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This book attempts to distill econometrics into a form that preserves its essence, but that is acceptable—and even appealing—to the student's intellectual palate. It insists on rigor when it is essential, but it emphasizes intuition and seizes upon entertainment wherever possible. The book is motivated by three beliefs. First, students are, perhaps despite themselves, interested in questions that only econometrics can answer. Second, through these answers, they can come to understand, appreciate, and even enjoy the enterprise of econometrics. Third, this text, which presents select innovations in presentation and practice, can provoke readers' interest and encourage the responsible and insightful application of econometric techniques. In particular, the book gives readers many opportunities to practice proofs—which are challenging, but which it has been found to improve reader comprehension. Learning from proofs gives readers an organic understanding of the message behind the numbers, a message that will benefit them as they come across statistics in their daily lives.

This book provides an in-depth investigation of the link between human capital and economic growth. The book examines the determinants of economic growth through a historical overview of the concept of human capital. The text fosters an understanding of the connection between human capital and economic growth through the exploration of different theoretical approaches, a review of the literature, and the application of nonlinear estimation techniques to a comprehensive data set. The book discusses nonparametric econometric techniques and their application to estimating nonlinearities—which has emerged as one of the most salient features of empirical work in modeling the human capital–growth relationship, and the process of economic growth in general.

The book documents the economic management experience of Zimbabwe during a decade of economic downturn. Almost all the chapters note that economic downturns create opportunities as well as challenges for companies, allowing them to move from the middle of the pack into leadership positions more than at any other time in business. Unlike straight-aways where leaders can thrive on raw power alone, steep curves require strategic finesse. That often results in dramatic differences in performance as leaders steer out of the curve. There are a number of Schumpeterian forces at work, calling for creativity in broader economic management. The book thus provides comprehensive documentation of the intricacies the economy of Zimbabwe underwent during the crisis period 2000–2008. It covers existing themes such as macroeconomic management in downturns as well as the emerging area of financialization and human capital policy during crisis, paying specific attention to the context of a developing economy. It also provides a vast array of cross-sectoral experiences but from a developing country lens. A number of noble econometric techniques are brought to bear on the evidence presented in most of the chapters, thus catering for those readers who are quantitatively inclined.