Math/Stats courses for MA in Economics?

Question

Hi,

I still have 2 years until I finish my Undergrad degree in Economics. I am doing Minor in Math, so all my electives are either math or stats.

My University offers this third year Stats course (Stochastic Processes). I was just wondering, if any one knows what do we study in this course and will it be helpful for Grad School in Economics ?

What other upper level Math/Stats courses will be helpful ?

I have already taken Advanced Calculus and Probability course in my second year.

Thank you in advance

Student 21

Answer 1

Stochastic processes  is probably how to construct  random distributions for modeling  and is more useful for people  studying computer science than economics. Economists  mostly do regressions on existing data  so learning how to use  SAS  and advanced statistics would probably be more useful but not as interesting. When you enter the real world the ability to write clearly is an important skill than many  technical  majors neglect in college so you might think of take something that  has a lot of writing.

Answer 2

From what I remember, this sort of thing focuses on the idea that there are several different "realities" avalible at any junction of time. That is, that statatician might know the "starting point" and then the probabilities of different "paths" that reality can take.

Whether or not this will help really depends on the graduate school you plan to attend and the sort of Master's Thesis you plan to write. If you have an idea of what your "speciality" might be (do you plan to go into academia) this stat course might not be very helpful, however, on the other hand, if might be very helpful. Wow, I'm sure that really helped.

The unfortunate fact of the matter is that the study of economics has become some mathematiscized as to make it closer to a branch of math than a study of human action. Econ. journals have almost completly severed any connection with reality, and instead rely on out of touch calculations and calculus. That the action of 6 billion humans can be even approximated by stats and functions is absurd.

If you plan to get a Ph.D., my humble advice is this. First, forget about the MA (unless you are planning to go to a European Ph.D. program, in which case the MA is a must) and go straight for the Ph.D. Take this stat class either now or as a graduate student. It might be completly useless in describing reality, but it will probably be helpful in reading the scholarly articles and books written by other economists, and this is helpful in writting your disseration and for the many articles you will publish as an academic.

Second, remember that you are not getting an undergraduate degree in the your major field. You are getting what is supposed to be a groundwork not only for your chosen profession, but for life as a human being. As Robert Maynard Hutchins said, "Nobody can decide for himself whether he is going to be a human being. The only question open to him is whether he will be an ignorant, undeveloped one, or one who has sought to reach the highest point he is capable of attaining. The question, in short, is whether he will be a poor liberal artist or a good one." So, you are half way into an undergraduate degree. The math minor is good, but is there anyway you could take some classes other than math and stat? I know this probably sounds odd, but I think that it is important. Take some classical languages, perhaps one semester of Latin, one semester of Greek. Take one or more philosophy classes, a logic class in the category would be good. Chances are, you have already taken several english classes, so you are probably good there. Take some music theory. This way, you will have a well-rounded education and you can use your graduate degree to really specialize in one area.

If, however, you plan to get the MA alone, and no Ph.D., the course probably isn't that important. Your MA thesis will probably not require the level of sophistication that this class will give you. Instead of taking that class, take a class mentioned above.

I know this is not a great answer to your question, but I hope it helps.