29596 - Probability And Statistics

Academic Year 2024/2025

  • Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures
  • Campus: Bologna
  • Corso: Second cycle degree programme (LM) in Economics and Econometrics (cod. 5977)

Course contents

Probability concepts:

Review of the axiomatic approach to probability Total Probability Law and Bayes Theorem

Discrete and continuous random variables and properties of some common families of probability distributions

Joint and marginal distributions, conditional distributions and independence, expected values, covariance and correlation

Statistical inference

Random sampling and sampling distributions. The likelihood function.

Estimation theory

Point estimation: finite estimator properties. Interval estimation. Moments and maximum likelihood estimation method. Asymptotic properties of the maximum likelihood estimators.

Hypothesis tests

Statistical tests about the mean, a proportion, the variance of a population. Approximate test on a probability. Test on the difference between two means. Test on the difference between two proportions. Test on the difference between two variances. The concept of p-value. Chi square test.

 

Readings/Bibliography

Larsen, R. J. & Marx, M. L. (2018). An Introduction to Mathematical Statistics and Its Applications. Pearson.

Casella, G. & Berger, R.L. (2024). Statistical Inference. Chapman & Hall.

Grimmett, G. & Welsh, D. (2014). Probability. An Introduction. Oxford University Press.

Teaching methods

Classroom lectures.

Assessment methods

Written multiple-choice assessment.

Teaching tools

Teacher's notes available on Virtuale.

Office hours

See the website of Edoardo Redivo