SOAS, University of London FACULTY OF LAW AND SOCIAL SCIENCES Department of Economics MASTER’S DEGREES IN ECONOMICS 2016-2017 PRELIMINARY MATHEMATICS AND STATISTICS COURSES Most of our MSc programmes, that is the MSc Development Economics, MScs Development Economics with reference to a Region, MSc in Finance and Development, MSc in Economics with reference to Environment and Development, MSc Research for International Development, th and MSc Political Economy of Development, begin on Monday 12 September 2016 with compulsory preliminary courses in Mathematics and Statistics (including Computing). These are th taught over a three-week period which ends on Friday 30 September 2015. The teaching is in three parts: th The first covers the mathematics component of the course and will run from the 12 September to the th st 20 September. The second part covers the statistics component of the course and runs from 21 th September to the 28 September. The third is a computing component, in which each student attends two workshops. th
th
Thursday 29 September is a revision day. On Friday 30 September 2016 there will be a three-hour examination. Performance in the examination will act as an indicator of the student’s ability to complete the MSc. The course is intended to be a refresher course: the material covered will be the mathematics and statistics normally taught in the undergraduate programme of a BSc Economics degree. The course will provide the essential foundation for the MSc modules in Quantitative Methods, Statistical Research Techniques, Macroeconomics and Microeconomics. It will be assumed that all students are familiar with elementary algebra, calculus and probability theory, including: Functional relationships and graphs Equations and inequalities Solutions to linear and quadratic equations Solution of simple simultaneous equations The concept of a derivative and rules for differentiation Basic probability theory Random variables and distributions Topics covered include the following: th th Maths. Monday 12 to Tuesday 20 Sept. inclusive (7 days) from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. 1. Linear Algebra 2. Calculus 3. Exponential and Logarithmic Functions 4. Optimisation 5. Constrained Optimisation st
th
Statistics: Wednesday 21 to Wednesday 28 Sept. inclusive (6 days) from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. 1. Descriptive Statistics 2. Probability theory and random variables 3. Probability models and distributions 4. Point and interval estimation 5. Small and large sample properties of estimators 6. Hypothesis testing th
rd
Computing: Friday 16 to Friday 23 Sept. inclusive 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. in G50: (6 days). 1. On-line resources: Web based sources of development data (ESDS). Citation Indexes (IBSS, Social Science Citations Index). Full-text articles available over the Internet (JSTOR, EBSCOhost, EconLit). Using the internet for research. 2. Introduction to Excel: Statistical functions. Descriptive statistics using the Data Analysis Toolpak. Array functions for matrix manipulation.
SOAS, University of London FACULTY OF LAW AND SOCIAL SCIENCES Department of Economics The following textbooks will also be useful for the course: Mathematics: C. Chiang and K. Wainwright, Fundamental Methods of Mathematical Economics, 4th Edition. McGraw- Hill, 2005. E. T. Dowling, Introduction to Mathematical Economics, 3rd Edition. McGraw-Hill, 2012. I., Jacques, Mathematics for Economics and Business, 7th Edition, Prentice Hall, 2013. R L Thomas, Using Mathematics in Economics, 2nd Edition, Addison-Wesley Longman, 1999 Statistics: D. Gujarati and D.C. Porter, Basic Econometrics, 5th Edition, Mc-Graw-Hill, 2009; Particularly the Statistical Appendix. M. Barrow, Statistics for Economics, Accounting and Business Studies,6th Edition, Prentice Hall, 2013. R. L. Thomas, Using Statistics in Economics. McGraw-Hill, 2005. CLASS ROOM SESSIONS WILL BE HELD IN ROOM V111 AT THE VERNON SQUARE CAMPUS from 10 am – 1 pm DAY
DATE
TIME
ROOM
TOPICS COVERED
Monday
12th
10 - 1pm
V111
Mathematics
Tuesday
13th
10 - 1pm
V111
Mathematics
Wednesday
14th
10 - 1pm
V111
Mathematics
Thursday
15th
10 - 1pm
V111
Mathematics
Friday
16th
10 - 1pm
V111
Mathematics
16th
2 - 5pm
G50
Computer workshop
COMPUTER WORKSHOP SESSIONS WILL BE HELD IN ROOM G50 = Ground floor-IN THE PHILLIPS BUILIDNG AT THE MAIN RUSSELL SQUARE CAMPUS from 2 pm–5 pm. DAY
DATE
TIME
MORNING SESSION
ROOM
AFTERNOON SESSION TIME
ROOM
Monday
19th
10 - 1pm
Mathematics
V111
Computer workshop
2-5pm
G50
Tuesday
20th
10 - 1pm
Mathematics
V111
Computer workshop
2-5pm
G50
Wednesday
21st
10 - 1pm
Statistics
V111
Computer workshop
2-5pm
G50
Thursday
22nd
10 -1pm
Statistics
V111
Computer workshop
2-5pm
G50
Friday
23rd
10 - 1pm
Statistics
V111
Computer workshop
2-5pm
G50
DAY
DATE
TIME
MORNING SESSION
ROOM
Monday
26th
10 - 1pm
Statistics
V111
Tuesday
27th
10 - 1pm
Statistics
V111
Wednesday
28th
10 - 1pm
Statistics
V111
Thursday
29th
Friday
30th
Revision Day 10 - 1pm
Exam
V111
If you have any queries please contact the Faculty of Law & Social Sciences at
[email protected]