The importance of empirical economics and econometric methods has greatly in­ creased during the last 20 years due to the availability of better data and the improved performance of computers. In an information-driven society such as ours we need quickly to obtain complete and convincing statistical results. This is only possible if the appropriate econometric methods are applied. Traditional econometric analysis concentrates on classical methods which are far from suitable for handling actual economic problems. They can only be used as a starting point for students to learn basic econometrics and as a reference point for more advanced methods. Modern Econometrics tries to develop new approaches from an economic perspective. A consequence is that we have less of a unified econometric theory than in former times. Specific branches which require specific methods have been established. Nowadays, nobody has complete knowledge of every area of econometrics. If someone is interested to learn more about a field, relatively unknown to them, they will require support.

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