Economics Major Overview (1 Viewer)

[blackromanc3]

Economics Major Overview

Introduction
I did a major in Economics at UTS and I would like share my experience, thoughts and tips to people who are contemplating on doing this major. This review will be done based on the course offered between 2011-2012. I will also provide a guide for future honours students to choose the most relevant subjects that complements the coursework for the honours year.

Before I begin reviewing the subjects I've completed, I am going to emphasise a few points before even considering doing the major. First and foremost, if you do not like mathematics, don't even bother with the major. While the introductory subject Economics for Business 1 had fairly simple arithmetic, the intermediate level subjects utilise differential calculus as the main tool to explore economic concepts. I'm going to say this, whether you did general, 2, 3 or 4 unit mathematics in high school, I highly recommend you do the subject Mathematics for Economics and Business. I would also stress that this isn't the type of subject where it becomes irrelevant in the next semester. If you don't have a strong foundation and understanding in of the core concepts explored in the subject, you will struggle.

Subject Review


Economics for Business 2
Difficulty rating: 5/10
This subject is just an extension of Economics for Business 1 (EFB1). No calculus or high level mathematics are required for this subject as this subject is geared towards teaching you the fundamental theories of economics. Concepts such as demand, supply, taxation and externalities are revisited from EFB1. However, you will be expected to know some formulas such as elasticity of supply and demand. I would say about half the content was from EFB1 but in this subject the concepts and theories are taught using recent or current economic scenarios in the real world. You will also be taught microeconomic concepts particularly in the context of the labour market such as what determines wage rates and the effects of policies like minimum wage laws on the demand and supply of labour. However, in my opinion, this subject did not really make me think outside the box. It was very textbook heavy when I did the subject, so if you have the text and keep up with the readings, you will find this subject quite easy. Having said that, I do remember the final exam being quite difficult due to the sheer amount of theoretical content compressed into the exam.

Intermediate Microeconomics
Difficulty rating: 9/10

In my opinion, this was one of the most difficult subjects in the major. This subject is very calculus heavy as all weekly homework requires some form of calculus. In this subject you will continue to learn utility functions as well as setting up and solve utility maximisation problem. If you really want to do well in this subject, you have to think outside the box.


Intermediate Macroeconomics
Difficulty rating: 8/10

If you are a visual learner, you will like this subject. Surprisingly, little calculus was needed for this subject.

Introductory Econometrics
Difficulty rating: 7/10

This subject was fairly reasonable in terms of difficulty. It does however build upon introductory statistical concepts such as conditional probability, normality and hypothesis testing. The purpose of this subject is not only to provide you the theoretical background for various regression models but also to develop your foundational empirical skills to build and utilise these models in data sets. You will learn to build these models in tutorials using regression based software. There were 2 assignments in this subject and both required for you to know how to use the software taught in the tutorial. I would say it is imperative that you turn up to most tutorials as the software used to run regressions will be quite foreign to you. The subject also has some calculus but its application is simplistic in the sense you only need to know how to differentiate the regressions to interpret the coefficients. Finally for the exams, it was predominantly based on interpreting outputs of regressions and the theories behind them. Basically, you will be provided a "screenshot" or table of results generated from a regression in a question and you need to interpret it. The theoretical questions concerned some derivations of the various models but the majority of the theoretical questions dealt with the assumptions imposed on the different types of regression models. You will need to know what are the consequences of violating these assumptions such as leading to biased or inefficient estimates.


Public Economics
Difficulty rating: 8/10
I recommend doing this subject if you enjoyed Intermediate Microeconomics. The first half of the course is just a rehash of Intermediate Microeconomics but is somewhat more applied. You will again use utility functions and calculus to solve maximisation problems. There is more emphasis on social issues as the subject suggests. This includes but is not limited topics such pollution externalities, healthcare and the education system. The level of mathematical difficulty is on par with Intermediate Microeconomics so if you understood most of the concepts for that subject, I can almost guarantee you will do well for this subject. The assignment however was a bit different from Intermediate Microeconomics. When I did the subject the assignment for Public Economics was an essay/report based project. It required choosing one of two topic question that the lecturer proposed and each topic had an accompanying official economic report. The question basically asked whether you were for or against a policy or intervention based on your economic research and the official report.

The Global Economy
Difficulty rating: 7.5/10
This subject basically explores the content you went through in Intermediate Microeconomics and Intermediate Macroeconomics but also extends to real life scenario applications. Looking back the subject was very interesting and enjoyable as it covered a wide range of topics. Although the subject covers both Macroeconomics and Microeconomics, the content covered does not cover them to the extent as you would have in the intermediate subjects. So if you specialised in microeconomics you wouldn't have a problem doing macroeconomics and vice versa. Mathematically, it is not intensive at all. Just basic calculus and the odd maximisation problem here and there which you would have covered in past economic subjects. Although this subject isn't as mathematically intensive, it is difficult in its own way. In particular strong economic intuition and foundation will go a long way for this subject. There were quite a lot of topics covered by just looking at graphs and equations. In terms of equations, what I mean by this is that while you have to solve calculus problems, a lot of the questions revolve around interpreting the "generic solution". That is, you aren't given numbers but rather a system of equations to solve generically. From these solutions, the questions given would ask you what happens to variable x as you increase y. It even extends to looking at and interpreting the marginal effects, labor supply or trade through equations only. Overall, very enjoyable subject as I found it to be successful in incorporating all the economics skills you have acquired and applying to solve economic problems.


Fundamentals of Mathematical Economics (Discontinued - Replaced by Mathematics for Economics and Business)
Difficulty rating: 6/10

This subject is the lifeblood of the intermediate level economics subjects. While Mathematics for Economics and Business is not compulsory, I do recommend you do this subject. Back when I did the major, Fundamentals of Mathematical Economics was a prerequisite subject for most if not all subjects in the major. They may have toned down the mathematics in the major but a strong foundation in the mathematical economics will make your life easier. So for those who did not do 2 unit mathematics, this subject will teach you calculus from scratch.

Economics and Finance of the Life Cycle (Discontinued - no longer offered as part of Economics major but is for Finance)


Will be updated slowly

 

[blackromanc3]

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[blackromanc3]

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[will_]

do you have to do economics for business 2 and intro econometrics in the first semester, and intermediate micro and intermediate macro in the second semester?

 

[blackromanc3]

do you have to do economics for business 2 and intro econometrics in the first semester, and intermediate micro and intermediate macro in the second semester?

You have to do EFB2 in semester 1 because it is prerequisite subject for most econ subjects encountered later in the major. When I did the major we had to do EFB2 + Econ Maths in semester 1, but you don't have to do the latter subject but I suggest that you do. If you are doing a finance major as well, I think you can get away with it because you do some intro quantitative subjects for the finance major. The order is generally

2nd Year Semester 1
EFB2
Econ Maths

2nd Year Semester 2
Intermediate Micro
Intermediate Macro

3nd Year Semester 1
Econ elective subject
Econ elective subject


3nd Year Semester 2
Global Economy
Introductory Econometrics

That was the order of subjects when I did the major.

 

[tOnnyAyye]

what would you do given that u have a finance major and doing combined degree with international studies ??
is it ok to do EFB2 in autumn and financial system and intermediate macro in spring for next sem ?? note that maths for eco and business only happens in autumn and i have foundations of international and language.

 

[blackromanc3]

what would you do given that u have a finance major and doing combined degree with international studies ??
is it ok to do EFB2 in autumn and financial system and intermediate macro in spring for next sem ?? note that maths for eco and business only happens in autumn and i have foundations of international and language.

The priority is do the subjects that are prerequisites to most subjects later encountered in the major first. You do not have to do both econ and finance major at the same time. You can always do half international studies + econ first. Then when you are finished those two you can do finance last but I'm not sure if there are scheduling difficulties. When you do your subject choices there should be an outline showing you the preferred/most common pathway in completing the subjects.

Your case is quite different to mine, I also did a combined but I only did one major for business. Since you want to do finance as well and that QBA is a core for the major you don't have to do econ maths as they are practically identical (you can always do econ maths later as a subject to boost your WAM later down the track if you want to). I don't know if they changed anything for intermdiate micro but they are still using the textbook by Nechyba called "An Intuitive Approach with Calculus". I wouldn't go into that subject without doing some calculus/quantitative subject in semester 1 unless you are highly confident in your maths. But then again, they might have toned it down. I was in the first cohort to do the subject and it was a killer of a subject.

 

[allyoop]

This is really good! Thanks