EC3102: MACROECONOMIC ANALYSIS II
Description:
This module was generally not difficult to study. Everything in the syllabus can be found in the textbook, and the crux of the module was mainly learning about how the Solow model is derived. The lecturer, Professor Vu Thanh Hai, may be a little difficult to understand at times, so I generally preferred studying the textbook. Another option is watching the webcasts, so you can repeat when you cannot understand his teaching. Tutorials are based on the standard format of lecture summary and presentations of problem sets.
Assessment:
The assessment for midterms and finals was generally a few MCQs, some calculations using the production function, and short-answer questions that required graphs and explanation. The professor tends to take questions that are similar to the question bank for his tutorials and papers. It might hence be a good idea to look through some of the questions and answers in the test bank of the textbook.
Tutorial Attendance: 10%
Class participation: 5%
Mid-term Exam: 25%
Final Exam: 60%
EC3351: PUBLIC FINANCE
Description:
I took this module under Professor Chia Ngee Choon, the creator of the module. She told us that she had set up the module 15 years ago and designed the syllabus for it. Prof Chia is a really good teacher, and is quite well-known for teaching this particular module. I had students in my tutorial from Beijing University, and they had chosen to take her class based on their seniors’ recommendations. The module is therefore quite popular, and can go for a few hundred bid points. The class size is also rather small at 60 students.
The teaching of the module itself is somewhat different from other modules. Prof Chia’s style is for students to print and bring handouts, which she will then go through during lecture. Therefore, expect to be scribbling notes and drawing graphs during lecture. She will also give out readings and extra problems during lectures for students to complete on the spot. The problems are not graded, and she will walk around the LT to help students and answer any questions. She will then go through the problem with the whole class. It is therefore quite important to attend the lectures, especially because the webcast is not released until before midterm and final (to encourage students to come to lecture), and the textbook does not cover all the lecture material.
Tutorials are all taught by Prof Chia, and she generally will go around and look at students’ answers before choosing the students to present. The students she chooses often have the wrong answer or some common mistake that she will then explain to the class for everyone to learn. She is really nice, and will never press you to present if you choose not to do so. I have never felt her tutorials to be competitive, and have always enjoyed them.
In terms of the module material, we looked mainly at market failures, such as public goods and externalities, and government policies to achieve Pareto efficiency. Taxation is one main part of the syllabus. We also looked at political processes from an economic perspective.
Assessment:
The midterms and finals of this module are not easy. They are mostly application questions of the material learnt during class, and can be a little tricky. Therefore, to do well, you will have to be very sure of your concepts. The times given for the exams are also a little tight, so make sure you can draw graphs quickly and efficiently. A little trick discovered by me and my friends to draw indifference curves neatly and quickly is to bring a French ruler into the exam hall.
As for the project work, I found it to be much more taxing and difficult than the paper examinations. We had to complete a 25 page report and a presentation of a real-world issue, with possible resolutions using the concepts taught during class (e.g. tax redistribution). Analyzing real world data is highly recommended, although regression tables and graphs are a bonus and not necessary. I really recommend planning your time well to manage assignments if you aim to do well for the project, as it will definitely take up a lot of time and effort. Consultations with the prof are also helpful, although Prof Chia’s benevolent personality, may sometimes lead to confusion as to whether she really likes an idea or not. Regardless, she will warn you if she foresees major problems with your project.
Tutorial attendance/ participation: 10%
Mid-term: 20%
Project: 35% (including presentation and report)
Finals: 35%
EC3332: MONEY AND BANKING I
Description:
In this module, students learn economic analysis of the following: (1) the structure and role of financial institutions, (2) tools and conduct of monetary policy, including monetary theory. Topics include the role of money; financial structure; management of financial institutions; financial crises; financial regulation; interest rates; the money supply process; theories of money demand; conduct of monetary policy, role of expectations in monetary policy and the role of money in different macroeconomic frameworks.
This module generally involves mostly memorization work regarding the different factors and effects of monetary policy. It is not particularly difficult, but can be a little tricky. The professor, Dr. Seet Min Kok, is an entertaining lecturer and I enjoyed learning about how financial crises came about. Webcasts are available for this module.
Assessment:
Tutorials follow the standard format of problem set presentations. However, there happened to be a surprise assignment during the second half of the semester. It was included as part of the 20% tutorial participation, and the assignment question (short-answer question, not calculation) included material not directly derived from the lecture material.
For examinations, the midterm was very manageable, but the finals were quite difficult. I did not manage to finish the whole paper in time. Since most questions were short-answer questions, my advice would be to learn and remember your material well, and write shortly and succinctly.
20% for CA in tutorial participation
30% for closed book MCQ mid-term test
50% for closed book final examination.
EC3303: ECONOMETRICS I
Description:
The major topics covered in the module includes a review of probability distributions and statistical inference, rudiments of matrix algebra, classical linear regression model with two or more variables, estimation and hypothesis testing, and violation of classical assumptions and some remedial measures. It also includes a simple introduction into using Stata to run simple regression analysis.
The first half of the semester was really boring in this module because it mainly repeats material from EC2303. This is because other modules are accepted as pre-requisites to this module. Therefore, some students may not have learnt the basics that were covered in EC2303. Although I generally don’t recommend skipping lectures, I would say that the first three lectures of the module are unnecessary; unless you think you need a refresher course in EC2303 probability distributions and simple statistics. Also, there is always the wonderful option of webcasts. In general, the lectures were quite tedious because of the nature of statistics, although Prof Kelvin Seah did try to make it more interesting with his examples. However, if you are able to understand the textbook explanation, you are more or less covered for this module.
Assessment:
The tutorials are standard format of problem set presentations in class. Assignments were a little difficult, but manageable. Prof Seah requested group work for assignments, although he did not stop us from individual submissions. For the Stata part of the assignment, you will have to go the computer lab at AS7 to use the program. Alternatively, what I and my friends did was to read the assignment question beforehand, and research and write down the commands to be typed in. We ran the regression during tutorial, saved the results and brought it home to analyze. It saved us some time, but I’m not sure if it would have worked if the regression functions had been more complicated.
Moving on, midterm was ridiculously easy. There was MCQ and short problem sums with some explanations required. I think this was because we were the first batch of students taught by Prof Seah, so he decided to go easy on us. However, this led to a really steep bell curve of mean 45 and 75th percentile 47.5 out of 50. The Final was thankfully at a more challenging standard, but still manageable.
Tutorial participation: 10%
Homework: 20%
Midterm test: 30%
Final exam: 40%
SPH2106: Health in Later Years
Description:
This module is a very good introduction into the biology of aging in the human body and the needs of the elderly that arise because of it. It is really interesting, but can be off-putting for those without background in biology or psychology. I previously took PL1101E, so the material regarding The Aging Brain, overlaps with some of the material covered in this module. The module is conducted in a seminar style, with three hour lessons per week. There were three different lecturers that covered different parts of the syllabus, with different perspectives of aging based on the area of healthcare in which they are working in. Dr. Gerald Koh provides the medical knowledge regarding the biology of aging, while Dr. Fong taught more of the terminology looking at the population data of aging, while Dr. Lydia Seong provided perspective on the social effects and aspects of aging. Webcasts were made available for the module.
Assessment:
The one thing I did not like about this module was the project work. As there were three lecturers, all three designed separate project assignments, which the groups were then assigned. My group therefore got Dr. Koh’s project assignment, which was much heavier in content and breadth than that of the other assignments. Although I believe the unfairness in grading was ultimately corrected for, my group still had to put in a lot of extra effort into understanding and completing the project. Furthermore, Dr. Koh, as a practicing doctor, was the busiest of the three lecturers, and it was really difficult to arrange consultations with him. I have raised this issue through the school’s module review, so hopefully the problem will be resolved in the subsequent teaching of this module. This is especially since this module is actually really educational and helpful for those who intend to work in the healthcare sector.
In general, the examinations were very manageable, but memorization work is needed in order to do well.
Mid-term test: 15%
Class presentations and write-up: 35%
Final Exam: 50%
NUS Module Reviews 