Recommended Math Courses for Economics Graduate Students

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed on this page are my own and do not represent the policy or opinions of the economics department. The recommendations here are based primarily on the success of past students who have taken the path I describe.

Remark: Distinguished Stanford graduates such as David Kreps and Darrell Duffie contributed important new ideas in economics from the beginning of their careers partly because they are creative and partly because they were extraordinarily well equipped in mathematical and statistical tools.

Here is a list of recommended courses:

  Math courses for Stanford students

  Math courses for NYU students

I recommend that graduate students in economics at Stanford and NYU take or audit a stream of math and statistics classes while they are here. If you take one course a quarter from the second year on, you will have at least nine quarters under your belt by the time you graduate. While it may be painful at first, like jogging, after a while the pain will vanish and you will acquire a facility in writing and reading economics. My experience has been that students who pay the price of learning adequate mathematical and statistical tools have much easier times writing their theses and acquiring jobs. This is certainly true in applied fields like macroeconomics.

You are very lucky because at Stanford and NYU there are wonderful courses taught by some of the most distinguished people in the world. Here are some courses I recommend.