Master & PhD in Economics
Institut Polytechnique de Paris

First Year (M1)

Outline of the First Year: M1

All courses are mandatory.
S1 First Semester
Courses:
ECO 550 - Microeconomics 1: 8 ECTS.
ECO 551 - Macroeconomics 1: 8 ECTS.
ECO 552B - Econometrics 1: 5 ECTS.
ECO558 - Introduction to Time Series Econometrics: 3 ECTS.
S2 Second Semester
Courses:
ECO 560 - Microeconomics 2: 8 ECTS.
ECO 561 - Macroeconomics 2: 8 ECTS.
ECO 562B - Advanced Econometrics 2: 8 ECTS.
S1 & S2
ECO 511 - Project in Applied Economics: 4 ECTS.
S3 Third Semester
Internship: 8 ECTS.

List of courses

Location: Ecole Polytechnique, Palaiseau.

ECO 533 Preparatory course in Mathematics, Probability and Statistics (end of August, beginning of September)

Mathematics, Optimization, Probability, and Statistical Inference36 hours
Nicolas Vieille

– Basic calculus.
– Linear algebra.
- Static and dynamic optimization.
– Basic probability theory.
– Statistical inference.

ECO 532 Preparatory course in Econometrics

Introduction to Stata8 hours
Arnault Chatelain

The objective of this course is to allow participants to be able to work and conduct their own empirical analyses with the statistical software STATA, which is one of the leading programs used by researchers in econometrics.

The course will be taught in a very applied way using real-world datasets, covering basic commands, data management, data manipulation, graphs, statistical analysis, regression analysis (cross sectional data, time series, panel data, and qualitative data) and basic programing (more specifically loops).

Over the whole year

ECO 511 Project in Applied or Theoretical Economics

Coordinators: Alessandro Riboni

Students must work in groups of 2 or 3. They should rely on a statistical software, such as Stata, to apply econometric methods to a dataset. This work leads to the writing of a small dissertation and to an oral presentation.

Website of the projects

Mandatory courses: First term (S1)

Microeconomics I - ECO 550 8 ECTS

Individual decision-making and market equilibrium50 hours
Tristan Tomala, Bruno Biais, Johan Hombert

– Choice theory and introduction to welfare economics.
– Consumer theory.
– Social choice (preference aggregation and manipulability).
– Producer theory.
– Choice under uncertainty (expected utility, risk aversion).
– General equilibrium, fundamental welfare theorems.
– Asset markets and general equilibrium under uncertainty.
– Externalities and public goods.
– No trade theorem, rational expectations.

Macroeconomics I - ECO 551 8 ECTS

Economic Growth50 hours
Alessandro Riboni, Giovanni Ricco

- Neoclassical growth model.
- Public policies in the neoclassical growth model.
- Structural transformation.
- Inequality, political economy of growth.
- The overlapping generations model.
- Public policies and bubbles in the overlapping-generations model.
- Product variety model.
- Schumpeterian growth.

Advanced Econometrics I - ECO 552B 5 ECTS

The Linear Regression Model and Extensions40 hours
Sebastien Roux, Thierry Kamionka

In this course we introduce the linear regression model and its theoretical foundations. We present and discuss the methods to estimate such models, i-e to define the parameters of interest, estimate them and test their statistical significance, under different sets of assumptions (homoskedasticity or heteroscedasticity, exogeneity or endogeneity), specifications (simple or multiple regression) or types of data (cross-sectional, panel data, time series).

Outline:
1. Introduction to econometrics
2. The Simple Regression Model
3. Multiple Regression Analysis:
A. Estimation
B. Inference
C. Asymptotics
4. Qualitative Information in Linear Regression
5. Heteroskedasticity
6. Repeated Cross Section and Panel Data
7. Instrumental Variables

Literature:
Angrist and Pischke: (2009): Mostly Harmless Econometrics, Princeton University Press.
Wooldridge (2013): Introductory Econometrics: A Modern Approach, 5th Edition, South-Western College Publishing.

Introduction to Time Series Econometrics - ECO 558 3 ECTS

24 hours
Jean-Michel Zakoian

- Generalities on univariate second-order stationary processes
- Autocovariances, partial autocorrelations
- Innovations
- Wold theorem
- Asymptotic properties of empirical moments.
- AR, MA, ARMA, SARIMA processes
- Canonical representation - Identification, estimation, tests and forecasting
- Model building
- Nonstationary models, Unit root tests.
- Stationary vector processes
- Multivariate AR models
- Statistical Inference
- Causality tests, impulse-response analysis.
- Non-stationary vector processes and definition of cointegration
- Cointegrated VAR models and error-correction models (ECM)
- Estimation of cointegrated VAR
- Testing for Cointegration.

Mandatory courses: Second term (S2)

Microeconomics II - ECO 560 8 ECTS

Strategic Interactions and Information50 hours
Yukio Koriyama, Olivier Gossner

– Normal form games, pure and mixed strategies, equilibrium concepts (dominance, rationalizability, Nash).
– Imperfect competition (Cournot, Bertrand, Hotelling).
– Extensive form games with perfect information, backwards induction.
– Extensive form games with imperfect information (information sets), normal form representation.
– Bayesian games, auctions, adverse selection, signaling, screening.
– Equilibrium refinements (Perfect Bayesian equilibrium, sequential equilibrium).
– Social choice and introduction to mechanism design.
– Contract theory, principal agent models, risk sharing.

Macroeconomics II - ECO 5618 ECTS

Business cycles50 hours
Jean-Baptiste Michau

– Traditional macroeconomics: The IS-LM AD-AS model.
– Consumption.
– Investment; The ramsey model.
– Determination of the price level.
– Real business cycle theory.
– The new Keynesian framework.
– Asset pricing; The Aiyagari model.
– Search models of the labor market.
– International macroeconomics.
– The Great Recession.

Advanced Econometrics II - ECO 562B 8 ECTS

Nonlinear, Qualitative Data, and Panel Methods40 hours
Christian Belzil, Olivier Allais

– Extremum Estimators 1st part: M-Estimators (Maximum Likelihood, Nonlinear Least squares).
– Extremum Estimators 2nd part: GMM.
– Hypothesis Testing: Wald, Lagrange Multipliers, Likelihood Ratio Statistics.
– Instrumental Variables, 2SLS, Multiple-Equation GMM (if time).
– Dynamic Panel Data: Instrumental Variables and GMM.
– Binary Choice Models.
– Multinomial and Ordered Choice Models.
– Non-linear Panel Data Models.
– Censored Regressions.
– Duration Models.

Research internship: Third term (S3)

Micro ECO 591, Macro ECO 592, Finance ECO 593

During the third term, students must complete a research internship of at least 16 weeks. The internship must be either related to micro (ECO 591), to macro (ECO 592), or to finance (ECO 593).

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