ESA Course Guide: An Interview with the VP Academic
Navigating the Honours Economics course load can seem daunting and sometimes unclear. To demystify the program, we interviewed Nikhil, the ESA VP Academic and a U3 Joint Honours Economics and Math student. We asked him about how each course was structured, what his big takeaways were, and any tips he may have for future students. To begin, we examined the U1 student course load: ECON 250 D1/D2 - Honours Microeconomic Theory and ECON 257 D1/D2 - Honours Economic Statistics.
ECON 250 D1/D2
How is the course structured?
The class is an introduction to the way we set up problems in economics and really provides the groundwork for the rest of the program. We learn how to quantify behavior and economic decision-making. The focus is on analyzing a choice between two goods and formalizing it into mathematical problems that can explain the behavior. The second part of the course has the same structure but looks at problems from a supply perspective. The focus becomes understanding supply decisions and where they come from in various markets, specifically competitive markets.
What are your takeaways from this course?
Learning how to put a model through optimization is something that stays throughout the entirety of the program - that's the big takeaway. The course also lays a foundation for the way of economic thinking, how equations speak, and what math means in economic terms.
How can students excel in this course specifically?
It helps to go further into the problem sets - the exam is usually easier than the assignment, so a good understanding can translate to a good grade. The problem sets usually highlight corner solutions or unusual scenarios that require more nuanced answers than the exams typically feature. For the exams (and in almost all economics and math exams you encounter), write down everything you think is relevant to the problem to show deeper understanding and get partial marks.
ECON 257 D1/D2
How is the course structured?
The course begins as an introduction to probability and statistics, covering topics like conditional probability, probability distributions, and statistical theorems. In the second half of the course, the focus is on preparing for and completing simple linear regressions using linear algebra and probability concepts from the previous semester.
What are your takeaways from this course?
It cannot be understated how important the content is, as it forms the foundation to empirical methods needed to do regressions in any social science. Topically, the most important takeaway was an understanding of conditional probability because econometrics focuses on conditional expectations.
How can students excel in this course specifically?
It pays to learn the definitions of everything so that you can explain and understand the math behind the formulas (for example, the definition of expected value). The course really relies on principles and basic definitions to aid in understanding complex proofs. Almost everything follows from the manipulation of these definitions.
If you are struggling with a specific topic, @3blue1brown on YouTube makes good videos, especially for linear algebra.
ECON 353/354
How is the course structured?
Macroeconomics has two categories that you study in this course: how economies grow over time and short-term fluctuations in the economy. Using modelling fundamentals from ECON 250, this course models on a larger, aggregate scale to explain phenomena like inflation, unemployment, and growth. The course content is more about interpreting mathematical conditions and understanding qualitative differences than precisely solving equations, and also centers around explaining empirical findings.
What are your takeaways from this course?
The class examines and tries to explain economics that appears frequently in the news such as GDP growth, interest rates, and inflation. After this class you are better able to understand and analyze a lot of these terms and claims that you see every day. As well, models that we learned in class were applicable in Nikhil’s summer research internship.
How can students excel in this course specifically?
Course assignments are very difficult and marked only for completion; however, they are a really good way to prepare for the exams. Class exams always feature one question that is almost impossible to anticipate, but working through the assignments allows you to go back over the notes (the class features good note packets) and apply them in various ways, and being comfortable with the math behind the models helps.
ECON 450/452
How is the course structured?
ECON 450 is an advanced macroeconomics course that still focuses on the fundamentals but through a math intensive lens. It takes a more detailed look at models students see in ECON 353/354, generalizing certain components and applying it to more scenarios. ECON 452 is an advanced microeconomics course that builds on ECON 250 fundamentals. It is a topics course that uses economic foundations to go into specific topics like environmental economics and how we deal with externalities.
How can students excel in this course?
As always, the practice problems are helpful and cover a lot of the content that will be featured on the exams. You will also really benefit from going to lectures - the professor is great at explaining difficult topics.
ECON 460/461 – A Bonus Interview with Rama Shapsough
How is the course structured?
ECON 460/461 is a history of economic thought course that is much less quantitative than most Honours Economics classes. Instead of focusing on mathematical models and problem sets, the course is centered around readings, class discussion, and written analysis. The goal is to understand how major economic ideas developed over time and how different schools of
thought responded to one another. Because the course is discussion-based, attendance and participation are important. Throughout the semester, there are regular reading quizzes, and the final assessment takes the form of an essay rather than a traditional exam.
What are your takeaways from this course?
The biggest takeaway from this course is learning how to think about economics through interpretation rather than calculation. It gives you a better understanding of where economic ideas come from, how they evolved, and why they still matter. It also helps build writing and discussion skills that are not emphasized as much in the more technical courses in the program. Being able to clearly explain an idea, compare different perspectives, and argue a position is something that carries over into academic work, internships, and professional settings.
How can students excel in this course specifically?
The most important thing is to stay on top of the readings because the material builds on itself over the course of the semester. Falling behind makes it much harder to follow the development of the ideas being discussed in class. It also helps to participate actively in discussions, since hearing different interpretations of the readings can deepen your own understanding. More than anything, doing the readings consistently and thinking carefully about the arguments being made is what sets you up to do well in the quizzes and final essay.
ECON 468/469
How is the course structured?
ECON468 picks up from ECON257 at simple linear regressions on cross sectional data and to a lesser extent panel data. From there, it explores deeper by looking at exogeneity/endogeneity, control variables, multivariable regressions as well as non-linear topics like binary outcome variable regressions and instrumental variables. ECON469 then continues by exploring time series models and approaches, as well as more advanced panel data methods. Together, these courses provide you with a robust toolkit for conducting empirical work across different fields in economics.
What are your takeaways from this course?
During ECON468 you will be assigned a research paper on linear regressions. You will have to conduct research, find your own data, and perform linear regressions using computer software like R, while justifying methodology and explaining results. This research is a valuable reference in internship and job interviews, where you will likely be asked about your experience in empirical research.
The biggest takeaway from ECON469 is the manipulation of time series data. This type of data is common and has a variety of applications in macroeconomics.
How can students excel in this course specifically?
ECON468 still has a focus on the fundamentals, so make sure to refresh yourself on topics from ECON257 - you will be tested on these too.
As a common theme throughout the program, the problem sets for both 468 and 469 are extremely important, and exams will often mimic these assignments.
A thank you goes to Nikhil Raman and Rama Shapsough for their time and expertise.