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A list of what kind of background knowledge is good before doing an Msc in Economics
13
In case you are interested in Msc Economics, here is my checklist for what you would ideally know before starting. This is from my time at Warwick, but other top British Instituions will have similar demands.
I am posting this here as there are a lot of posters asking about UK economics postgraduate courses. And by posting here can deal with all the queries centrally. Also has other ideas of required background knowledge come up they can be added in 1 place.
So, how do you score?
Probably want to weight each of the 4 areas equally as Msc is more mathematical and econometrical than the undergraduate.
Micro
Classical: Can you solve 2 good consumer demand problems?
Do you know the Cobbs Douglas Demand functions?
And can you solve 2 good 2 consumer General Equilibrium problems?
Game Theory: It is good you have done this before, as it takes time to settle. Can you:
i)find pure Nash for a 2 by 2 game?
ii)find mixed Nash for a 2 by 2 game?
iii)do SPE: Subgame Perfect Equilbria
Macro
Section A is:
i) Monetary Policy Have you covered The Kydland and Prescott Paper?
ii) Neo-classical. have you previously covered classical models of economies?
iii) Neo-Keynesain. have you previously covered Keynesian models of economies?
Maths and stats
Introductory Mathematics:
(i) Introduction to analysis;Have you covered the theory behind differentiation?
(ii) Linear Algebra; Have you seen matrix algebra before? Do you know what a rank is? what a determinant?
(iii) Revision of multi-variable function and calculus and constrained optimisation (e.g. Lagrange, Kuhn Tucker). Can you do differentiation? What about with more than 1 variable?
(iv) Differential and difference equations. Have you seen differential equations before? e.g. particular solution and complementary function.
Introductory Statistics:
(i) Basic probability theory. Do you know what Bayes Rule is? What does it mean for two events to be independent?
(ii) Estimation and significance tests. Do you know what a T test is? Do you know what an F test is? Linear regression model. Least squares estimation. Gauss–Markov Theorem. Prediction. Multiple regression. Least squares estimation. Dummy variables. Linear Restrictions. Structural change. Omission of relevant variables + inclusion of irrelevant variables. Lagged dependent variables. Dynamic models. Non–linear models. Functional form tests. Heteroscedasticity: implications and detection tests. Autocorrelation: implications and detection tests. Types of autocorrelation. Generalised Least Squares. Lagged dependent variable models. Multicollinearity. Errors in variables. Simultaneity. Instrumental Variable estimation. Limited Dependent Variable Models. Nonstationarity and Cointegration.
iiii) Have you done 2 year long modules in Econometrics?
e.g. have you seen matrices before in Econometrics
iv)have you used computers to do data regressions?
hope this quick ‘quiz’ helps.
i.e. the more subjects with lots of no’s the more demanding you will find it
I am posting this here as there are a lot of posters asking about UK economics postgraduate courses. And by posting here can deal with all the queries centrally. Also has other ideas of required background knowledge come up they can be added in 1 place.
So, how do you score?
Probably want to weight each of the 4 areas equally as Msc is more mathematical and econometrical than the undergraduate.
Micro
Classical: Can you solve 2 good consumer demand problems?
Do you know the Cobbs Douglas Demand functions?
And can you solve 2 good 2 consumer General Equilibrium problems?
Game Theory: It is good you have done this before, as it takes time to settle. Can you:
i)find pure Nash for a 2 by 2 game?
ii)find mixed Nash for a 2 by 2 game?
iii)do SPE: Subgame Perfect Equilbria
Macro
Section A is:
i) Monetary Policy Have you covered The Kydland and Prescott Paper?
ii) Neo-classical. have you previously covered classical models of economies?
iii) Neo-Keynesain. have you previously covered Keynesian models of economies?
Maths and stats
Introductory Mathematics:
(i) Introduction to analysis;Have you covered the theory behind differentiation?
(ii) Linear Algebra; Have you seen matrix algebra before? Do you know what a rank is? what a determinant?
(iii) Revision of multi-variable function and calculus and constrained optimisation (e.g. Lagrange, Kuhn Tucker). Can you do differentiation? What about with more than 1 variable?
(iv) Differential and difference equations. Have you seen differential equations before? e.g. particular solution and complementary function.
Introductory Statistics:
(i) Basic probability theory. Do you know what Bayes Rule is? What does it mean for two events to be independent?
(ii) Estimation and significance tests. Do you know what a T test is? Do you know what an F test is? Linear regression model. Least squares estimation. Gauss–Markov Theorem. Prediction. Multiple regression. Least squares estimation. Dummy variables. Linear Restrictions. Structural change. Omission of relevant variables + inclusion of irrelevant variables. Lagged dependent variables. Dynamic models. Non–linear models. Functional form tests. Heteroscedasticity: implications and detection tests. Autocorrelation: implications and detection tests. Types of autocorrelation. Generalised Least Squares. Lagged dependent variable models. Multicollinearity. Errors in variables. Simultaneity. Instrumental Variable estimation. Limited Dependent Variable Models. Nonstationarity and Cointegration.
iiii) Have you done 2 year long modules in Econometrics?
e.g. have you seen matrices before in Econometrics
iv)have you used computers to do data regressions?
hope this quick ‘quiz’ helps.
i.e. the more subjects with lots of no’s the more demanding you will find it
Reply 1
Paulwhy
OP
13
I have updated the "quiz".
On Micro:
Do you know the Cobbs Douglas Demand functions?
Econometrics:
" Gauss–Markov Theorem. Prediction. Multiple regression. Least squares estimation. Dummy variables. Linear Restrictions. Structural change. Omission of relevant variables + inclusion of irrelevant variables. Lagged dependent variables. Dynamic models. Non–linear models. Functional form tests. Heteroscedasticity: implications and detection tests. Autocorrelation: implications and detection tests. Types of autocorrelation. Generalised Least Squares. Lagged dependent variable models. Multicollinearity. Errors in variables. Simultaneity. Instrumental Variable estimation. Limited Dependent Variable Models. Nonstationarity and Cointegration."
(The econometrics list comes from the Warwick 2nd year undergraduate econometrics webpage.)
On Micro:
Do you know the Cobbs Douglas Demand functions?
Econometrics:
" Gauss–Markov Theorem. Prediction. Multiple regression. Least squares estimation. Dummy variables. Linear Restrictions. Structural change. Omission of relevant variables + inclusion of irrelevant variables. Lagged dependent variables. Dynamic models. Non–linear models. Functional form tests. Heteroscedasticity: implications and detection tests. Autocorrelation: implications and detection tests. Types of autocorrelation. Generalised Least Squares. Lagged dependent variable models. Multicollinearity. Errors in variables. Simultaneity. Instrumental Variable estimation. Limited Dependent Variable Models. Nonstationarity and Cointegration."
(The econometrics list comes from the Warwick 2nd year undergraduate econometrics webpage.)
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