Data Science for Economists

UC Berkeley, Spring 2025

PollEV Ed Gradescope Lecture Recordings Extensions Extenuating Circumstances Anonymous Feedback

Instructor:

Eric Van Dusen

Office Hours: TBD

Hi - I am a lecturer in Data Science and Economics as well as a staff member helping to build out Data Science Undergraduate Studies. I am passionate about how Data Science approaches can bring innovation to teaching and learning in all disciplines. I love trail running in Strawberry Canyon.

Lecture: Tuesday’s and Thursday’s, 2:00 - 3:30 PM, Hearst Field Annex A1

Office Hours: TBD

Welcome to Week 14 of Econ 148!

The schedule and dates listed below are tentative and may be subject to change.
All announcements will be made via Ed.
The Syllabus contains a detailed explanation of how each course component will work this semester
If you plan to add late, make sure you contact the staff first to see if you can make up the missed assignments before officially adding the class.

Schedule

Week 1 - Introduction and Pandas

January 21: Lecture 1 Introduction and Course Overview - Slides; Lecture NB - Graph; Lecture NB - Crypto; Syllabus; Lab 0 Prerequisite Lab (optional; no due date)
January 23: Lecture 2 Overview of Technology; Lecture NB - Vibecession; Lab 1 Pandas (due 1/31)

Week 2 - Pandas and API

January 28: Lecture 3 Slides; Lecture Notebook; Discussion 1 Pandas
January 30: Lecture 4Slides; Lecture Notebook; Jim Church Slides; WRDS Notebook; Lab 2 Data Cleaning and APIs(due date 2/7)

Week 3 - FRED API - Pandas

February 4: Lecture 5 Slides; Lecture Notebook ETD Group; Lecture Notebook UCB Grades; Lecture Notebook Pivot Sales; Lecture Notebook EIA API; Discussion 2 Data Cleaning
February 6: Lecture 6Slides; Lecture FRED Intro; Lecture Predictions Merge; Lecture 3d Phillips; Lab 3 Wrangling Survey Data (due date 2/14); Project 1 Regional GDP (due date 2/28)

Week 4 - Surveys and RCTs

February 11: Lecture 7Slides; Lecture Notebook BWM with Strings; Discussion 3 Slides
February 13: Lecture 8Slides; Vibes Party; Strings Demo; Hawthorne Strings; Lab 4 Visualization (due date 2/21)

Week 5 - Visualization

February 18: Lecture 9Slides; Lecture Viz; Big Mac; Avocado; Finance; Discussion 4 Slides
February 20: Lecture 10Slides; Finance Demo; Bollinger Demo; All Counties :; Lab 5Visualization II (due date 2/28)

Week 6 - Visualization and Mapping

February 25: Lecture 11Slides; Lecture Mapping; Discussion 5 Slides
February 27: Lecture 12Slides; Lab 6 SQL (due 3/7); Project 2 Mariel Boatlift (due 3/14)

Week 7 - SQL

March 4: Lecture 13 Slides; SQLvsPandas_StarWars; SQLDemo_StarWars; Discussion 6 Slides
March 6: Lecture 14Slides; SQL_Soda; Lab 7 The Impact of Minimum Wage on Employment (due date 3/14)

Week 8 - Econometrics

March 11: Lecture 15 Slides; WoolridgeDemo8-1; Discussion 7 Slides
March 13: Lecture 16 Slides; ReinhartRogoff :Brad Lyons’ Slides; Lyons Lec NB (notebook won’t run but you can see what he did); UC Investment Academy; Lab 8 Survival Analysis (due date 4/4)

Week 9 - Survival

March 18: Lecture 17 Slides; Lifelines_HR_Demo; Lifelines_Regimes_Demo; Rossi_Demo; Discussion 8 Slides
March 20: Midterm

Week 10 - Spring Break

March 25: Spring Break
March 27: Spring Break

Week 11 - Time Series

April 1: Lecture 18 Slides; Time_Series_Concepts; Discussion 9 Slides
April 3: Lecture 19Slides; ProphetDemo1; ProphetDemo2; ProphetDemo3; Lab 9Time_Series (due date 4/11); Project 3Reproduction (due date 4/18 & 5/2)