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About the Department of Econometrics and Business Statistics

Monash University has a long and proud association with the disciplines of Econometrics and Business Statistics, dating back to the foundation of the (then) Faculty of Economics and Politics in 1962. The foundation dean was Professor Don Cochrane, who in 1949 published with Guy Orcutt a pair of path-breaking articles presenting an ingenious method of estimating time series models – a method now known to generations of econometrics and statistics students as the "Cochrane-Orcutt procedure". Professor Cochrane provided an environment in which econometrics and business statistics flourished and in 1968 established Australia's first Chair in Econometrics, awarded to Professor Alan Powell. These developments led eventually to the creation of what is now the Department of Econometrics and Business Statistics, a department that is recognised worldwide for the quality of its teaching and research.

Postgraduate Study

The Department of Econometrics and Business Statistics has provided postgraduate training for a high proportion of the total number of PhD students in econometrics and business statistics in Australia, with alumni of the Department’s Ph.D. program holding prominent positions in business, government and academia, both within Australia and internationally.

We currently provide a varied and extensive Graduate Program, including professionally-orientated degrees, the Master of Applied Econometrics at Caulfield, and the specialist Masters and PhD programs. Members of the Department publish in the top ranking journals in econometrics, statistics and economics, covering the full spectrum of research areas in the discipline, and have been chief investigators in a high proportion of Australian Research Council Discovery Grants awarded nationally in econometrics.

Undergraduate courses

The Department of Econometrics and Business Statistics offers a comprehensive curriculum in econometrics and business statistics at the undergraduate and honours level, including units in econometric theory, applied econometrics, time series analysis, financial econometrics, microeconometrics, Bayesian econometrics and business modelling; and teaches the quantitative subjects in courses offered by the Faculty of Business and Economics across the Clayton, Caulfield, Peninsula, Gippsland and Malaysian campuses of the University.

Research

The Department of Econometrics and Business Statistics is one of the groups in the Faculty of Business and Economics designated by the University as an area of outstanding strength in research. Academic staff in the Department publish in a wide range of top ranking journals in econometrics, statistics and economics, and have been chief investigators in a high proportion of the Australian Research Council Discovery Grants awarded nationally in econometrics. Our staff also include members of the editorial boards of leading learned journals including the Journal of Econometrics, Journal of Empirical Finance, and the Journal of Quantitative Economics. The department has a large group of Ph.D. and Masters students, and there is a well attended Friday research seminar with regular presentations from research students and visiting academics.

Links with business and government

Close links with business, industry and government are fostered via the Department's Consulting Service and the Business and Economics Forecasting Unit. Recent projects include a study of success factors in road safety, modelling the distribution of automobile collision claims, modelling demand for telephone services and electricity, forecasting sales, and inventory control.