Quantitative Methods in Applied Economics
Res Econ 313-01 (17268)
Spring 2024
Instructor: Dr. Sherry Xiaoxue Gao Teaching Assistant: Aniket Ganvir
Office: 217B Stockbridge Hall (Zoom Office:
96334716031) Office Hours:
Office Hours: Tue/Thu 1:15pm-2:15pm Email:
[email protected]Email:
[email protected]1. Do not request extensions or makeups from the TA. Ask the instructor directly.
2. Allow a reasonable amount of time for the instructor or TA to reply to your emails. That is, 24 hours
for weekdays and 48 hours for weekends.
3. Please use your UMass email @umass.edu. Do not use Quickmail on Moodle. Emails concerning this
class will be sent to your UMass address, please check regularly.
Class Time: Tuesday & Thursday 11:30AM - 12:45PM
Classroom: Integrated Learning Center S220 (ILC S220)
Course Credits: 3 units
Course Website: Moodle (https://moodle.umass.edu). I will post class slides, quizzes, grades,
announcements, etc. in Moodle. It is important that you check the website frequently.
Textbook (Required): Howard, Ronald A. and Ali E. Abbas. 2016. Foundations of Decision
Analysis. Pearson: Boston.
Prerequisites: You must have completed Res-Econ 211 or 212 or Statistics 240 to enroll in
this course. I also strongly recommend that you have taken Res-Econ 202 either before this
course or concurrently with it.
Course Objectives: No matter what type of job you get when you leave the ResEc family,
you will need to be able to make good decisions using numbers. Some of you will get jobs
performing analysis, while some of you will need to judge the credibility of the analysis done
by others. The goal of this class is to introduce you to decision analysis.
Instruction Methods: This is an upper-level class that is very hard and technical, and it
will require much more responsibility from you than many of your lower-level classes. We
have a lot of material to cover, and I cannot discuss everything in class. Rather, you are re-
sponsible for reading the text and working with the material on your own. I will assume you
already read the content to be covered in each class, and will only highlight the more
complicated aspects of the materials during the lectures.
Important Dates:
Mar 07 First Midterm (7:00pm-8:15pm, in ILC S220)
Apr 18 Second Midterm (7:00pm-8:15pm, in ILC S220)
May 15 Comprehensive Final Exam (1:00pm-3:00pm, in ILC S220)
Evaluation: Grading will be based on quizzes, problem sets, midterms and final exams as de-
scribed below (the weight towards final score is noted in the brackets):
o Quizzes [10%]: 10 quizzes. Quizzes will be posted and submitted online through Moo-
dle. You will be allowed 2 attempts for each quiz, and the higher score will be your score
for that quiz. The 2 quizzes with the lowest scores will be dropped from the calculation of
final grades.
o Problem Sets [25%]: 8 assigned problem sets. Problem sets will be posted and submitted
via Moodle. Email submissions will not be accepted or graded. The 2 problem sets with
the lowest scores will be dropped from the calculation of final grades.
o Midterm 1 [20%] is not comprehensive and covers Chapters 1-9.
o Midterm 2 [20%] is not comprehensive and covers Chapters 10, 11 and 33. While this
midterm is not comprehensive, the material does build on itself so it is important to un-
derstand all materials covered in class.
o Final Exam [25%] is comprehensive with 10% contents from midterm 1, 10% from mid-
term 2, and 80% from Chapters 13-17.
Weekly Quizzes Problem Sets
Midterm 1 Midterm 2 Final Exam
(best 8/10) (best 6/8)
10% 25% 20% 20% 25%
Exam Policies: Exams will take place in person in a reserved classroom. Please check the
exam dates and plan ahead to avoid any conflicts. Make-up exams will only be granted
when BOTH of the following conditions are met:
(1) Students can present a valid excuse for missing the exam on the scheduled date as
outlined in “Academic Regulations” https://www.umass.edu/registrar/sites/de-
fault/files/academicregs.pdf. Doctor notes have to clearly specify which date and how
many days you are allowed to take off.
(2) The request is sent at least one week before the scheduled exam date if possible
(emergencies are exempted).
Exams are closed book but you may have a one-sided 3 inches by 5 inches notecard. You will
need a non-graphing calculator for all exams. You may not share calculators.
No electronic devices (cell phones, etc.) will be allowed during exams. If such devices are de-
tected as being operational during an exam, it will be grounds for failure of the course.
Students with disabilities who need extra time to complete the exams should contact the Disa-
bility Services and take their exams at disability services.
Evaluation Policies: With the offering of dropping two lowest grades, no late assignments
or quizzes will be accepted since the two lowest grades will be dropped (exceptions will
only be made under extraneous situations).
A letter grade of the following: A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+, C, C-, D and F, will be assigned to you
on the basis of your cumulative score. The table below provides the lower cutoffs for each
grade. To ensure your grade to show up correctly and on time on Spire, please report
any conflict in scores within 48 hours after your final grade is posted.
F D D+ C- C C+ B- B B+ A- A
<60 60 63 67 70 73 77 80 83 87 90
Office Hour Policies: The instructor and TA will hold office hours regularly as listed at the
beginning section of the syllabus. Please check your emails or the Moodle announcements to
keep updated on changes of date, time or locations of TA’s office hours. Please come pre-
pared to the office hours with specific questions. Please do not come to the office hours to do
your quiz or homework.
Classroom Decorum: Please show respect towards me and your fellow students, and let’s
work together to have a classroom that is conducive to learning by following the following
rules:
1. TURN OFF YOUR CELL PHONE! If you are on call for work, please let me know in ad-
vance and put your phone on silent. No texting during class – it is not as quiet as you
think.
2. You are welcome to use computers to take notes. However, if you are caught doing other
stuff during class time, then you will be asked to turn off your computer.
3. No negative language, please (no racist, sexist, homophobic remarks, or in other ways
that are insensitive to your fellow classmates).
4. Show up on time, and don’t leave early. Wait for the class to be formally dismissed before
you start to pack up your things or get up to leave.
5. Avoid other unnecessary distractions: private conversations, reading newspapers, working
on assignments for other classes, eating, sleeping, etc.
6. If you are having trouble with something, please email or come see me.
7. When in class, participate and have FUN! Economics is an awesome field, and we are go-
ing to be learning some very powerful tools this semester.
Disability Statement: The University of Massachusetts Amherst is committed to making rea-
sonable, effective and appropriate accommodations to meet the needs of students with disa-
bilities and help create a barrier-free campus. If you are in need of accommodation for a doc-
umented disability, register with Disability Services to have an accommodation letter sent to
your faculty. It is your responsibility to initiate these services and to communicate with fac-
ulty ahead of time to manage accommodations in a timely manner. For more information,
consult the Disability Services website at http://www.umass.edu/disability/.
Academic Honesty Policy Statement: Since the integrity of the academic enterprise of any
institution of higher education requires honesty in scholarship and research, academic hon-
esty is required of all students at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Academic dishonesty is prohibited in all programs of the University. Academic dishonesty
includes but is not limited to: cheating, fabrication, plagiarism, and facilitating dishonesty.
Appropriate sanctions may be imposed on any student who has committed an act of academic
dishonesty. Instructors should take reasonable steps to address academic misconduct. Any
person who has reason to believe that a student has committed academic dishonesty should
bring such information to the attention of the appropriate course instructor as soon as possi-
ble. Instances of academic dishonesty not related to a specific course should be brought to the
attention of the appropriate department Head or Chair. The procedures outlined below are in-
tended to provide an efficient and orderly process by which action may be taken if it appears
that academic dishonesty has occurred and by which students may appeal such actions.
Since students are expected to be familiar with this policy and the commonly accepted stand-
ards of academic integrity, ignorance of such standards is not normally sufficient evidence of
lack of intent.
For more information about what constitutes academic dishonesty, please see the Dean of
Students’ website: http://umass.edu/dean_students/codeofconduct/acadhonesty/.
Student Learning Objective (SLO) Component(s) of the Course that Meet the objec-
tive
SLO #1: Creatively apply the acquired knowledge from The five rules of actional thoughts and their application
their respective fields to make optimal choices in their in complex decisions under uncertainty; principles of
professional and personal lives. information gathering.
SLO #2: Understand and master microeconomics as a Microeconomics concepts such as sunk cost principles,
foundational theory. WTP, WTA, utility, properties of consumer preferences
(completeness, transitivity, and more is better) used
throughout the course.
SLO#3: Achieve proficiency in the supporting disci- Students use probabilities in problem solving.
plines, such as macroeconomics, mathematics, statistics,
and finance.
SLO #6: Integrate theoretical principles with quantita- Contents throughout the course strengthen high-quality
tive techniques to promote decision-making. decision making. Example: chapter 8 covers 5 rules of
actional thoughts to clarify our thoughts in the decision
process, chapters 10-11 incorporate risk attitudes into
decision making and how to mathematically select the
best alternative, chapter 15 explains cognitive biases,
examines the stages of our assessment and see what
some possible distortions are in these stages.
SLO #8: Consistently foster safe, fair, open, and diverse Classroom environment
professional and social environments.
Experiential Goal
EG#1: Enhance teamwork/collaborative skills through Team-based learning activities
a. Group work, activities, assignments, etc.
Course Outline:
The following is a tentative outline and changes may be made throughout the semester.
Weeks Chapters Details Assignments
Week 1
1-4 Syllabus, Intro Chapters
(02/01)
Week 2 5 Possibilities • Quiz 1 due Tue 11:30AM
(02/06, 02/08) 6 Uncertainty • PS 1 ch 1-5 due Thu 11:30AM
Week 3 6 Uncertainty • Quiz 2 due Tue 11:30AM
(02/13, 02/15) 7 Relevance • PS 2 ch 6 Thu 11:30AM
Week 4
7 Relevance • Quiz 3 Ch7 due Tue 11:30AM
(02/20)
Week 5 Rules of Actional Thought • PS 3 ch 7 due Tue 11:30AM
8-9
(02/27, 02/29) The Party Problem • Quiz 4 ch 8-9 due Thu 11:30AM
Week 6 Exam 1 (Ch 1-9) • PS 4 ch 8-9 due Tue 11:30AM
(03/05, 03/07) Thu 7:00pm-8:15pm
Week 7
10 Using a Value Measure
(03/12, 03/14)
Week 8 10 Using a Value Measure • Quiz 5 ch 10 due Tue 11:30AM
(03/26, 03/28) 11 Risk
Week 9 • PS 5 ch 10 due Tue 11:30AM
11 Risk
(04/02, 04/04) • Quiz 6 ch 11 due Thu 11:30AM
Week 10 • PS 6 ch 11 due Tue 11:30AM
33 Making Risky Decisions
(04/9, 04/11) • Quiz 7 ch 33 due Thu 11:30AM
Week 11 Exam 2 (Ch 10, 11, 33)
(04/16, 04/18) Thu 7:00pm-8:15pm
Week 12
13 Information Gathering
(04/23, 04/25) • Quiz 8 ch 13 due Thu 11:30AM
Week 13 Decision Diagram • Quiz 9 ch 14 -15 due Tue 11:30AM
14-15
(04/30, 05/02) Enconding Probabilities • PS 7 ch 13-14 due Thu 11:30AM
Week 14 • Quiz 10 ch 16-17 due Tue 11:30AM
16-17 Assessment & Framing
(05/07, 05/09) • PS 8 ch 15-17 due Thu 11:30AM
Comprehensive Final Exam
May 15
Wed 1:00pm-3:00pm
