Some thoughts on EC Specializations

So all this talk about specializations has been going on for quite some time. I guess it's something people would want to know if there are many others in the same batch doing so. And this is especially so for my batch as it's our last year and we have probably already cleared most of the modules and will thus be forced by circumstances either to specialize or not to specialize. I have my own thoughts on this as well so I decided to pen them down. The disclaimer is that this is in no way representative of the "right" thing to do and you should take it with just a pinch of salt.

I am actually on the road to declaring two specializations, that is Quantitative Econs and Monetary & Financial Econs. It just so happens the modules I took fulfill the requirements of these two specializations. In fact, I am just missing one module to be able to complete a specialization in Monetary & Financial Econs and this module can be either EC4333 Financial Economics or EC4334 Financial Market Microstructure. As for the Quantitative Econs specialization, I am missing EC4301 Microeconomic Analysis III, EC4303 Econometrics III and EC4304 Economic and Financial Forecasting. Out of these three modules, I had already intended to take two so I might as well just take the remaining EC4301 to fulfill the specialization. And I should also say that I am taking two more level 4000s than what's the common practice of 40 MCs. So that also means two less level 3000s. Nonetheless, I had already intended to do so from the start of Year 3. The more important reason for why I decided on EC4301 is also because I have this one extra EC module that I still haven't decided on for the next AY. And even though it can be either EC4333 or EC4334, I am not intending to declare a specialization in Monetary & Financial Econs as much as I could have taken one of them in place of EC4341 International Economics II this semester. Truth to be told, I was deciding so hard between EC4341 and EC4334 before I finally chose to stick with EC4341 one day ago. 

Now it seems kinda stupid for me to not declare a specialization in Monetary & Financial Econs. I have a few reasons for doing so. 

First, I am not the least interested in EC4334 much less EC4333. I know what the content for EC4334 is going to cover: the models, the kinda foundational knowledge you need (yes, it's EC3304 for anyone who intends to take) etc. And more importantly, I realized it's not a useful module. I would like to go into more technical fields like policy planning or research kinda line of work or at the very least making use of some level of Econs knowledge I had learnt. However, the models in EC4334 are strangely not mentioned in any research or at least if there is, I'm having a hard time finding it. Moreover, I feel that models in there are a bit too simple and arbitrary like what I had mentioned in my previous post. So it's neither useful nor interesting which means it satisfies none of the two criteria I am looking for in any module. Actually, EC4341 isn't very useful as well from what I see in existing literature. But the intuition from it is useful cos the same idea is applied in a lot of research. 

Second, what do you hope to show your employer with a specialization in Monetary & Financial Econs? I for one don't think it's worth shouting about cos I feel that with this specialization, it won't get you further into the banking industry or anything like that. No matter how specialized you may be in Financial Econs, it can't measure up to those that Financial Maths majors are doing. I guess one perk is that it can show the banking industry employers how keen you are on finance-related stuff. But on a more practical level, taking EC4333 (much less EC4334) won't really give you an edge over others in terms of the knowledge you're learning. This brings me to my next point of why I wanna declare a specialization in Quantitative Econs. Personally, Quantitative Econs is a field more unique to Econs itself. If you look at the modules covered, it's mostly gearing students up on Econs models as well as Econometrics. And like I said, I only have one more module remaining that I haven't chosen so yeah, it can be either EC4333 or EC4301 but I chose EC4301 despite how much I am against microeconomics. My mindset is since I've all along been doing the more theoretical side of Econs and very little of the applied side, I should just do it all the way. Anyway, the content for EC4301 is actually not so bad, kinda interesting in some sense. I hope it'll be better under Saturo in Sem 2. 

But all in all, and this might seem quite ironic, I don't think specializations add any value for EC if you're not intending to go into technical fields which is what I gather from most EC majors. There's also the problem of deciding between CAP and specialization as I believe for every specialization, there is this killer module that majority of students tend to avoid in order not to screw up their CAP. Then again, if your class of honours is already stable, go ahead by all means. I think for the next few batches, you'll probably have to declare a specialization seeing how it would possibly become a norm. Actually, I think even for my cohort, many people are attempting to declare specializations as it was a very unpleasant surprise that I didn't get allocated the most unexpected module, EC4303 and my friend didn't get allocated EC4333. 

In conclusion, there're a lot of pros and cons that come with doing specializations. I also took a lot of time to sit down and think bout it which made me flipped flopped back and forth between EC4341 and EC4334 before I finally decide that EC4341 is both more interesting and more useful. I guess everyone has their own reasons for doing what they do. Probably the most important thing to keep in mind is not to do a specialization just for the sake of doing so.

AY2015-2016 Semester 1 Modules

Now that MPE is coming up, many people should have finalized their choice of modules. I have as well and this semester will be without doubt the most gruelling one of all. 

1. EC4103 Singapore Economy: Practice and Policy

This is a compulsory module so there's nothing much to comment on it. Now that I think, as much as I don't like microeconomics, I think that EC4301 will be more interesting than EC4103. So I don't know if I actually welcome the change that no longer requires me to take EC4301. 

2. EC4303 Econometrics III

There's a new module this semester, EC4305 Applied Econometrics. I believe the department set EC4305 such that it'll avoid overlap with EC4303. So if you look at the content covered for EC4305, you might think "Hey, that's really kinda applied and that means it's gonna be useful." But you're not gonna see EC4305 in the list of my modules below. The reason being I am not into empirical research or anything along that line. If you're doing theoretical research,  EC4303 will definitely be more useful. But if you're looking to learn more, meaning breadth instead of depth, without any particular specialization in mind like whether you wanna go into the empirical or theoretical line, then I do think EC4305 is better cos EC4303 will mostly just be building onto the same topics that were covered in EC3303 and EC3304.

3. EC4341 International Economics II

I have mixed feelings towards this module before I decided on it. The part causing a lot of difficulties when I took EC3341 was HO-theory. So it made me concluded: ok, I am bad at anything to do with micro. And if you look at the syllabus for EC4341, it's just mostly micro stuff; not even anything on exchange rates. I think anyone who took EC3341 or even EC4341 knows what I mean. As much as International Econs sounds like a huge macro field, the concepts covered are actually pretty micro in nature. When I took EC3341 under Dr. Lu Yi, he made the same comment as well. In fact, and I forgot to mention this in my module review for that semester, I had to read this book that was recommended to me by Dr. Lu, Advanced International Trade: Theory and Evidence by Feenstra before I could fully understand theorems like the Stolper-Samuelson theorem before leading up to HO-theory. So why did I choose this module in the end? I think this field is a hot topic no matter where you go. That just means that it's good to know bout International Econs even if you're not specializing on it cos chances are you'll have to deal with it in one way or another at some point in time. And I mentioned before that if I were to take EC4341, I would take it under Davin Chor and not Gentile. Just compare their syllabus and you'll see what I mean. But anyway, Gentile's no longer taking EC4341, at least not for this AY.

4. EC4401 Honours Thesis

It seems a little weird that I'm taking HT despite having only a 2nd Upper. Why go through all that trouble since I'm not even anywhere near 1st Class? The usual practice is that those people with a CAP of 4.0 to 4.49 will simply take some more modules to clear their Honours requirements. Well, I have a few reasons for it. 

First, I wanna experience how doing research is like and there's no other avenue better than HT to get that experience. Second, there seems to be no end in reading up and knowing more. There's so much knowledge out there that you can learn and it's not possible to know every single thing. But there is one skill that is important and that is, applying what you've learnt and HT allows me to do that. There's one more little reason and it could be more of being practical. Although it seems like the Econs department has really expanded the list of level-4000 electives, many of them still don't appeal to my interests. So HT is a good choice if I wanna clear my requirements yet have nothing else to take. Then again, the very big drawback of HT is that it's all or nothing simply because of the amount of MCs attached to it (though I strongly believe it is over-weighted). 

Then why not take it in Semester 2? I would have loved to. Simply put, circumstances didn't permit me to. When I approached my supervisor, he told me he'll be available for the whole of this coming AY. But he told me at the end of last semester that he'll be away for the most part of Semester 2 of AY15/16. So that just means I have to do it in Semester 1. I actually think that taking HT in the last semester has its perks because you get the chance to broaden your knowledge base even more and also, for those who still haven't got an idea of what to do for your HT, Semester 1 of your fourth year is a very good buffer period to begin exploring your options cos it is highly likely that you'll be taking the most number of level-4000 modules in this semester as compared to the two semesters of your third year.

Modules that I had considered

1. EC4307 Issues in Macroeconomics

Can't deny that I wanted to take this module mainly because it was Aamir teaching it. I had such a good impression of him after 4102. But after looking at the syllabus covered, I decided against it. In fact, it was a big NO. Not only is it not interesting for me at all, it's a very content-based module without much quantitative stuff. I mean, my goodness, he's using the 3102 textbook; IS-LM when you're in Year 4?!

2. EC4334 Financial Market Microstructure

This is actually quite a good module. It's literally about the workings of the financial market, like what happens after bidding, valuation etc. It's quite interesting. You don't really need EC3333 to do this module. In fact, EC4334 is more of EC3304 from what I see. But the problem is that the models seem very out of nowhere and I don't like it when models are like that cos they usually seem very arbitrary. So I decided no, this module isn't suitable for me.

So yup, 3 level-4000s and HT, that's 30MCs for me. I've already sent in an appeal to overload and it has been approved. All I gotta do is to send in another email after CORS ends. I hope there won't be any hiccups during that period. I sent in an email so early cos I was actually in a situation when I appealed during CORS and my appeal wasn't processed even until the time when I had to do the bidding.

So now you can see why it's gonna be my most gruelling sem. And coupled with work as an RA, this sem will inevitably be very tiring. Uh well, I've got my reason for doing so once again and unless my plans are confirmed, I'll not talk about it as of now.