Product Description

The core methods in today's econometric toolkit are linear regression for statistical control, instrumental variables methods for the analysis of natural experiments, and differences-in-differences methods that exploit policy changes. In the modern experimentalist paradigm, these techniques address clear causal questions such as: Do smaller classes increase learning? Should wife batterers be arrested? How much does education raise wages? Mostly Harmless Econometrics shows how the basic tools of applied econometrics allow the data to speak.

In addition to econometric essentials, Mostly Harmless Econometrics covers important new extensions--regression-discontinuity designs and quantile regression--as well as how to get standard errors right. Joshua Angrist and Jörn-Steffen Pischke explain why fancier econometric techniques are typically unnecessary and even dangerous. The applied econometric methods emphasized in this book are easy to use and relevant for many areas of contemporary social science.

• An irreverent review of econometric essentials
• A focus on tools that applied researchers use most
• Chapters on regression-discontinuity designs, quantile regression, and standard errors
• Many empirical examples
• A clear and concise resource with wide applications

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6417 in Books
• Published on: 2008-12-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 392 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780691120355
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Review
A quirky and thought-provoking read for any budding econometrician. . . . Insightful and refreshing.
(James Davidson Times Higher Education )

I'd recommend it to the entire range of empirical economists, from those still in training to those who, like me, have only a hazy memory of statistical theory and stick to our tried and tested methods of estimation . . . an excellent guide to how to do basic regression/IV/panel data estimation really well. In particular, it demonstrates through many examples how to bring about a happy marriage between one's underlying model and the data which might or might not confirm the researcher's hypotheses.
(Diane Coyle The Enlightened Economist Blog )

The applied econometric methods emphasized in this book are easy to use and relevant for many areas of contemporary social sciences.
(Pavel Stoynov Zentralblatt MATH )

Review
This pathbreaking book is a must-read for any scientist who is interested in formulating and testing hypotheses about the social world. This includes political scientists, sociologists, historians, geographers, and anthropologists. The book is clever and funny, and guides you through the tangle of problems that confront empirical research in social science. I wish I had had it years ago.
(James Robinson, Harvard University )

From the Inside Flap

"This pathbreaking book is a must-read for any scientist who is interested in formulating and testing hypotheses about the social world. This includes political scientists, sociologists, historians, geographers, and anthropologists. The book is clever and funny, and guides you through the tangle of problems that confront empirical research in social science. I wish I had had it years ago."--James Robinson, Harvard University

"What a fascinating and useful book! The application of econometrics in empirical research is as much art as science. What is most distinctive about Mostly Harmless Econometrics relative to other graduate-level econometrics books (besides the colorful prose style!) is that because the authors are longtime practitioners of applied microeconometrics, they speak often and insightfully about the art. I expect it's a great thing to work in the same department with Angrist or Pischke and to be able to ask their advice. Having this book close at hand is the next best thing. When you consult the book to see 'What would Angrist and Pischke do?' about econometric issues you encounter in your own research, you won't necessarily end up doing what they would in every single instance, but I bet you always will benefit from getting their take on the issue."--Gary Solon, Michigan State Universit

"Interesting and unusual, this is an econometrics book with attitude. It offers real answers and suggestions to problems faced daily by those engaged in the analysis of economic data. I will recommend it to my students."--Guido Imbens, Harvard University

"A well-written and very quirky take on econometric practice."--Orley Ashenfelter, Princeton University

Customer Reviews

Finally a useful econometrics book...
This is a wonderful book. Despite having taken many courses and read many statistics and econometrics books, I'm sometimes stuck in my own applied problems. Of course, these courses and books taught me how to derive asymptotic theorems or be careful when maximum likelihood fails, but this is not what I really need to know to solve my problems. Now with Angrist and Pischke, I have a book that is truly applied in focus -- one that explains why and how certain empirical strategies are convincing and one that is up-to-date with the latest examples of recent research employing these strategies. Real econometrics applied to real problems. This book should be on every applied economists bookshelf.

Fun for Labor Economists
After drowning in Heckman, cursing Rubin and struggling with Manski, this is a welcome and needed relief. I think back to what "Thinking Strategically" was to Game Theory and must conclude that having fun must be regular and necessary phase in the gestation of an idea.
The authors take delight in the subject and dole out some of the most interesting applications from a field that's a testament to soporifics.
Trust me...if it weren't for Monster Energy drinks, none of us would understand this stuff.
Their mathematics is approachable by anyone who knows what an expectation is. They take on such opaque subjects as instrumental variables and differences-of-differences with some examples that I promise will stay with you even after you've put the book down. The subjects connect with a real ease and you're never left referring back to earlier chapters or other texts to "remember" something they've assumed you know.
On whole, they approach the subject with a joy I haven't seen since I saw a couple of otters on a water slide on the side of an island in Alaska.

Great resource for teachers and students
Mostly Harmless Econometrics is a great resource for teachers, researchers and researchers-in-training. Causal inference is an afterthought in most econometrics tests, where it gets lost in the lengthy exegesis of large-sample theory. MHE puts causal inference front and center, where it belongs. I have used the book with great success in introductory methods courses for masters' and doctoral students in public policy and education at Michigan.