Economics under the microscope

There is a good reason why they say that the more years you spend at university, the more time you spend in the library. This is the reason, why I would like to devote this blog post to several of my subjects, which I am studying this year.

As I wrote in the previous post, all my modules run for the whole year, which means that we have the opportunity to study each subject more in depth. It also helps me to choose wisely my future specialization for Master’s studies.

The two core subjects that I have are microeconomics and macroeconomics since they are the base stones of economics. This year, we are studying several models that we saw before, but now more in detail. It is not uncommon that we read papers that presented these ideas for the very first time. So if I really want to understand the human capital theory, the best source would be papers written by Gary Becker, who received the 1992 Nobel Prize in Economics because of his contributions to microeconomic theory. Learning models from a textbook and from articles written by Nobel Prize laureates is very different. While the textbook will always offer you just a limited view of the problem, the author of the article presents the model along with convincing robustness checks and applications to real data. When you really get to understand a certain model, it is not necessary to memorize definitions or formulas anymore, because you are able to reproduce them on the spot. I definitely enjoy this form of learning, because it allows me to independently study small details and I am not limited by choices made by an author of a textbook.

The role of lectures changed in my third year at the university, as professors moved from just explaining economic concepts to their implementation in science and presentation of their own research. This is for example happening in module “Applied Economics”, where we are discussing current social issues, such as the youth unemployment or imperfect intergenerational mobility. These topics are presented by professor Emma Tominey, who is actively involved in their research so I cannot imagine a better person explaining it. The downside of it is, that when I am writing an essay on one of these topics, I usually reference her own work and in order to develop a counter argument, I have to very carefully support it will evidence and other references.

Earlier this year, I decided to study behavioural economics more in depth and that is the reason, why I chose module “Introduction to Experimental Economics”, which is closely related to my chosen specialization. The module organiser is professor John Hey, who established in York one of the oldest economic laboratories in the world and he is at the forefront of these field. As the name of the module suggests, we are studying economic experiments, that help us understand human behaviour better. Instead of an exam, we are working on a group project. Our goal is to design an experiment that could be potentially ran in the York laboratory. During the lectures, we analysed different types of experiments and their design and now we are implementing this knowledge into our own project.  We also have the opportunity to take part in real experiments as subjects, which allows us to see both sides of the discipline – the one of the researcher and the one of the participant.

These interesting and very engaging subjects made me realize how much I want to continue further in my studies and study economics even more in depth. I therefore applied for several Master’s programmes and I hope I will be successful in getting in.  I would like to thank once again the Kellner Family Foundation for supporting my studies at the University of York, because without their support, I wouldn’t be able to learn from such people like John Hey or Emma Tominey and I would probably never have developed my love for Economics. Thank you.

And lastly few photos of York during the January floods    

 

Ekonomie pod drobnohledem
Ekonomie pod drobnohledem
Ekonomie pod drobnohledem

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