Math Camp at GU
Although it took away two weeks’ time of my summer holiday, the math camp is very helpful for me. The instructors are senior phd students and they know exactly what mathematics is needed for the following one or two years’ study. The most important part is optimization, including Lagrange, Kuhn Tucker, convexity, etc. The reference book is “A first course in optimization theory”, which I think is concise and to the point. The other week is spent mainly on differential equation. This is very important for Macro I while the optimization is crucial for Micro I. This camp enhanced my math foundation. The instructors taught a lot and fast, so I have to do self reading according to their notes. It is a interesting review process. The math camp ended last Friday and we only have one Macro course this week. There is much time for me to go over the math before the formal classes. I just learned there is also a winter math camp Next Jan. So much math…
GU is good at international econ and the phd program is also international with people from US, Mexico, Turkey, Poland, China, Korea, Cambodia, Brazil, Peri…..I hope to make friends with them so I need to improve my oral English as soon as possible ^_^
Interesting. I suggest that the difference equations you learn in preparation for macro may also turn out useful in many micro applications. After all, much of modern macro is now built upon microfoundations. While I do not suggest that you take a technique and try to find a problem to solve with it, there are many situations in microeconomics, particularly in labor, which lend themselves to the dynamic programming approach which you will learn for macro. One neat example of this technique was David Romer’s paper demonstrating how conservative professional football coaches play-calling decisions are.
Good luck with classes!