Markets, Models, and Math

Catalog description

The Markets, Models and Math (M3) course is designed to allow students to reflect on the thought processes that drive science, viewed through the lens of economics. While the economics focus will highlight the way economists use data and models to understand the economic phenomena we see in the real world, the course is also designed to add depth of understanding for students who major in some other discipline, for the simple reason that the things economists study touch on all aspects of human existence, whether it is understanding the cost-benefit trade-offs in architectural design, in the engineering of new products or production technologies, or understanding the grand arc of political discourse in history or the way it has shaped our laws. The course is also meant to introduce, in an intuitive way, the kinds of mathematical tools and reasoning that economists use, what the economic historian Philip Mirowski has called "the unreasonable efficacy of mathematics in economic analysis". Prerequisites: 21-111 and 73-102 Min. grade C