Introduction to Estimating Economic Models

The book's comprehensive coverage on the application of econometric methods to empirical analysis of economic issues is impressive. It uncovers the missing link between textbooks on economic theory and econometrics and highlights the powerful connection between economic theory and empirical analysis perfectly through examples on rigorous experimental design. The use of data sets for estimation derived with the Monte Carlo method helps facilitate the understanding of the role of hypothesis testing applied to economic models.

Topics covered in the book are: consumer behavior, producer behavior, market equilibrium, macroeconomic models, qualitative-response models, panel data analysis and time-series analysis. Key econometric models are introduced, specified, estimated and evaluated. The treatment on methods of estimation in econometrics and the discipline of hypothesis testing makes it a must-have for graduate students of economics and econometrics and aids their understanding on how to estimate economic models and evaluate the results in terms of policy implications.

Atsushi Maki is presently with the Department of Economics, Tokyo International University, Japan. He is Professor Emeritus of Economics at Keio University, Japan. Previously, he was Professor of Economics (1987-2009) at the Faculty of Business and Commerce, Keio University. He has been a visiting scholar at several universities such as Harvard University and the Australian National University, and has taught at several universities and institutions such as Osaka University, ESSEC (France) and KSMS (Kenya) as a visiting professor. His main fields are empirical analysis of consumer behaviour and market behaviour.

For his distinguished and invaluable contributions to scholarship, education and society, Professor Maki was given many honours which include the Japanese Ministry of Education, Science and Culture Travel Award by the Ministry of Education, Japan and Koizumi Travel Award by Keio University. He had also been awarded the following research grants: Abe Fellowship grant, the Social Science Research Council (SSRC), the American Council of Learned Society (ACLS), and the Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership (CGP), 2001; and the Harvard-Yenching Fellowship grant, Harvard-Yenching Institute, Harvard University, 2001.