About the final examination

Due to the coronavirus, there will be no in-class final examination. The final exam will be in take-home format plus one short interview (explained below). Send me email or contact me on Teams in the Economic Dynamics channel if you want to consult about grading or the assignments. I will accept and answer questions in Japanese.

  1. Hand in all homework. This includes the homework on information cascades and power laws from last week. I will post the collection of all homework assignments tomorrow afternoon. I will provide a record and evalution of homeworks already received as soon as possible thereafter. Homework should be written in English. Deadlines are written in the collection. Homework must be received by January 15 for partial credit.
  2. The examination will be posted to the course home page around noon tomorrow (December 25), and then to Manaba. You may consult notes, videos, and work together. If you work with other students you must say so and identify those you worked with. You must rewrite any answers developed together in your own words. In principle, you must return your answers via Manaba by 18:00 December 29. The examination may be written in English or Japanese.
There is no penalty for working together. If you feel that others being able to work together disadvantages you because it is difficult for you to find partners, tell me and we can discuss how to improve your situation.
  1. You must make an appointment for a date up to January 8 18:00 to discuss your answers by Teams or Zoom. You must answer these questions alone. I will pick one question that you answered well and ask you to explain your answer. If you do this poorly, you will get one more chance. If you did not answer any questions well, I will inform you of that, and pick from the best answers given. Please check my schedule (will be updated by noon).
This part of the interview will take about 5 minutes (or 10 if you fail the first question).

  1. By December 29, choose a research topic related to economic dynamics. This includes any social science, but it must involve interaction between multiple behaviors if it is not economics. For example, between supply and demand in a market, "friends" in a social network, or players in a game. Pure optimization problems or statistical estimation is not allowed. Macroeconomic topics including economic growth are OK, of course.

    A topic can be explained in one or two sentences.

    Think of this as if you were going to use it to apply to a professor to be your graduation thesis advisor. I suggest you propose several topics and indicate your preferences. Send me email to submit. You may write your proposal in the body of the email, or submit a Word document or PDF as an attachment. Proposals must be in English or Japanese.

  2. In the interview, we will discuss your topic. This will take 5-10 minutes.

  3. Based on the discussion write a research proposal for your topic of about 1-2 A4 pages, and submit it by January 15. This proposal is the content of this assignment. You are not expected to do any research or data gathering. You may look for related research but it is not required. Your proposal should explain

    • why it interests you,
    • what scientific, policy, or business benefits flow from solving the research problem,
    • at least one specific research question or hypothesis,
    • necessary data and means of collection,
    • method of analysis, and
    • expected or hoped-for results.

Further announcements will be made on the home page and in the Teams channel. Manaba will be used only to distribute and collect assignments.