SCHOOL OF ORIENTAL AND AFRICAN STUDIES FACULTY OF LAW AND SOCIAL SCIENCES

MASTER’S DEGREES IN ECONOMICS 2014-2015 PRELIMINARY MATHEMATICS AND STATISTICS COURSES

All 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, and MSc Political Economy of Development, begin on Monday 8

th September 2014 with

compulsory preliminary courses in Mathematics and Statistics (including Computing). These are taught over a three-week period which ends on Friday 26

th September 2014.

The teaching is in three parts: The first covers the mathematics component of the course and will run from the 8

th September to the

16th September. The second part covers the statistics component of the course and runs from 17

th

September to the 24th September. The third is a computing component, in which each student attends

two workshops.

Thursday 25th September is a revision day. On Friday 26

th September 2014 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:

Maths. Monday 8th

to Tuesday 16th

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

Statistics: Wednesday 17th

to Wednesday 24th

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

Computing: Friday 12th

to Friday 19th

Sept. inclusive 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. in L62: (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.

SCHOOL OF ORIENTAL AND AFRICAN STUDIES FACULTY OF LAW AND SOCIAL SCIENCES

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, 2000. I., Jacques, Mathematics for Economics and Business, 6th Edition, Prentice Hall, 2009. 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,5th Edition, Prentice Hall, 2009.

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 8th 10 - 1pm V111 Mathematics

Tuesday 9th 10 - 1pm V111 Mathematics

Wednesday 10th 10 - 1pm V111 Mathematics

Thursday 11th 10 - 1pm V111 Mathematics

Friday 12th 10 - 1pm V111 Mathematics

12th 2 - 5pm L62 Computer workshop

COMPUTER WORKSHOP SESSIONS WILL BE HELD IN ROOM L62 = Lower ground floor-IN THE

PHILLIPS BUILIDNG AT THE MAIN RUSSELL SQUARE CAMPUS from 2 pm–5 pm.

DAY

DATE

TIME

MORNING

SESSION

ROO

M

AFTERNOON SESSION

TIME

ROOM

Monday 15th 10 - 1pm Mathematics V111 Computer workshop 2-5pm L62

Tuesday 16th 10 - 1pm Mathematics V111 Computer workshop 2-5pm L62

Wednesday 17th 10 - 1pm Statistics V111 Computer workshop 2-5pm L62

Thursday 18th 10 -1pm Statistics V111 Computer workshop 2-5pm L62

Friday 19th 10 - 1pm Statistics V111 Computer workshop 2-5pm L62

DAY

DATE

TIME

MORNING

SESSION

ROOM

Monday 22nd 10 - 1pm Statistics V111

Tuesday 23rd 10 - 1pm Statistics V111

Wednesday 24th 10 - 1pm Statistics V111

Thursday 25th 10 - 1pm Revision day V111

Friday 26th 10 - 1pm Exam V111

If you have any queries please contact the Faculty of Law & Social Sciences at economics@soas.ac.uk