/persp-research-econ_Spr19

Course site for MACS 30250 (Spring 2019) - Perspectives on Computational Research in Economics

Primary LanguageJupyter Notebook

MACS 30250 - Perspectives on Computational Research in Economics (Spring 2019)

Dr. Richard Evans TA: Zunda (Winston) Xu
Email rwevans@uchicago.edu zunda@uchicago.edu
Office 208 McGiffert House
Office Hours M 3:00-5:00pm TBA
GitHub rickecon zundaxu
  • Meeting day/time: MW 1:30-2:50pm, Saieh Hall, Room 242
  • Lab day/time: W 4:30p-5:30p, Saieh Hall, Room 247
  • TA: Zunda Xu
  • Office hours also available by appointment

Course description

This course focuses on applying computational methods to conducting social scientific research in economics through a student-developed research project. Students will identify a research question of their own interest that involves a direct reference to economic theory, use of data, and a significant computational component. The students will collect data, develop, apply, and interpret statistical learning models, and generate a fully reproducible research paper. We will identify how computational methods can be used throughout the research process, from data collection and tidying, to exploration, visualization and modeling, to the final communication of results. The course will include modules on theoretical and practical considerations, including topics such as epistemological questions about research design, writing and critiquing papers, and additional computational tools for analysis.

Grades

Assignment Points Quantity Total points Percent
Proposal 10 1 10 6.2%
Literature review 15 1 15 9.4%
Methods/initial results 15 1 15 9.4%
Peer evaluations of posters 2 5 10 6.2%
Poster presentation 30 1 30 18.8%
Final paper 40 1 40 25.0%
Problem sets 10 4 40 25.0%
Total Points 160 100.0%

Students will turn assignments in via their own public GitHub fork of the main class repository (e.g., https://github.com/YourGitHubHandle/persp-research-econ_Spr19). The directory structure of this repository should be the following.

  • github.com/YourGithubHandle/persp-research-econ_Spr19/
    • ProblemSets
      • PS1
      • PS2
      • PS3
      • PS4
    • Proposal
    • LitReview
    • MethodsResults
    • Poster
    • FinalPaper

Late Problem Sets

Late problem sets will be penalized 2 points for every hour they are late. For example, if an assignment is due on Monday at 1:30pm, the following points will be deducted based on the time stamp of the last commit.

Example PR last commit points deducted
1:31pm to 2:30pm -2 points
2:31pm to 3:30pm -4 points
3:31pm to 4:30pm -6 points
4:31pm to 5:30pm -8 points
5:31pm and beyond -10 points (no credit)

Disability services

If you need any special accommodations, please provide us with a copy of your Accommodation Determination Letter (provided to you by the Student Disability Services office) as soon as possible so that you may discuss with me how your accommodations may be implemented in this course.

Course schedule

Date Day Topic Reading Assignment
Apr 1 M Overview/reproducibility in science Slides
Apr 3 W Abstract/intro/conclusion Slides
Apr 8 M Theory section of paper Slides
Apr 10 W Proposal presentations Proposal slides & present
Apr 15 M Data/methods section of paper Slides
Apr 17 W Computational results section of paper Slides
Apr 22 M Kernel density estimation Notebk PS1
Apr 24 W Parallel computing Notebk
Apr 29 M Literature review section
May 1 W Parallel computing Dask Tutorial
May 6 M Workshop papers/office visits Schedule
May 8 W Dynamic programming with interpolation Notebk PS2
May 13 M Dynamic programming with interpolation
May 15 W Overlapping generations models Notes PS3
May 20 M Overlapping generations models
May 22 W Workshop papers/office visits Schedule Methods/initial results section
May 27 M No class (Memorial Day Holiday)
May 29 W Effective presentations, poster, slides Notes
Jun 3 M Markov and hidden Markov models Notebk PS 4
Jun 5 W In-class poster presentations Poster
Jun 12 W Final papers due at 11:59pm Papers due

References and Readings