Course 4 Econometrics

[ookawasan]

Hi everyone,

I plan to order the Econometric models and Economic Forecasts text. What do you guys think about the text? Is it well written? Will I get a good understanding of it along with a bad professor? (Sometimes a good professor will make a bad textbook seem better while other times a good textbook will make a bad professor seem better).

Thanks for your input.

[VP]

I can't help you. I passed course 4 and never looked at that book. Several credible sources told me it was awful, so I didn't clutter my brain with it.

[M.]

I thought this book was pretty good for people like me who had never studied regression before. Then again, I'm quite certain I failed Course 4 (although mainly due to a lack of sufficient study time), so I may not be the best source of info, either.

[ookawasan]

To M,

Can you be more specifitc as to how good the book is? Thanks

[M.]

The book explains how to intuitively think of each part of several main formulas. Some of the examples do a pretty decent job of reinforcing learning.

The big complaint you hear about this book is that the problems aren't necessarily like the ones you'll see on an exam. To remedy this problem, many people get the Mehta manual, or just solve problems out of Actex or ASM.

Hope that helps!

[New at pd]

Regression is most definitely done best by ASM. It breaks the material up into about 20 sections or so, and has a great set of problems to reinforce the formulas he presents.

I felt that the problems in ASM were very much in line with exam problems.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Phantom Actuary on 2001-12-27 09:08 ]</font>

[yunr]

Don't read the text book. Use Actex and you will get a 6.

[New at pd]

I purchased the Mehta & Hill manual. I really didn't benefit from it all that much.

[Relaxed]

I studied Econometrics in college and have dealt with a couple of other Econometrics texts. I think the purple book is a pretty good one.

It's a very basic text compared to most Econometrics books--it is designed to give the reader the ability to read and generally understand studies involving Econometrics without becoming an Econometrics expert. If you understand that is what the book is for, I think it does a great job of it.

That said, the book doesn't do a lot to help prepare you for the actuarial exams. But I would blame that on the way they test the material rather than on the text itself.