Statistical Methods in Business and finance - STA 543

Course Objectives

This course will cover the application of statistics to modeling, estimation, inference and forecasting in the business and financial world through real world problems with an emphasis on critical evaluation.  It will cover selected topics from econometrics, decision theory, and financial modeling, as well as business optimization and simulation.  

Course Topics

  • Introduction to econometrics - applied interpretation of parameters, tests of linear and nonlinear combinations of parameters
  • Testing regression assumptions, robust standard errors, and analysis of panel data
  • Omitted variables bias and random regressors
  • Simultaneous equations
  • Introduction to business optimization and decision analysis
  • Sensitivity analysis
  • Financial engineering
  • Value of risk and expected shortfall
  • Stochastic processes in insurance, credit and finance

Example Syllabus