topologist

Second this one. We used Greene's right away without taking any introductory course in metrics (I had intermediate micro & macro, statistics at the level of Hoel under my belt) and the whole class did fairly well (22 students total).

I am really sorry if asking a question is considered a sin, I honestly don't know what EJMR is until I searched for it after reading its name here. Regarding my previous post about the Fed, it might seem naive to many of you here, but you must understand that I have started learning "formal" economics only very recently and I am not knowledgeable enough to judge what is truth and what is not. Those videos I saw, I thought they were true. Regarding this post, I still don't understand why this is a silly question. Firstly, I am not an American (I have no clue whatsoever on how American schools and professors work), I thought this is the best place to ask for the advice, it's a shame on me that I sounded silly to many. The thing is, I have seen Harvard and MIT only through those videos and since they are highly reputed and world class, I thought the lectures will be normally given at that level of pace and rigor (just in order to prepare myself in a better way, not that I will land in Harvard for sure, but still). So, that's all about it.

Yes, it is used that way at many places, but, technically speaking, Vector Calculus is nothing but applying calculus techniques (differentiating and integrating) to Vectors (i, j, k), thus they deal with 3-dimensions. But multi-variable calculus deals with more than 1-dimension.

Yeah, here it is - http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2011/090/2/b/i_hate_sand_castles_by_boone24-d3cvpdi.jpg

I'm not an expert in this, but I had 2 English courses (Drama, Poetry, Literature), I scored 8/10, which was B in my institution (I'm not good at acting and all) and I can't say it affected my application.

Well, I don't know why....but I saw many "good" posts posted by more credible people (TomRod, Ellie, etc,.) were rated negative, I think it's just a matter of opinion.

Right!! I thought that would be the reason too, but I wasn't sure. Thanks.

That says it all!

Thanks for your reply. I am an international trying to know some inside information, I mainly asked this question not because the lecture was given at a rapid pace and difficult to follow, but, one thing I noticed is that MIT lectures are more clear and moves on a less rapidity, quite easily to follow for an average student, unlike Harvard!

Well, did you check the prerequisites of all those courses you have listed? If you have not taken Measure Theory or Statistical Inference (at the level of P.J. Bickel & K.A. Doksum: Mathematical Statistics/ P. G. Hoel, S. C. Port, and C. J. Stone: Introduction to Statistical Theory), then you can't really take that course using Van der Vaart book. In my view, you might lack the Statistics prerequisite, but you should definitely be familiar with Measure Theory, if not at least good at it.

Complex Analysis can be useful in Finance (for inverting transforms), the OP is interested in PhD Finance also. OP: Your chosen list of courses is good, I would add PDE to it and drop Asymptotic Statistics if you have already taken an upper-division Statistical Inference course (which is almost always the prerequisite for Asymptotic Statistics at Van der Vaart level).

Actually I have. I was like that and my sister is still like that. I believe whatdoido presses that largely on the "real math", which actually includes calculus, mainly because of the jargons, symbols. They scare the wits out of some people who are equally able in other subject. It scares people so that they lose interest so easily, which is keeping them away from not putting their 100% in it.

Hi there mates, hope you're all good. So, I was watching the Harvard video lectures MathE-222 Abstract Algebra. I understood and I sure did learn many new things in the lecture, also got the glimpse of the style of teaching at Harvard, which scares me a bit.:blush: I am a math major, so I had no issues in "understanding" the lectures. But I was wondering if the PhD Economics lectures will also be at the same pace? I mean, PhD students should be of high caliber and all, but, what about someone coming from a non-economics background? Thanks for all your replies and I hope your application went well!!:)

That, and also many, many documentaries and books are out there about this. The ones I watched and read/reading currently are: Books: The Case Against the Fed by Murray N. Rothbard The Case for Gold by Ron Paul (Congressman) End The Fed by Ron Paul Docus: Money Banking & the Federal Reserve Where Is All My Money Going Anyways The Money Masters The Secret Birth of the Federal Reserve Could someone please give me a binary answer?? I mean, this is supposed to be THE CENTRAL BANK OF USA, yet caught under the clutches of some bankers and ruining american economy. Are the Americans aware of this? If yes, why no one is acting against it? I am sorry if I sound weird, this really made me very upset, I am not an American, but I love the country.

I have been watching some documentaries lately regarding The Fed, they all claim that fed is a private bank operated by bankers (also, they said Abraham Lincoln & Kennedy were killed by those bankers because they tried to make the fed public or something like that). Is this true? I was confused when I was reading wikipedia, which says that fed has been set up by "The Fed Act". Late economist Murray N. Rothbard says: The Federal Reserve System virtually controls the nation's monetary system, yet it is accountable to no one. It has no budget; it is subject to no audit; and no Congressional Committee knows of, or can truly supervise, its operations. If Dr. Rothbard is right, then what is the purpose of Fed Act? I am very confused about all this. Could you guys please clarify me about what is true and what is not. Thanks.