Minnesota Econ

[Ross123]

My fd told me that there is no required econometrics courses in 1st yr econ PhD in Minneosta. Y?

In addition, I find that only 1 -2 minnesota profs interested in econometrics. Y?

[andyecon]

They do have an applied econometrics course that is almost required. You don't have to take it, but they explicitly say that you will have a hell of a time doing your dissertation without it.

Also, econometric theory just isn't their specialization. They are a small department, and due to historical reasons and the Minneapolis Fed, macro is their comparative advantage of sorts (not to say they don't have some interesting work in other fields).

Are you attending next year, or were you just curious?

[maattar]

One of my closed friends is a current grad. student in UMN-Econ. Your info is exactly right. And this is essentially because of the scholar preferences of Minnesota Economists. Remember Lucas critique. And because of this, perhaps all of them are against structural econometric models. What does remain?? Non-policy oriented (so non-structural) time series analysis. Yes; try to take a look at Lars Ljungqvist and Thomas J. Sargent's "Recursive Macreconomic Theory" or Lars Peter Hansen and Thomas J. Sargent's "Recursive Models of Dynamic Linear Economies". These books are used in Macro courses in Minnesota, as I know. These cover VARs, impulse-response analysis, state-space models, Kalman filter, etc. But econometrics??!! Not a traditional sense, in Minnesota... A strong mathematical/statistical background is definitely more preferable for these Minnesota guys in my opinion. You have to know Bellman type problems in detail and in confidence. But probably no one can judge you since you do not exactly remember the details of a specific Wald test.

Best wishes,

[Ross123]

Thanks for your info.
If I want to do Open Economy Macro, which is definitely a field dominated by New Kynesian Macro, can I do it in Minnesota?
Does any Minnesota prof. talk about sticky price/wage in Minneosta?

[andyecon]

Here is the international trade research done by Minnesota profs recently:
http://www.econ.umn.edu/research/intertrade.html
Here is the macro stuff:
http://www.econ.umn.edu/research/macro.html

I am fairly uninformed on New Keynesian macro, so I am not trying to be glib, but these links will give you a better idea than any of us can.

[midori]

oh~~i should have applied to Minnesota~~(in fact i applied but they didn't waive my application fee which i was approved of, so i withdrew)