An Introduction to R for Quantitative Economics

Abstract

Introduces the free software R, using its cutting edge interface, R Studio, aimed at economists Starts from simpler topics such as supply and demand and elasticity and goes on to more advanced ones such as simulations of fishing and the Solow growth model Provides information on how to visualize data, which is an important practice stressed by statisticians who have developed and use R Conveys the essentials of graphing, simulating and computing, to build skills with numerical mathematics and data analysis This book gives an introduction to R to build up graphing, simulating and computing skills to enable one to see theoretical and statistical models in economics in a unified way. The great advantage of R is that it is free, extremely flexible and extensible. The book addresses the specific needs of economists, and helps them move up the R learning curve. It covers some mathematical topics such as, graphing the Cobb-Douglas function, using R to study the Solow growth model, in addition to statistical topics, from drawing statistical graphs to doing linear and logistic regression. It uses data that can be downloaded from the internet, and which is also available in different R packages. With some treatment of basic econometrics, the book discusses quantitative economics broadly and simply, looking at models in the light of data. Students of economics or economists keen to learn how to use R would find this book very useful.