Not as much because the result might well be statistically insignificant as because there might for example really be no connection, both phenomena simply demonstrating the same underlying trend, or because they relate in a way that in point of fact is actually negative, besides which there are other factors at play. The fact for example that the price of petrol and the mobility of the motorist both exhibit a sharp rise does not warrant the conclusion that traffic jams can be eliminated by abolishing the duty on petrol. It is easy to demonstrate a deceptive quantitative fata morgana like this in class. The students won't really get the point though without an adequate mastery of mathematical statistics and matrix algebra. This need is even more urgent because in the social sciences, which include economics, the links observed in the real world are rarely two-dimensional.
Students can only come to the UvA from a college if and when they pass a math test.
For the general economics study programme, the new English Bachelor's in Economics and the Master's in International Finance, econometrics, be it elementary econometrics, is a mandatory subject. What is more, the faculty can boast of a wide range of quantitative economics study programmes where a mathematical level is reached that virtually parallels the science curricula. These quantitatively oriented sub-disciplines constitute the hard core of the economic sciences. He got his Ph.D. in economics in 1987. Kiviet has been a professor of Econometrics since 1989 and the chairman of the Quantitative Economics Department since 1997.