Stanford University
POLISCI 350C/150C, IPS 350C: Political Methodology III
Jonathan Wand and Stephen Jessee
Spring 2004
Description
This course primarily considers mathematical and statistical models of
individual choice behavior. Emphasis will be placed both on the
derivations and motivations for statistical models of choice.
Empirical applications will be reviewed to motivate and illustrate
different models. Readings will be from political science,
mathematical psychology, econometrics, statistics, and
sociology. Topics include multinomial choice models and extensions,
including strategic choice, dynamic choice, and the modeling of
aggregated choices. Maximum likelihood will be the primary method of
estimation considered, with a brief overview of simulation methods in
a classical framework.
Additional information
Consult the syllabus for detailed description
of (a) course requirements, (b) readings, (c) schedule.
NOTE: the syllabus is preliminary and is subject to change.
Handouts/notes
- Thurstone and Luce
- Utility maximizing choice, variations: GEV (Mebane 2000) and Indifference (Sanders 1997)
- Nested logit derivation from bivariate extremal process
- Fun ways to use Taylor expansions / quadratic approximations: asymptotic distributions, optimization and more
- More fun with taylor expansions: inference / hypothesis tests
Note: photocopied figures are not included in the above pdf files.
Problem sets
- Problem set 1
- Problem set 2:
- All materials for problem set 2;
or just the R code;
and finally the article
-
- Problem set 3:
- All materials for problem set 3;
- warm up code (q.1)
- logit sketch code (q.2 and 3)
- monte carlo sketch (q.4)
- Problem set 4
- Problem set 5
- Problem set 6:
- BKT dataset
- dynamic choice data; data description
Final exam datasets, etc.
- voting.csv
- voting.README
- oprobit.csv
- oprobit.README
- Hillygus and Jackman paper
Course mailing/discussion list:
Subscribe by sending an email to majordomo@lists.stanford.edu with the
command
- subscribe polisci350c
in the
BODY of the email (not the subject line).
Contact information
Please consult the syllabus for email addresses, office locations, etc.,
or Jonathan Wand's homepage: http://wand.stanford.edu
Revised March 28, 2004