Book excerpt: Focuses on the assumptions underlying the algorithms rather than their statistical properties Presents cutting-edge analysis of factor models and finite mixture models. Uses a hands-on approach to examine the assumptions made by the models and when the models fail to estimate accurately Utilizes interesting real-world data sets that can be used to analyze important microeconomic problems Introduces R programming concepts throughout the book. Includes appendices that discuss many of the concepts introduced in the book, as well as measures of uncertainty in microeconometrics.