ADEC 7430 Big Data Econometrics

This course demonstrates how to merge economic data analysis and applied econometric tools with the most common machine learning techniques, as the rapid advancement of computational methods provides unprecedented opportunities for understanding "big data." This course will provide a hands-on experience with the terminology, technology, and methodologies behind machine learning with economic applications in marketing, finance, healthcare, and other areas. The main topics covered in this course include: advanced regression techniques, resampling methods, model selection and regularization, classification models (logistic regression, Naïve Bayes, discriminant analysis, k-nearest neighbors, neural networks), tree-based methods, support vector machines, and unsupervised learning (principal components analysis and clustering). Students will apply both supervised and unsupervised machine learning techniques to solve various economics-related problems with real-world data sets. No prior experience with R or Python is necessary.