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Enders offers a
practical, hands-on introduction to time series analysis for readers with modest
mathematical skills. If you have taken undergraduate courses in linear algebra,
probability, and statistics, you can read this book. What is more, the detailed
examples and exercises will soon have you working on fairly sophisticated time
series problems.
While the text
targets graduate students in economics, its choice of topics is largely
consistent with what financial professionals just starting to study time series
analysis will want to learn.
The opening
chapter covers deterministic difference equations. Read this, understand it, but
don't get "bogged down" in it. Move quickly to the next chapter, which covers
standard MA, AR and ARMA models. The practical explanations and worked examples
will have you applying these models in no time. Next is a detailed chapter on
ARCH and GARCH models. The discussion is not as useful as that of the previous
chapter, but it is excellent when you consider that this is an elementary text.
Chapter 4 covers tests for trends and unit roots. Chapter 5 introduces
multi-dimensional time series analysis, but it focuses on models that are
primarily applicable to economics. Readers interested in finance may quickly
skim the chapter. Finally, there is an excellent chapter on cointegration, which
will interest all readers.
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1. Difference Equations 1
2. Stationary Time-Series Models
3. Modeling Volatility
4. Models with Trend
5. Multiequation Time-Series Models
6. Cointegration and Error-Correction
Models
7. Nonlinear Time-Series Models |
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Time series
analysis is one of those fields where, the more sophisticated the mathematics
you apply, the easier it becomes. Because Enders uses only basic mathematics,
the book is accessible to a large audience, but it does make the subject seem
somewhat technical and ad hoc. Learning is achieved through extensive use of
worked examples and not discussions of theory. The book is practical and focused
on helping readers implement models. At times, it is "cookbookish."
Readers with
strong math skills are likely to be turned off by Enders. I encourage them to
quickly read Franses (1998) to get
"oriented" and then proceed to a more advanced book, such as Gourieroux and
Monfort (1997).
(This review is based upon the first edition)
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