ECON 103
Introduction to Econometrics
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Enforced requisites: courses 11, and 41 or Mathematics 170A and 170B or 170E and 170S or Statistics 100A and 100B. Enforced corequisite: 103L. Introduction to theory and practice of univariate regression analysis with emphasis on its use in economics. Introduction to method of least squares, Gauss-Markov theorem, confidence intervals and hypothesis tests in univariate regression context, and standard errors in case of heteroscedasticity and serial correlation. Emphasis on applications with real data and computer software (R programming language) to implement discussed methods. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 4.0
Units: 4.0
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Most Helpful Review
Professor Ackerberg was phenomenal. His lectures were always well prepared, he was very knowledgeable about the subject, and he cared very much for student learning. His tests are very fair and the hws supplement the course and exam materials very well. He was a great teacher and I highly recommend taking him if you can!
Professor Ackerberg was phenomenal. His lectures were always well prepared, he was very knowledgeable about the subject, and he cared very much for student learning. His tests are very fair and the hws supplement the course and exam materials very well. He was a great teacher and I highly recommend taking him if you can!
Most Helpful Review
Great Professor! Definitely take it with him! Also, selling both Principles of Econometrics 4th Edition & Using Stata for Principles of Econometrics 4th Edition PDF for a TOTAL of $45. They are the latest editions. You need these books for Econ 103. Text me at (818) 669 - 8152 if you are interested.
Great Professor! Definitely take it with him! Also, selling both Principles of Econometrics 4th Edition & Using Stata for Principles of Econometrics 4th Edition PDF for a TOTAL of $45. They are the latest editions. You need these books for Econ 103. Text me at (818) 669 - 8152 if you are interested.
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2024 - This class was extremely well-taught, with strong slides and plenty of practice exams, homeworks, and resources to prepare for exams. The final grade was comprised of 30% midterm, 40% final, and 30% group projects. If you do all the practice weekly questions and make a good cheat sheet, you'll be fine. Taking Boswell again for 104!
Winter 2024 - This class was extremely well-taught, with strong slides and plenty of practice exams, homeworks, and resources to prepare for exams. The final grade was comprised of 30% midterm, 40% final, and 30% group projects. If you do all the practice weekly questions and make a good cheat sheet, you'll be fine. Taking Boswell again for 104!
Most Helpful Review
This review is about econ 103 as much as it is about the prof. It is a seriously hard course. Everyone I know who has taken it (w/ other teachers as well) has told me the same. So whoever you get, it's going to be really hard. Unless you are required to take this course, DO NOT TAKE IT! If you think you might be interested in the subject, check out a book on it beforehand before you jump into it. That being said, Buchinsky is easily one of the worst professors I've ever had. I don't know why I went to all of his lectures, they were a complete waste of time, and they absolutely will not help you for the homework or the tests. He just goes on and on about mathematical proofs on how to derive the formulas, but doesn't show you how to use them, or how they are used. One time I went into his office hours for some extra help b/c I wasn't understanding ANYTHING in class. (Literally, nothing, they're that bad). But then he, in classic Buchinsky style, doesn't want to explain anything to me nor answer any of my questions. So basically there are no redeeming qualities about him. In the sad event that you do end up having to take econ 103, and even sadder, get stuck w/ Buchinsky, here's my advice. Forget the lectures (avoid as much contact w/ Buchinsky as you can, you'll only get more frustrated), go to a good discussion section (ask around, I really liked Kevin Caves, he would walk you through the problems and really cared if you got it or not), and pick up a book on econometrics from the library, that will help you on his open-book tests, the one he assigns is far too bulky to really get into and gain anything from. I somehow (miraculously) walked away w/ a B+ in the class, and I was thinking of going back to look at my final, but then I realized that I wouldn't even understand the problems that I got right. Bottom line: no one gains anything from this course and it's a shame that UCLA is starting to enforce this entirely useless course as a requirement.
This review is about econ 103 as much as it is about the prof. It is a seriously hard course. Everyone I know who has taken it (w/ other teachers as well) has told me the same. So whoever you get, it's going to be really hard. Unless you are required to take this course, DO NOT TAKE IT! If you think you might be interested in the subject, check out a book on it beforehand before you jump into it. That being said, Buchinsky is easily one of the worst professors I've ever had. I don't know why I went to all of his lectures, they were a complete waste of time, and they absolutely will not help you for the homework or the tests. He just goes on and on about mathematical proofs on how to derive the formulas, but doesn't show you how to use them, or how they are used. One time I went into his office hours for some extra help b/c I wasn't understanding ANYTHING in class. (Literally, nothing, they're that bad). But then he, in classic Buchinsky style, doesn't want to explain anything to me nor answer any of my questions. So basically there are no redeeming qualities about him. In the sad event that you do end up having to take econ 103, and even sadder, get stuck w/ Buchinsky, here's my advice. Forget the lectures (avoid as much contact w/ Buchinsky as you can, you'll only get more frustrated), go to a good discussion section (ask around, I really liked Kevin Caves, he would walk you through the problems and really cared if you got it or not), and pick up a book on econometrics from the library, that will help you on his open-book tests, the one he assigns is far too bulky to really get into and gain anything from. I somehow (miraculously) walked away w/ a B+ in the class, and I was thinking of going back to look at my final, but then I realized that I wouldn't even understand the problems that I got right. Bottom line: no one gains anything from this course and it's a shame that UCLA is starting to enforce this entirely useless course as a requirement.
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2021 - I wouldn't recommend this class. The midterm (30% of the grade) was reasonable and the final was unreasonably difficult. Given that the latter constitutes half of the grade for this course, I can't recommend taking it. The problem sets (20% of the grade) were also difficult as they were mostly content that the professor hadn't covered in lecture. The difficulty of the testing aside, Dr. Convery doesn't know how to lecture. He goes over a scanned pdf notes and talks over them every single lecture and then expects us to understand. Once in a while he might look over an example problem from the textbook and just talk over it and very briefly explain the steps. He doesn't do a good job of explaining any lecture content and you have to teach yourself through the problem sets and materials given for the practice midterms and finals. There were a plethora of equations required to solve problems that he never gave us that I was only able to find in the practice materials. Overall, his lack of teaching ability doesn't allow him to test us as rigorously as he does (many test questions required knowledge of minutia that he mentioned one time and never brought up again), which is why I would not take this class with Dr. Convery again.
Fall 2021 - I wouldn't recommend this class. The midterm (30% of the grade) was reasonable and the final was unreasonably difficult. Given that the latter constitutes half of the grade for this course, I can't recommend taking it. The problem sets (20% of the grade) were also difficult as they were mostly content that the professor hadn't covered in lecture. The difficulty of the testing aside, Dr. Convery doesn't know how to lecture. He goes over a scanned pdf notes and talks over them every single lecture and then expects us to understand. Once in a while he might look over an example problem from the textbook and just talk over it and very briefly explain the steps. He doesn't do a good job of explaining any lecture content and you have to teach yourself through the problem sets and materials given for the practice midterms and finals. There were a plethora of equations required to solve problems that he never gave us that I was only able to find in the practice materials. Overall, his lack of teaching ability doesn't allow him to test us as rigorously as he does (many test questions required knowledge of minutia that he mentioned one time and never brought up again), which is why I would not take this class with Dr. Convery again.
Most Helpful Review
Professor Giacomini is AMAZING! She is by far the best professor I've ever had in my life and I feel so lucky to have had such an inspirational person as my teacher. She is extremely clear and her lectures are great because you leave the class knowing the material and she makes econometrics interesting. I was really scared to take this class because of all the rumors, but it turned out to be my favorite class (no joke)! Professor Giacomini is really nice, she writes her own homeworks and tests and she really wants you to understand the core of econometrics. She doesn't test you on proofs and formulas you'll never use-but instead tests you on the key aspects of econometrics. Take her if you have the chance-you won't be sorry!
Professor Giacomini is AMAZING! She is by far the best professor I've ever had in my life and I feel so lucky to have had such an inspirational person as my teacher. She is extremely clear and her lectures are great because you leave the class knowing the material and she makes econometrics interesting. I was really scared to take this class because of all the rumors, but it turned out to be my favorite class (no joke)! Professor Giacomini is really nice, she writes her own homeworks and tests and she really wants you to understand the core of econometrics. She doesn't test you on proofs and formulas you'll never use-but instead tests you on the key aspects of econometrics. Take her if you have the chance-you won't be sorry!
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