ECON 2610
Measurement and Computation in Economics
Course Outline
Dec 31, 2014
Location ...........................
Time ................................
Instructor ..........................
Office Hours .....................
Contact phone .................
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Course outline ..................
Text website
Learning materials and
examples .........................
Course website
Power Point Lecture
Notes................................
202 Isbister (Social Science Lab)
Tuesday/Thursday 8:30 am - 9:45 am
Greg Mason
10:00 – 11:00 (Tuesday and Thursday) 557 Fletcher Argue
204 474-8670
gregory.mason@umanitoba.ca (this is the only mode of e-mail contact)
http://gregorymason.ca/courses/ (updated periodically)
http://global.oup.com/uk/orc/busecon/business/whigham/01student/usingexcel/
http://gregorymason.ca/courses/econ2610-economic-measurement-and-computation/
Goal of the Course
This course will introduce basic economic measures and computations such as index numbers, cost
relationships, time-value of money, rates and growth, seasonal adjustment, and forecasting. Excel will
form the basis for teaching students common measures from micro and macroeconomics. In addition
to mastering the core measures of economics, students will gain proficiency in Excel, the most
important analytical tool used in business and government. It is also a powerful method for supporting
data analysis and economic modelling in more advanced economics and business courses.
Approach
Lectures and labs will present the measurements and computations used in micro, macro, and
business economics. No prior knowledge of Excel is required – all concepts and methods will be
taught in class with labs offering extensive opportunity to learn and practice this important tool. The
lectures will occur in the social science computer lab (202 Isbister) to ensure students acquire quick
expertise in Excel.
Students will also learn basic data management, data transformation, and graphing using the features
of Excel. At the conclusion of this course students will have a library of Excel programs to support
common economics and business measurements/calculations.
About Excel
This course will use Microsoft Excel 2010. This software is installed in all student user areas
throughout the university, including 202 Isbister.
Communication
I will only use university assigned e-mails to communicate to the class as a group and to individual
students. Please do not send questions using your personal e-mail and only use the e-mail above for
December 31, 2014
me. I will ignore all messages sent to other addresses. Make sure you have claimed a university email account and that it is properly recorded by the registrar.
Missed exams
I do not schedule make-ups for missed term tests, which is why I will only count two out of three of the
tests. If you miss the final exam due to illness, you must apply for a deferred exam through the
Faculty of Arts. You will be required to supply medical documentation.
The term tests and final exam answers will be submitted electronically as well as in standard exam
booklets. All terms tests and the final exam will be written in 202 Isbister.
Text
1.
2.
3.
Whigham, David, Business Data Analysis using Excel, Oxford, Oxford University Press (2007)
Students should hold on to their basic micro and macro texts
Students are also advised to obtain a recent reference work on Excel. such as
a. Excel 2010 for Dummies
b. Excel 2010 Bible
c. Excel 2010 In Depth
(Many references exist and can be purchased quickly on Amazon)
It is worth obtaining such a reference for your other courses and professional life. You will
always be looking up details and the important techniques and tricks remain valid across new
versions of Excel for several years.
The on-line resource for the text is located at
http://global.oup.com/uk/orc/busecon/business/whigham/01student/usingexcel/ This is where you can
locate the worksheets referred to in the text as well as other learning resources.
I will be posting lecture notes (PowerPoint) on the course web site
http://gregorymason.ca/courses/econ2610-economic-measurement-and-computation/
What about Excel in a Mac?
The Microsoft emulations available within the Mac (Apple) can work, but not all formulas and functions
may be available. Since the PC and Windows is the environment of choice in industry and
government, and since the exams will be submitted using the PCs in 202 Isbister, Mac users/owners
need to make their peace with the PC.
Retaining your work
You will find it convenient to maintain your work and notes using USB memory devices or cloud
storage such as Dropbox. Keep back-ups.
December 31, 2014
Mark Allocation
The final mark will be based on in-class term tests (best 2 out of 3), and a final examination.
Component
Marks
Term Tests (Best 2 out of 3) – 25 marks each
Final exam (2 hours) (In formal exam period)
Total
50
50
100
All tests/exams will allow you to have the Excel text of your choice for reference.
Numerical grade conversion: A+ (>90), A (>80), B+ (>75), B (>70), C+ (>65), C(>60), D (>50), F(<50)
Course Schedule
The course will follow an alternating schedule of lectures (Tuesdays) and labs (Thursdays).
Note that the first two classes (starting January 6, 2015) will comprise an orientation to the
Social Science Lab and Excel (Chapters 1 through 4 of the text).
Lecture Schedule (Subject to change)
All chapter references are to Whigham. (W)
Lecture note will be posted on the course web site a few days prior to the lecture.
Lecture/Date (Key dates in Bold)
Mastering the basics of Excel – linear relationships in economics
-
-
creating data sheet(s)
basic data entry and management
qualitative (logical) and quantitative data
-
data handling/sorting
charts
specifying demand/supply (micro) and LS/IM
(macro) models
1.
Jan 6
Lecture
Intro to Excel (W1, 2)
2.
Jan 8
Lecture
Sorting, basics of charts (W3, 4)
3.
Jan 13
Lecture
Demand and elasticity estimates, equilibrium and impact of taxes, subsidies
(Lecture notes in PPT from course website)
4.
Jan 15
Lab
Solving tax impact estimates
5.
Jan 20
Lecture
IS/LM models and demand/supply equations in Excel (W5) plus lecture notes in
PPT
6.
Jan 22
Lab
Practice with linear functions
7.
Jan 27
Lecture
Look-up functions and basic calculations for taxation (W6) plus material on course
web site
8.
Jan 29
Test 1
Chapters W1 - W6, plus lecture notes
Indexes, rates, incidence and growth
9.
creating a price index
computing Laspeyres, Paasche and Fisher indices
changing base and splicing indexes
Feb 3
-
computing rates of growth and measures of incidence
application to demographic projections
Lecture
Price indices (Material from course web site)
10. Feb 5
Lab
Creating and manipulating price indexes
11. Feb 10
Lecture
The basic demographic model (lecture notes in PPT)
12. Feb 12
Lab
Building a basic demographic model
December 31, 2014
Lecture Schedule (Subject to change)
All chapter references are to Whigham. (W)
Lecture note will be posted on the course web site a few days prior to the lecture.
Lecture/Date (Key dates in Bold)
Feb 17, 19 (Study Week)
Basics of data analysis
-
-
measures of central tendency
measures of dispersion
association
regression
forecasting, moving averages
seasonal adjustment
-
13. Feb 24
Lecture
Collating data and measures of central tendency (W-7, 8)
14. Feb 26
Lab
Manipulating random variables
15. Mar 3
Lecture
Dispersion and measures of risk (W9,10)
16. Mar 5
Test 2
(W7 – W10) plus lecture notes
17. Mar 10
Lecture
Association (W11)
18. Mar 12
Lab
Developing a statistical portfolio
19. Mar 17
Lecture
Regression (W12)
20. Mar 19
Lab
Computing trends
Time value of money – Basics of financial economics
-
simple and compound interest
fractional and continuous compounding
annual growth rates
-
present value
discounted present cash flow
internal rates of return
benefit-cost analysis
21. Mar 17
Lecture
Financial arithmetic (W13)
22. Mar 19
Lab
Interest rate manipulations
23. Mar 24
Lecture
Growth and depreciation
24. Mar 26
Test 3
(W11 - 13 plus lecture notes
25. Mar 31
Lecture
Present value, future value, benefit cost and internal rate of return (W14)
26. Apr 2
Lab
Practice in Capital budgeting
27. Apr 4
Lecture/
lab
Slack
28. Apr 9
Review
29. TDB
Final
Exam
Scheduled by the registrar
Academic integrity:
Each student must read and understand university regulations regarding academic integrity as
described in the General Calendar.

Plagiarism and Cheating http://webapps.cc.umanitoba.ca/calendar10/regulations/plagiarism.asp

Personation at an examination
http://webapps.cc.umanitoba.ca/calendar10/regulations/exams/exams_personations.asp
Claims that these regulations were not understood will not be accepted.
December 31, 2014