Section 5: Models of People: Thinking Electrons
In this section, we study various ways that social scientists model people. We study and contrast three different models. The rational actor approach, behavioral models , and rule based models . These lectures provide context for many of the models that follow. There's no specific reading for these lectures though I mention several books on behavioral economics that you may want to consider. Also, if you find the race to the bottom game interesting just type "Rosemary Nagel Race to the Bottom" into a search engine and you'll get several good links. You can also find good introductions to "Zero Intelligence Traders" by typing that in as well.
Short Primer on Behavioral Economics
Section 6: Linear Models
In this section, we cover linear models. We start by looking at categorical models, in which data gets binned into categories. We use this simple framework to introduce measures like mean, variance, and R-squared. We then turn to linear models describing what linear models do, how to read regression output (a valuable skill!) and how to fit nonlinear data with linear models. These lectures are meant to give you a "feel" for how linear models are used and perhaps to motivate you to take a course on these topics. I conclude this section by highlighting a distinction between what I call Big Coefficient thinking and New Reality thinking. The readings for this section consist of two short pieces written by me, but you can find abundant resources on the web on linear models, R-squared, regression, and evidence based thinking.
Coursera open course: Model Thinking by Scott E. Page Start from 10.07.2013, will end on 12.16.2013 Link: https://class.coursera.org/modelthinking-005/class/index;
Section 5: Models of People: Thinking Electrons In this section, we study various ways that social scientists model people. We study and contrast three different models. The rational actor approach, behavioral models , and rule based models . These lectures provide context for many of the models that follow. There's no specific reading for these lectures though I mention several books on behavioral economics that you may want to consider. Also, if you find the race to the bottom game interesting just type "Rosemary Nagel Race to the Bottom" into a search engine and you'll get several good links. You can also find good introductions to "Zero Intelligence Traders" by typing that in as well.
Short Primer on Behavioral Economics
Section 6: Linear Models In this section, we cover linear models. We start by looking at categorical models, in which data gets binned into categories. We use this simple framework to introduce measures like mean, variance, and R-squared. We then turn to linear models describing what linear models do, how to read regression output (a valuable skill!) and how to fit nonlinear data with linear models. These lectures are meant to give you a "feel" for how linear models are used and perhaps to motivate you to take a course on these topics. I conclude this section by highlighting a distinction between what I call Big Coefficient thinking and New Reality thinking. The readings for this section consist of two short pieces written by me, but you can find abundant resources on the web on linear models, R-squared, regression, and evidence based thinking.
Categorical Models
Linear Models