The study programme in a nutshell
The double bachelor programme enables you to complete two entire three-year bachelor programmes in four years. By taking extra lectures and exams you earn two BSc degrees in two thirds of the original time. You will acquire an average of 66 credits each year instead of the standard 60 credits.
Year one: focus on econometrics
The Double bachelor BSc² in Econometrics and Economics programme covers both theoretical issues related to economics and business, and the application of mathematical and statistical techniques to help answer economic questions. This is unique. You benefit from the excellent perspective that this gives you, compressing the timeline by building knowledge in both subjects.
In your first year, you will focus primarily on Econometrics and Operations Research with various basic courses in mathematics, statistics and economics. You will also receive training in computer programming to learn how to build models and implement mathematical techniques. Your first experience with operational research will consist of analysing and solving optimisation problems by applying these mathematical methods. We work with tutorial groups of about thirty students, which allows for individual attention and intensive guidance. During many of the practical assignments, you will work in groups of around four students.
Years two, three and four: from a solid foundation to a double bachelor
The following three years all consist of both economic and econometric subjects. In the second year of the double bachelor programme, you will lay the groundwork with fundamental courses. Years three and four are about deepening your knowledge and further developing your skills. You will take on your economic major in year three and your econometric major in year four.
In the final year, you have the opportunity to choose a minor (a combination of electives) at or outside Erasmus School of Economics. You can also opt to study abroad, or take an internship. With the completion of a thesis you conclude the double bachelor programme.
In class
A wine merchant wants to know how his sales would be affected if he applied discounts of 10% or 25%. One bottle of wine gives you six glasses and in a small experiment the sales are observed given the price of one glass of wine. How would you advise the wine merchant? Here are the data of the experiment:
| Price | Sales |
|---|---|
| 1 | 17956 |
| 1 | 16641 |
| 1 | 12321 |
| 1 | 14161 |
| 0.90 | 10404 |
| 0.90 | 15876 |
| 0.90 | 43681 |
Study schedule
The Take-Off is the introduction programme for all new students at Erasmus School of Economics. During the Take-Off you will meet your fellow students, get acquainted with our study associations and learn all the ins and outs of your new study programme, supporting information systems and life on campus and in the city.
Guidance includes lectures in block 1 plus study progress meetings in block 2 and 3. Each mentor group consists of max. 15 students, accompanied by one mentor (a senior student). Students are informed about studying at Erasmus School of Economics and about effective study methods during group meetings.
In addition, three individual meetings will take place, in which the student can discuss the obtained study results with the mentor.
- Mathematical Logic
- Set Theory
- Mathematical and Strong Induction
- Sequences and Series
- Elementary functions and their graphs
- Combination, inverse and limits of functions
- Analytic Trigonometry and the unit circle
- The concept of the derivative of a function with a single variable
- Partial derivatives of a function of multiple variables
- The Lagrange multiplier method
- Integrals
Statistics is concerned with drawing solid conclusions from available data. Following a brief introduction to the different phases of scientific research, the main focus of this introductory course is on developing the mathematical basis (probability calculus, probability distributions, introduction to statistical testing) and with applications in solving practical questions.
The topics are the following:
Introduction to statistics, mean and standard deviation, empirical rule, theorem of Chebychev, axioms of (discrete) probability calculus, sets, computation rules, counting rules, permutations, combinations, conditional probability, Bayes' rule, discrete probability distributions, expected value, variance, binomial distribution, geometric and negative binomial distribution, multinomial distribution, Poisson distribution, moment generating functions, introduction to testing, null hypothesis and alternative hypothesis, significance level, power, P-value, testing with the binomial distribution, sign test, normal distribution, central limit theorem, computations with the normal distribution, z-test for 1 and 2 proportions, goodness of fit test, cross table, test on independence, chi-square distribution.
Some of these topics (such as testing and the normal distribution) will be treated more extensively in later courses.
The course Academic Skills consists of several modules:
Module A: Academic Communication Skills. This module takes place in block 2 and is linked to the course Micro-Economics. Students practice their presentation skills. Furthermore, students need to make assignments and give a presentation.
Module B: Academic Writing Skills. This module takes place in block 3 and is linked to the course Macro-Economics. Students work on assignments with a focus on reviewing literature.
The program consists of two more modules, Module C Academic Research Skills and Module D Academic Skills Research Project. These modules will be part of Academic Skills in year 2.
- Complex numbers
- Length and angles: the dot product
- Solving systems of linear equations
- Linear independence and spanning sets
- Matrix operations
- The fundamental theorem on invertible matrices
- Subspaces, bases and the dimension of subspaces
- Row space, column space, rank of a matrix: the rank theorem
- Determinants
- The first part of the course deals with the theory of the consumer. Topics covered include consumer choice under certainty and uncertainty, and individual and market demand.
- The second part focuses on the theory of the firm, and includes the topics of firm production and firm cost.
- The last part of the course turns to market structures (monopoly, imperfect competition and perfect competition), to the joint analysis of firm and consumer behavior within a market (general equilibrium theory) and to factor markets.
- Precise definition of limit and continuity of functions
- Pricise definition of bijectivity
- Proving (existence of) limits, continuity and bijectivity with the precise definitions
- Differentiation
- Sequences and series
- Taylor series
- Differential equations
- Multiple integrals
- For all these subjects the emphasis lies on concepts and proofs of the most important results.
The course includes:
- Interactions between money markets and goods markets;
- The impact of government policy on aggregate employment and output;
- Interaction between national economies through international trade and capital flows;
- Insights into the ways that the micro- and macroeconomic features of the economy interact through production, consumption, and economic policy.
Continuous random variables, continuous distributions, moment generating functions, discrete and continuous joint distributions, independence , conditional distributions, conditional expectations, variance, covariance, functions of random variables, transformation methods, Central Limit Theorem, stochastic convergence, sampling distributions.
The course starts by introducing the fundamental data types and operations. After that, control statements, i.e., decision and repetition, are presented. Then, methods, as computations consisting of multiple steps, are given. Lists and arrays, representing data structures storing multiple values, are depicted next. Last, the main concepts of object-oriented programming paradigm, i.e., class and instance, are described.
Meanwhile, students are expected to roll up their sleeves and acquire hands-on experience with the Java programming language. For this purpose, programming assignments will have to be completed by the students using a popular Integrated Development Environment (IDE). Students will develop an algorithmic way of thinking by implementing solutions for elementary computational problems in Econometrics.
- Acquiring knowledge of eigenvalues, eigenvectors, orthogonality, projections, diagonalization, quadratic forms, vector spaces, inner products, norms, distances and vector differentiation.
- Acquiring insight in abstract structures at the required level for Econometrics beyond doing merely computations.
- Acquiring the skills to determine eigenvalues, eigenvectors, diagonalizations, orthogonal bases, orthogonal decompositions, QR factorizations, spectral decompositions, optimal values of quadratic forms and vector derivatives.
- Acquiring skills in proving theorems in matrix algebra and vector calculus.
A typical phenomenon in empirical research is the wish to make statements about an unobservable population on the basis of an observed sample.
The course Statistics aims to facilitate the construction of statistical statements about the population on the basis of a random sample. The statements may concern statistical estimates or statistical hypothesis tests. Moreover, the statistical statements are typically accompanied by information concerning the level of (un)certainty.
In this course, the construction of "good" estimators and "good" tests in parametrical statistical models is considered. In particular, we will focus on the construction of method of moments estimators, maximum likelihood estimators, (uniformly) most powerful tests and likelihood ratio tests.
This course is an introduction in the theory and methods to solve linear programming problems. The topics of the course are:
- Modeling and solving linear programming problems
- Primal and dual (revised) simplex method
- Duality theory
- Sensitivity analysis
- Network simplex method
The topics that are discussed focus on:
- Developing mathematical methods and skills
- Abstract thinking
- Thinking algorithmically
- Acquiring mathematical intuition
The following topics are included:
- Combinatorics
- Recurrence relations
- Graph theory
- Game theory
The course includes, but is not limited to the following topics:
- Basic bookkeeping techniques
- Basic definitions in bookkeeping, financial and management accounting
- Purchase and sale of goods
- Depreciation of fixed assets
- Accounting for bad debts
- Long term liabilities
- Accounting for Inventories
- Statement of Cash Flows
- Financial Statement Analysis
- Importance of analyzing and managing costs (e.g. product costing systems, Job-Shop and batch production)
- Process Costing and Cost Allocation (e.g. Process-costing systems, joint costs, overhead)
The course is primarily theoretical. In this course we use a lot of linear algebra and see its connection with statistics. After the univariate statistics studied in the previous courses, we move to multivariate statistical methods. We start with the geometry of multivariate samples. Then we generalize the univariate methods to multivariate setting. And finally, we study several techniques, which are useful in practice.
- Week 1: Refresh Object-oriented programming Java
- Week 2: Working with interfaces
- Week 3: Working with inheritance
- Week 4: Working with datastructes from the Collections API
- Week 5-6: Libraries, modern Java features
- Week 7: Summary, other programming languages (no exam material)
The course international economics focuses primarily on the world economy as such and the relationships between countries and trading blocks regarding international trade, capital flows, economic growth, exchange rates and financial crises. Although macroeconomic quantities are at the core of the analysis, these will usually be built up from a microeconomics perspective. The nature of the analysis implies that international economists frequently find inspiration elsewhere for their applications, for example from economic geography, monetary economics, econometrics, development economics or industrial organization. This approach results in a rich diversity of insights, nonetheless characterized by a remarkable coherence.
This course considers the optimisation of functions with and without constraints, both in theory and in practice. The following topics will be covered:
- Analysis of unconstrained problems
- Line search methods
- Newton’s method and variants
- Optimisation of non-differentiable functions
- Analysis of constrained problems
- Algorithms for constrained problems
Finance 1: valuation
During this course we'll study the knowledge necessary to value a firm. The value of the firm influences the prices of its shares en determines the price paid for shares in case of mergers and acquisitions. From the perspective of the financial manager and the financers of the firm Finance 1: valuation will show how investment and financing decisions influence the value of the firm. Besides thinking in terms of classical rational profit maximization thinking, we'll address important developments in behavioural finance and sustainability as well.
Finance 1: valuation encompasses classes, tutorial sessions, webcasts and on-line exercises. During the weekly classes, teacher present knowledge. The tutorial sessions will be focused around real-life case studies, such that students understand how the knowledge is applied for real investment decisions, IPO's and take overs. The webcasts are short films wherein exercises will be discuss and teacher give additional information.
Econometrics is characterized by the combination of economic research questions, use of empirical data, application of statistical and mathematical methods, and the use of software to estimate and evaluate models. All these topics are extensively discussed in the lectures and practised in the tutorials.
- Lectures and exercise lectures: Introduction to econometrics, research questions, methods. The linear regression model (simple and multiple), method of least squares, testing. Non-linear models, maximum likelihood, some asymptotic theory of estimation and testing. The models and methods are motivated by economic applications and applied in practical examples. The required econometric methods make intensive use of earlier courses in the programme, in particular statistics, matrix algebra and analysis.
- Tutorials: Exercises on theory and applications. Further, some tutorials consist of computer sessions to apply econometric techniques by means of the software package EViews.
The course Academic Skills consists of several modules:
- Module A: Academic Communication Skills. This module takes place in year 1 block 2 and is linked to the course Micro-Economics. Students practice their presentation skills. Furthermore, students need to make assignments and give a presentation.
- Module B: Academic Writing Skills. This module takes place in year 1 block 3 and is linked to the course Macro-Economics. Students work on assignments with a focus on reviewing literature.
- Module C: Academic Research Skills. This part takes place in year 2 block 4 and is linked to the course Behavioral Economics. Students work on assignments throughout the block which a focus on examining data and reporting research results.
- Module D: Conducting research individualy, presenting research and reflection skills. This part takes place in year 2 block 5 and is linked to the course Organisation and Strategy. Students work on assignments throughout the block, resulting a research paper. The papers will be presented during the last tutorial. Finally, students make an assignment in which they reflect on their current research capabilities.
Issues in the methodology of economics, such as how unrealistic models can (and should) be and how we can appraise their explanatory power, and issues in ethics of economics, such as the goal of economic policy, but also issues of inequality, distributive justice and the moral limits of markets, are discussed in the lectures. In five tutorials, ethical issues in business and in the market are discussed and analyzed. By active engagement with these topics, students develop a stronger moral sense and they familiarize themselves with theoretical frameworks that enable them to form their own considerate opinion.
Economics typically assumes that people behave like "Homo Economicus". Homo Economicus is a rational and selfish person without cognitive limits. Psychology has shown that people do not behave like Homo Economicus. Consequently, economic and financial models can lead to the wrong predictions and policy recommendations. This course will give an overview of the limitations of traditional economic and financial models and how they can be improved upon by using psychological insights. The course will enable students to have a deeper and more critical look at their own profession and to learn how better economic and financial policy can be made.
The objective of the course is to demonstrate the benefits of using a systematic and analytical approach to decision-making in marketing.
The lectures are a follow-up on the lectures in Econometrics 1. The following topics will be discussed:
- Models with heteroskedasticity and/or serial correlation
- Models with endogenous regressors
- Models for limited dependent variables (logit, probit, multinomial)
After this course the student will have practical and theoretical knowledge of various extensions of the linear model (among which: heteroskedasticity, serial correlation, endogeneity). The student will also have knowledge of models for limited dependent variables (logit model, probit model, multinomial).
The student will be able to apply the theory in practice, and will also gain experience in the analysis of economic data using Eviews.
The contents of the course organisation and strategy cover three blocks: the firm, the market, and the [macro-]environment.
Besides a theoretical approach to these concepts, considerable attention is directed to the explanation and relevance of the concepts by means of extensive practical examples and applications. These examples are discussed during the plenary lectures, guest lectures, working groups, as well as the skills classes.
During the course the following topics are discussed:
The firm
- The horizontal and vertical boundaries of the firm.
- Agency and coordination
- Alternatives for make-or-buy decisions
- Diversification
The market
- Competitors and competition
- Strategic commitment and pricing rivalry
- Entry and exit
The [macro-]environment
- Strategic positioning and competitive advantage
- Innovation
- The macro-environment of the firm
Financial accounting topics:
- Different elements of the financial statements
- Revenue recognition
- Equity, debt and hybrid/convertible instruments, and their impacts on earnings per share
- Taxes and financial reporting
- Cash flow statements
Management accounting topics:
- Management Accounting and Control Systems
- Planning and decision making (e.g. budgeting)
- Evaluating and Managing performance (e.g. variance analysis, responsibility accounting, transfer pricing)
The course consists of two parts: personnel economics and public economics.
- The first part of the course focuses on incentives and workers' motivation inside organisations. The role of monetary and non-monetary incentives in motivating, selecting, and attracting workers to organisations is studied. Topics include the effects of pay-for-performance on motivating and selecting workers, optimal hiring and firing policies, education, team-work, promotion tournaments, and benefits.
- The second part of the course focuses on the functioning of markets in case of public goods, externalities, and asymmetric information, and the role of the government in reducing the inefficiencies that arise when markets do not function perfectly. This includes distributional questions, and a discussion of the limits of government intervention. The normative analysis of government intervention is pared to a positive analysis of collective decision-making.
Combinatorial optimisation deals with finding an optimal solution from a finite set of feasible solutions. Since enumerating this set is practically infeasible in general, one tries to exploit the problem structure to find an optimal solution in a computationally efficient way. In this course, we develop techniques for combinatorial optimisation problems. These techniques include:
- Branch-and-bound
- Lagrangean relaxation
- Maximum flow algorithm
- Hongarian method
- Dynamic programming
European countries are noted for the extent and depth of their welfare systems. Health care coverage is universal and predominantly publicly financed, while social protection against poverty and social exclusion tends to be substantially more generous than on other continents. The continued viability of the European social model is hotly debated. Some question whether generous welfare provisions are consistent with maintaining competitiveness in increasingly globalized markets. Others retort that social insurance eases transitions through the business cycle and public financing of health care constrains costs, including those falling on employers.
This course uses economics to cast light on these issues. Distinguishing between pursuit of equity and efficiency goals, it assesses whether equity gains through state involvement in the finance and provision of health care are achieved at the cost of efficiency, and it considers whether social protection slows the economy by distorting incentives or oils the wheels of growth by cushioning blows to the losers from creative destruction.
The course applies concepts – equity-efficiency trade-off, insurance, adverse selection, moral hazard, tax/benefit disincentives – introduced in Applied Microeconomics (FEB12001X) to analyze public policy on health care and social protection.
You must choose to focus on either health care or social protection. You will work, individually (for 35% of available marks) and with a group of 3 other students, sequentially through 4 assignments on the chosen topic that feed into an assessed policy report, which accounts for 45% of the available marks. Writing such a report will help you acquire analytical skills of the type exercised by economists working in consultancies, government, NGOs and think tanks. You will be randomly assigned to a group that remains fixed throughout the duration of the course. Each group will be randomly assigned one European country (France, Denmark, Germany, Spain, or the Netherlands), and will study either health care or social protection in that country.
(1) Discrete-time Markov chains
(2) Exponential distribution and the Poisson process
(3) Continuous-time Markov chains
(4) Basic queueing theory (M/M/c and variants)
(5) Gaussian processes (Brownian motion and others)
(with applications in econometrics and operations research)
The course focuses on the strategic analysis of markets and contracts under asymmetric information. It does so by using Game Theory in a mathematical, rigorous way.
An IBEB Major consists of one seminar and three courses.
The following simulation techniques will be covered:
- Basic set-up of a Discrete-event simulation model
- Formulating complex econometric and OR problems in a simulation model.
- Model validation
- Random number generators
- Methods to generate realisations of random variables
- Discrete event simulation
- Monte Carlo method
- Statistical analysis of simulation results.
- Translating a practical economic decision problem into a mathematical and statistical model
- Solving/estimating model parameters
- Translating the model results into practical implications
- Presenting research findings (both orally and in writing)
Time series analysis concerns modelling sequential observations on economic variables, such as monthly unemployment figures. A suitable time series model can be used for making forecasts and for policy analysis. A key issue in developing a suitable model for time series concerns the dynamic features of economic variables, such as trends, seasonal fluctuations, and business cycles.
The main topics covered in this course are:
- Theory of stationary dynamic processes
- Linear time series models (ARMA)
- Model selection
- Parameter estimation
- Evaluating time series models
- Handling special observations (outliers)
- Forecasting methods and evaluation
- Nonlinear time series models
Students are allowed to replace the Minor with studying abroad, or with an internship.
- The elective space is 12 ec when the Minor is rounded off at 12 ec, and 9 ec when the Minor is rounded off at 15 ec.
The Career Skills programme consists of the obligatory course ‘Your Future Career’ and several other 1-credit elective courses from which you can choose one preferred course. In the online course ‘Your Future Career’ you will learn to identify which professional environment and culture are the best match for you and work on various practical job searching skills.
There are many different Career Skills elective courses, for example Personal Effectiveness, Project Management, Managing Complexity and language courses. Some courses are organised jointly with our study associations, such as Model United Nations and the Debate Workshop Cycle.
The history of economic thought helps us to understand why economists think they way they do today. It describes how theoretical frameworks have changed over time.
Subjects include, among others:
- Classical school
- Marginalism
- Neo-classical school
- Keynes
- and more recent economic approaches.
- An Econometrics Major consists of one seminar and two courses.
The thesis in an individual piece of research about a subject from the Econometrics and Operations Research Major you followed., More information about topics, supervisors and the writing process can be found on the thesis hub on Canvas.
Disclaimer
The overview above provides an impression of the curriculum for this programme for the academic year 2023-2024. It is not an up-to-date study schedule for current students. They can find their full study schedules on MyEUR. Please note that minor changes to this schedule are possible in future academic years.