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(1/n) An incoming student wrote me today to ask about classes and resources for aspiring economists. I wrote the following reply, which may be useful for others so am posting parts of it here:
(2/n) You'll need to combine several skills: (1) coming up with interesting questions to ask, (2) being able to write, and (3) being able to apply technical methods both in terms of applied theory and applied econometrics to answer those questions in a compelling way.
(3/n) For 1 and 2, I'd encourage you to take classes that help you become a better writer and think deeply about topics that interest you. For me, these were classes like modern US history, some philosophy classes, and other liberal arts classes/topics.
(4/n) The goal here is to get excited about learning and researching, to see how different ideas come together, and to hone your writing skills, which are a key part of being an economist.
(5/n)
For technical skills, there are several that are useful:
- Coding skills: For applied work, having some background in computer science and coding is useful. We work with large datasets so knowing how to do that well and efficiently is very useful.
For technical skills, there are several that are useful:
- Coding skills: For applied work, having some background in computer science and coding is useful. We work with large datasets so knowing how to do that well and efficiently is very useful.
- Math: the general advice is to do linear algebra (which is key for econometrics and applied work), real analysis (which many grad schools recommend -- I think it's overhyped but does help with logic and with your first year classes), and differential equations.
(7/n) Some economists, especially more theory oriented, encourage all the math you can take, but for the types of things you are interested in, I think doing more applied math sounds right and more useful.
(8/n) Stats/ econometrics. One area in math/applied math that you can't really get enough of is econometrics and statistics. It's very useful for empirical work, so I'd encourage you to take these classes.
(9/n) Economics: I think taking the mathematical versions of micro and macro and econometrics is generally recommended (310, 311, 312) and then taking some topics classes in labor and other areas that look interesting to you seem great.
(10/n) Other resources that might be of interest:
- Raj Chetty's Harvard big data class (intro level) https://opportunityinsights.org/course/
- Econometrics: Mastering Metrics (intro level) and then mostly harmless econometrics. I believe there are now videos somewhere on these books.
- Raj Chetty's Harvard big data class (intro level) https://opportunityinsights.org/course/
- Econometrics: Mastering Metrics (intro level) and then mostly harmless econometrics. I believe there are now videos somewhere on these books.
(11/n)
- Applied/ useful micro theory book and lecture videos (Chicago Price theory) https://home.uchicago.edu/cbm4/cpt/index.html
- Saez and Zucman's book Triumph of Injustice is pretty good and so is Empire of Wealth.
- Enrico Moretti's book New Geography of Jobs is quite good, as is Ed Glaeser's
- Applied/ useful micro theory book and lecture videos (Chicago Price theory) https://home.uchicago.edu/cbm4/cpt/index.html
- Saez and Zucman's book Triumph of Injustice is pretty good and so is Empire of Wealth.
- Enrico Moretti's book New Geography of Jobs is quite good, as is Ed Glaeser's
(12/12) Finally, here's some advice for grad school admissions from which you can work backwards:
https://chrisblattman.com/about/contact/gradschool/
https://athey.people.stanford.edu/professional-advice
https://www.econ.berkeley.edu/grad/admissions/profile.
https://chrisblattman.com/about/contact/gradschool/
https://athey.people.stanford.edu/professional-advice
https://www.econ.berkeley.edu/grad/admissions/profile.
