Population Economics 01:220:477
Rutgers University, Professor Ira N. Gang, Email: gang at.rutgers.edu Include 477 in the subject line
Special Note on No Text and How to Approach the Material in this Course.
Read this note completely to see how I expect you to use –or not use— the material I have made available.
Many students ask for a text. Unfortunately there is no text
available for Population Economics. I have set up the class with other
readings. ALL OF THE READINGS are there to reinforce and expand on the
lectures, to provide more examples and interpretations than I can cover
in lecture; to provide you with the opportunity to go beyond what
we talk about in class. In making up exam questions, I do NOT
look at the readings, unless I have specifically highlighted it
eg., "Population" An Introduction to Demography"), the materials
included under "Exercises", and the like. The questions
on the exams are
drawn from what I cover during my lectures and other material I have
highlighted,as well as any practice material I have distributed (eg.,
key slides, exercises - whether handed in or not, sample exam
questions).
Will every question
on the exam be on something I mentioned in class? Well, yes and
no! Yes in the sense that I do not go elsewhere to look for
material on which to ask questions. No in the sense that, as
always, I expect you to have mastered the material we discuss in
class prior to the exam and use that as a basis for answering further
questions on the topics. This is what an upper level course in
Economics is all about. This is why it has all the
pre-requisites. I strongly recommend that you form "study groups" with
other members of the class and review the material and quiz one another
regularly.
Will you do better on the exam if you study the Readings? Most
likely, as long as you do so in addition to coming to lectures and
studying that material. It is much more important to do something
I have yet to convince many students to do: I very strongly recommend
that right from the beginning of the course you find yourself a set of
study partners and meet with them regularly. You will find that
each of you pick up on different aspects of the class and probably have
different material in the notes you take from class. Test each
other! Explain the material to each other!