Wow! That was extraordinary helpful. My only regret is that I have but one upvote to give.
You’re right about the unintentional self-mindkilling from focusing of schools of thought. It’s obvious to me in hindsight.
It might just be a leftover from my Austrian days, but I am thoroughly skeptical of any macroeconomic model. A red flag for me is when I read that macro models aren’t generally reducible to micro models. The only reason I’m reading a macro textbook is that my school requires intro to macro as a prerequisite to intro to micro. And I was thinking of studying introductory macro so I have a decent hand on it when I have to take it in school.
Reading the first 100 pages of Mankiw’s Principles of Macroeconomics hasn’t been too terrible. Though so far I think it has basically been micro disguised as macro. But based on what you’re saying, I think it might be better to stop reading it for now. I’ll just learn it when I take it in school.
My math background is okay, but not fantastic. I took some calculus my senior year of high school and got up to integration. For my freshman year of university, I’m taking Calc 1 in the fall and Calc 2 in the spring. Mathematics is likely my primary major, so I think I’ll read Mathematics for Economists and then move onto Varian.
Thank you very much for the suggested books, advice, and insight.
If you’re going to attack Varian, I’d suggest not focusing on Mathematics for Economists too much. Make sure you understand basic constrained maximization using the lagrangian and then you’re ready for Varian. Anything else he does that seems weird you can pick up as needed. Constrained maximization is usually taught in Calc 3 AFAIK, but I don’t think it’s too difficult if you can handle Calc 1.
A red flag for me is when I read that macro models aren’t generally reducible to micro models.
This shouldn’t be as much of a red flag as it is to most people. Is it a red flag when micro models don’t reduce to plausible theories of psychology? Not if it isn’t worth the effort of doing micro with said theories. Similarly, there’s a trade-off between microeconomic foundations in macro models and actually getting answers out of the models. Often the microeconomic foundations themselves aren’t even plausible to begin with. It still might be a red flag based on the details of the tradeoff at the margin, but I’m not sure it’s that clear.
I was just reviewing Mathematics for Economists. While a lot of it sounds fascinating, it’s probably not what I need at the moment. Too much of it is over my head. So on second thought, I’ll probably just review the first half of Calc 1, learn the second half, and tackle Varian.
On the topic of macro reducing to micro, point taken. I appreciate the clarification.
Good idea. I wouldn’t worry about complicated integrals if you’re just preparing for Varian. You’ll need integration, but I don’t recall anything too complicated. It’s mainly the differential calculus that you’ll need.
Wow! That was extraordinary helpful. My only regret is that I have but one upvote to give.
You’re right about the unintentional self-mindkilling from focusing of schools of thought. It’s obvious to me in hindsight.
It might just be a leftover from my Austrian days, but I am thoroughly skeptical of any macroeconomic model. A red flag for me is when I read that macro models aren’t generally reducible to micro models. The only reason I’m reading a macro textbook is that my school requires intro to macro as a prerequisite to intro to micro. And I was thinking of studying introductory macro so I have a decent hand on it when I have to take it in school.
Reading the first 100 pages of Mankiw’s Principles of Macroeconomics hasn’t been too terrible. Though so far I think it has basically been micro disguised as macro. But based on what you’re saying, I think it might be better to stop reading it for now. I’ll just learn it when I take it in school.
My math background is okay, but not fantastic. I took some calculus my senior year of high school and got up to integration. For my freshman year of university, I’m taking Calc 1 in the fall and Calc 2 in the spring. Mathematics is likely my primary major, so I think I’ll read Mathematics for Economists and then move onto Varian.
Thank you very much for the suggested books, advice, and insight.
No problem!
If you’re going to attack Varian, I’d suggest not focusing on Mathematics for Economists too much. Make sure you understand basic constrained maximization using the lagrangian and then you’re ready for Varian. Anything else he does that seems weird you can pick up as needed. Constrained maximization is usually taught in Calc 3 AFAIK, but I don’t think it’s too difficult if you can handle Calc 1.
This shouldn’t be as much of a red flag as it is to most people. Is it a red flag when micro models don’t reduce to plausible theories of psychology? Not if it isn’t worth the effort of doing micro with said theories. Similarly, there’s a trade-off between microeconomic foundations in macro models and actually getting answers out of the models. Often the microeconomic foundations themselves aren’t even plausible to begin with. It still might be a red flag based on the details of the tradeoff at the margin, but I’m not sure it’s that clear.
I was just reviewing Mathematics for Economists. While a lot of it sounds fascinating, it’s probably not what I need at the moment. Too much of it is over my head. So on second thought, I’ll probably just review the first half of Calc 1, learn the second half, and tackle Varian.
On the topic of macro reducing to micro, point taken. I appreciate the clarification.
Good idea. I wouldn’t worry about complicated integrals if you’re just preparing for Varian. You’ll need integration, but I don’t recall anything too complicated. It’s mainly the differential calculus that you’ll need.