Fall 2007 Course Description

Introduction to Quantitative Analysis

Description: QA is an introduction to a wide range of basic quantitative tools. The emphasis of this section is to foster analytic thinking and communication skills through quantitative logic. The mathematical and statistical techniques acquired through this process do not constitute the primary objective of the course. Instead they are the anchoring stories and beneficial side-product in the analytic process.

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be prepared to take any section of Advanced Empirical Methods for Policy Analysis, which will focus on techniques within a specialized quantitative topic.


Structure. This course is organized into seven modules:

• Learning the role of quantitative analysis through philosophy
  
• Thinking about policy choices through calculus


• Visualizing policy issues through linear programming


• Making decisions in environments of uncertainty and risk


• Making guesses with bivariate statistical information


• Structuring reality with multivariate regression models


• Predicting the future: Forecasting techniques

• Fortnightly problem sets involving group problem-solving;


• Individual-based quizzes given out approximately every other Friday;


• Final exam with a written and an oral component.

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