on-
going support with their studies. They understand that adjustments to learning and
assessment are sometimes required to allow all students to reach their full potential.
Learn more about the services provided, how to find support and how to register for
assistance:

http://services.unimelb.edu.au/student-equity

8.6 University of Melbourne Library Services

As well as holding an extensive collection of books, ebooks, digital media and period-
icals, library staff provide research guidance and support for students:

http://library.unimelb.edu.au

The following Business and Economics Library Guides have been designed specifically
for Faculty of Business and Economics staff and students:

http://unimelb.libguides.com/sb.php?subject_id=80310

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9 Policy
9.1 Alternative Exam Arrangements (AEA)
Alternative Exam Arrangements (AEAs) are study adjustments granted to students
who require changes to the scheduled conditions or format of an exam. For an overview
of the eligibility for AEAs, visit:
https://students.unimelb.edu.au/your-course/manage-your-course/
exams-assessments-and-results/exams/alternative-exam-arrangements

9.2 Assessment and Results Policy

The University’s assessment policy provides a framework for the design, delivery,
and implementation of assessment of students in award and non-award courses and
subjects. Assessment is designed to contribute to high quality learning by students,
and to allow for quality assurance and the maintenance of high academic standards.
The University of Melbourne Assessment and Results Policy can be found here:
https://policy.unimelb.edu.au/MPF1326

9.3 Academic Progress Reports

It is the student’s responsibility to maintain a satisfactory academic standard in order
to continue their studies. An overview of what happens if a student does not meet
academic progress requirements can be found on the Academic Progress website:
https://students.unimelb.edu.au/your-course/manage-your-course/
exams-assessments-and-results/academic-progress

9.4 Exam Policy

The University requires that you are available for the entire examination period.
Please see the University’s Principal Dates via
https://www.unimelb.edu.au/dates
Supplementary exams will not be provided in cases of absence during the examination
period unless the absence is due to serious illness or other serious circumstances and
a Special Consideration application is submitted and approved.

9.5 Special Consideration

As a student, you may experience extraordinary or unusual circumstances, or ongoing
circumstances that adversely affect your academic performance. The University has
policies in place to support students who are experiencing academic disadvantage.
For more information, visit:
http://students.unimelb.edu.au/admin/special

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9.6 Subject Withdrawal
It is important that students understand the consequences of withdrawing from a
subject, the importance of subject key dates and the support available to help manage
their studies. More information about withdrawing from a subject can be found here:

https://students.unimelb.edu.au/your-course/manage-your-course/
subject-enrolment/subject-withdrawal

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