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Micro and Macro Economics

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dwinton
I am very interested in Economics. Someone suggested I take the Micro and Macro economics APs (learning from a review book rather than from a course) so that I could take the non-introductory courses in college. I looked at said book and realized there was no math. There were, however, a lot of vocabulary and unproven theorems.

I am curious as to whether or not anyone has taken the AP and knows if it is hard. I also wonder if the economics courses become calculus after the introductory level or if I have to sit through years of boring before I get to the actual good stuff.

I plan on taking the AP tests as a senior (next year) so I don't need immediate answers, but it would be nice to get some responses.
LumberJack
dwinton wrote:
I am very interested in Economics. Someone suggested I take the Micro and Macro economics APs (learning from a review book rather than from a course) so that I could take the non-introductory courses in college. I looked at said book and realized there was no math. There were, however, a lot of vocabulary and unproven theorems.

I am curious as to whether or not anyone has taken the AP and knows if it is hard. I also wonder if the economics courses become calculus after the introductory level or if I have to sit through years of boring before I get to the actual good stuff.

I plan on taking the AP tests as a senior (next year) so I don't need immediate answers, but it would be nice to get some responses.


You can learn the intuition behind economics without using a lot of math. But math and statistics are fundamental to economic theories and modeling. If you want to obtain a degree in Econ, then you will definately be exposed to this.
bangala
If you find calculus and math in general to be boring, then economics is not the right thing for you. Economics is full of theory and math.
uuuuuu
Hi,

I predicate this message on a warning: I don't know what I'm talking about.

Now that that's out of the way, here some things that I remember having heard:



    1. Economics is one of the easier AP classes in high school, though I think it will require that you learn a bit of jargon, and a lot of theory that is very common-sense based (read: supply and demand curves. This requires 8th grade algebra).

    2. University economics students need very little math beyond high school calculus. Maybe multivariate calculus at the university, and 500 level probabilities and statistics.

    3. The framework of economics is very deeply rooted in mathematical theory. The study of this theory is termed as econometrics, which can be studied as a part of a well rounded economics education, or independently of economics.


And now for my two cents:

I just wrapped up a degree in math.
If your only motivation for studying economics is that it's interesting, get a great book on economics.
If you want to study it because you think you might work in the field some day, research the field before you start. A lot of people who study hard sciences don't work in their fields.
While you're still planning on going to college, think of it as a means to an end, not as an end unto itself.

Almost all of the mathematics I learned, I took from text books and peers, and not my professors at the University.

Good luck, work hard, you take out about the same as you put in.
Sorry for rambling!
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