Running Regressions: A Practical Guide to Quantitative Research in Economics, Finance and Development Studies

Statistics and econometrics can be intimidating subjects, but Running Regressions is straightforward, useful and fun. Each chapter introduces an interesting and topical issue illustrated using worked examples from Excel or EViews. The chapters build up sequentially and cover a wide range of ideas and techniques. For example, one chapter on poverty and trade introduces simple OLS; another illustrates heteroscedasticity using the example of RD; qualitative indexes are applied to health economics; the links between psychology and economics are illustrated using a panel analysis of US divorce rates; neuroeconomics is introduced in a chapter on markets and the weather; and war and inequality are analysed using logit/ probit estimation techniques. Data sets are provided to enable readers to practice their skills. Running Regressions can be used as a self-standing text or to supplement conventional econometric texts. It is ideally suited as a guide to essays and project work.

Michelle Baddeley is Director of Studies (Economics), Fellow and College Lecturer at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. She is the author of Investment: Theories and Analysis (2003). Diana Barrowclough is a senior economist, Office of the Secretary General, United Nations Conference for Trade and Development (UNCTAD). She formerly lectured economics at the University of Cambridge, where she was a fellow of St John's College.