Undergraduate - UnitETC2520 - Probability and statistical inference for economics and business

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2015 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

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6 points, SCA Band 3, 0.125 EFTSL

Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered.

Level	Undergraduate
Faculty	Faculty of Business and Economics
Organisational Unit	Department of Econometrics and Business Statistics
Offered	Clayton Second semester 2015 (Day)
Coordinator(s)	Associate Professor Catherine Forbes

Synopsis

An introduction to probability and statistical inference for use in economics and business. Topics covered include random variables, moments and cumulants generating function, discrete and continuous distributions, independence, jointly distributed random variables, conditional random variables, the central limit theorem, sampling distribution, properties of estimators, confidence intervals, tests of hypotheses.

Outcomes

The learning goals associated with this unit are to:

understand concepts of probability, statistical inference, generating functions and cumulants
derive and use generating functions to evaluate moments and establish the distribution of linear combinations of independent random variables
understand and apply the main methods of estimation and the main properties of estimators
construct confidence intervals for unknown parameters and test hypotheses
develop written, presentational and group work skills through a series of assessed essays, assignments and tutorial work.

Assessment

Within semester assessment: 30%
Examination: 70%

Workload requirements

Minimum total expected workload to achieve the learning outcomes for this unit is 144 hours per semester typically comprising a mixture of scheduled learning activities and independent study. Independent study may include associated readings, assessment and preparation for scheduled activities. The unit requires on average three/four hours of scheduled activities per week. Scheduled activities may include a combination of teacher directed learning, peer directed learning and online engagement.

Chief examiner(s)

Associate Professor Catherine Forbes

Prerequisites

ETC1000 or equivalent