Introductory Economic Statistics: A Data-Driven Approach in R

Preface

This Rbook introduces students to econometrics without parametric assumptions and formulas. In many ways, it is a modern version of “Introductory Econometrics: Using Monte Carlo Simulation with Microsoft Excel” by Barreto and Howland, updated to adhere to modern statistics teaching guidelines and give econometrics students the best tools for their labor market. Altogether, students learn to produce statistical analyses of economic data relevant to both the private and public sector, as well as an intuitive foundation for more advanced courses on nonparametric statistics or structural econometrics. This Rbook is organized into two parts.

Part I: Introduction to Data Analysis introduces students to the basics of programming and statistical analysis of economic data using R. There are many practical examples, including on how to analyze data interactively and communicate results. I aimed to replace mathematics with simulations whenever possible. We also cover statistical reporting using R + markdown, which research suggests is a good combination 1 2.

Part II: Introduction to Linear Regression refines material from several introductory econometrics textbooks and covers linear models only from a “minimum distance” perspective. (We operate under the maxim “All models are wrong” and do not prove unbiasedness.) Also included is a novel chapter on “Data scientism” that more clearly illustrates the ways that simplistic approaches can mislead rather than illuminate. (I stress “gun safety” instead of “pull to shoot”, which I feel is missing from many textbooks.) Overall, there is a more humble view towards what we can infer from linear regressions that opens the door towards more advanced courses in model development and interpretation.

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Although any interested reader may find it useful, this Rbook is primarily developed for my students.

If you use this Rbook, please cite

@book{Adamson2025_Rbook,
  title={Introductory Economic Statistics: A Data-Driven Approach using R},
  author={Adamson, Jordan},
  year={2025},
  publisher={Bookdown},
  url={https://jadamso.github.io/Rbooks/}
}

Please also report any errors or issues at https://github.com/Jadamso/Rbooks/issues.