Econometrics as a Capstone Course in Economics

Abstract

The author describes an econometrics capstone course design at a large public university that offers economics degrees in both business (BBA) and liberal arts (BS). The goal of the capstone is to provide a research experience similar to those in the honors college but on the smaller scale of a one-semester course. The revisions for converting an existing course to a capstone, the student activities adopted, and sample outcomes are addressed. The hurdles overcome within the respective colleges in order to create a capstone course are discussed. Summaries of several student projects as well as publication of faculty-mentored student research papers illustrate the viability of econometrics as a capstone course for institutions unable to establish a stand-alone research course for that purpose.

Keywords:

• assessment
• capstone
• undergraduate research

Keywords:

• JEL codes A12
• A14
• A22

Acknowledgments

The author thanks Steven Greenlaw and session participants at the 2012 National Conference on Teaching Economics, as well as session participants at the 2011 Southern Economic Association Annual Conference, KimMarie McGoldrick, and two anonymous referees for many helpful comments and suggestions.

This article is based on a paper that was presented at the National Conference on Teaching Economics held in Boston, May 30–June 1, 2012.

Notes

1. Formal learning goals and objectives for the capstone or for assessment in the capstone have yet to be adopted.

2. The 120-hour rule was implemented in 2005–6 at all Board of Regents institutions. Some degree programs, such as music and accounting that required additional hours for accreditation, were exempted.

3. Excel is used for all econometric work. Packages such as SAS, SPSS, STATA, or R could be used. Only R, freely available online, is readily available to undergraduates. The other packages are not generally available to undergraduates at this institution. Only 10 percent of undergraduate students in the class typically go on to graduate study in economics, where knowledge of econometric packages would be useful, but because nearly all of them will have access to Excel in their future occupations, this seems an acceptable tradeoff.

4. http://www.aeaweb.org/students/Skills.php#writing