Stephen Lovelady
7th May 2011
Road Map
 Introduction: the life of an Economist.
 What is Economics?
 Economics at Warwick.
 Being a good student.
 Admissions.
 Q & A session.
An Example Economist -Me
 My name is Stephen Lovelady, a PhD student and Teaching
Fellow at Warwick.
 I have been at Warwick since 2002! I have been...
 An Undergraduate – BSc. Maths and Economics (2002-2005)
 A Masters student – MSc. Economics (2005-2006)
 A PhD student – PhD Economics (2006 - )
 A Teaching Fellow – Lecturing Microeconomics (2009 - )
 A Researcher –
 An Admissions Officer – Non Home/EU Applicants (2009 - )
 A Resident Tutor – Rootes Residences (2006 - )
 Actively involved in the Students’ Union
The Life of an Economist
Undergraduate
Economics
Exit Economics
“City jobs”
(investment
banking,
consulting, etc.)
Masters
Other jobs
(accounting,
teaching, etc.)
Policy Work
(HMT, BoE, GES)
Economics
Consultancy
Doctorate
Academic Work
(University Professor)
Specialist Consultancy
What is Economics?
 A way of thinking – not a set of rules, laws or graphs!
 The process matters more than the outcome...
 Learning how to think like an Economist
 Learning technical skills
 Maths
 Econometrics
 Game Theory
 Economics as a “Social Science”
 Then apply what you learn practically anywhere...
Research in Applied Economics
 How do Warwick Undergraduates apply what they learn?
 They can choose the RAE module in their final year and
produce an undergraduate dissertation
 Do video games make you more violent?
 “Deal or No Deal” as a natural experiment in risk preferences
 Modelling football transfers using international trade theory
 How house prices ripple through the UK (I did this!)
 How to increase blood donations
 And...
Undergraduate Dissertations...
 ...
 Measuring risk by observing poker players
 Attempting to explain obesity
 Is there a wage premium for being attractive?
 Why don’t males do their fair share of the housework?
 What are the incentives to commit crime and how do these
change across the UK?
 And this is just a tiny sample...
Some Examples of My Research
 Consulting for Birmingham City Council on how to target
their spending to do the most good
 How does memory play a role in Economics?
 Are happier people more productive?
 And how can we make them happier?!
 How are our decisions guided by emotions?
 Specifically regret and our experiences of regret
 How can we test “behavioural economics” in the lab?
The common denominator?
 Across all these topics, and more, the key feature is
thinking like an Economist:
 Develop and apply sensible theory

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From first principles
From experiments, psychology or neuroscience
 Support that theory with data that is as objective as possible.
 Develop sensible conclusions that point out the limits of the
theory (aka the assumptions) and data
 This methodology need not be limited to traditional topics
(unemployment, inflation, competition policy, etc.).
The core Economics Course
 3-year course
 Erasmus & Voluntary Year of Work Experience schemes can
take it to 4
 Strongly rooted in Mathematical foundations
 First year covers Micro, Macro, History and develops
Quantitative Techniques
 Teaching in lectures and seminar groups (15 hours contact
per week)
 Assessment is by exams, tests, group project work,
presentations, assignments and 3rd year dissertation.
Other Courses
 The Economics department also offer a number of other
courses:
 Economics and Industrial Organization;
 Economics and Economic History;
 Economics, Politics and International Studies.
 Also available within Warwick: PPE, MORSE, Maths &
Economics, numerous business courses at WBS that
include a significant Economics element.
 Options allow you to tailor your degree to your interests
Our Modules
 The core components are designed to follow in a series
 Our optional modules reflect the skills of the department
 Complete list on the website
 All modules are designed to include the latest thinking,
current events and modern techniques
 Assessment methods are specific to each module
Languages & Year Abroad
 You can choose to do Language Modules as a key part of
the course
 And may want to apply for an Erasmus year abroad
between 2nd and 3rd year
 About 20 places per year
 Distributed over 10 universities

Madrid, Barcelona, Munich, Paris, Venice etc.
 You can also apply to go to the University of California
 2 places per year currently
 Places given to high quality students
Economics Outside the Department
 Student run societies and events
 Warwick Economics Summit
 Now running for 10 years and is superb
 Warwick Economics Society
 ‘Assumptions’ magazine
 Warwick International Development Society and Summit
 Warwick Entrepreneurs
 Warwick Emerging Markets Forum
 Running for the first time in 2011
Being a good student
 Economics is a tough course:
 Analytical and rigorous – lots of maths, statistics, and
analytical thinking
 Very broad – the ability to solve maths problems one week
and think about world history the next
 A competitive environment - students here all want to
succeed!
 You will need to work hard, be innovative and creative,
work in a team, be able to solve problems, write and
present, and think like an Economist to do well!
What do We provide?
 Key areas of Economics (micro, macro, economic history, etc.)
 Core skills (maths, econometrics, game theory, etc.)
 Teaching to help you to think like an economist
 A sensible mixture of large and small group teaching
 Regular access to a personal tutor
 Regular assessments and feedback
 High quality support network
 Third year dissertation
 A reputation for excellence well-understood by employers
 Quite simply one of the best places to study Economics in the
UK – with one of the best departments
What do Employer’s Want?
 “I would like to see more enthusiasm and imagination from economics
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graduates for economics in a wider range of application areas.”
“The knowledge here is pretty standard for all those we have employed so
far but the graduates offer little in the way of application to real
situations.”
“We get the odd outstanding individual who really lives economics.”
“. . . an ability to think about novel situations in relation to economic
theory.”
“Graduates who see economics in the world around them and don't
need the parameters spelt out.”
“Employability says they turn up smart, on time, their soft skills are good,
they can listen, diagnose . . . have an ability to think.“
“They don't regurgitate what you have told them . . . they have an ability
to think.”
The Bottom Line
 Do you want to study Economics?
 If so, do you want to come to Warwick?
 Some things to consider:
 Pure Economics vs. joint courses;
 Campus vs. city;
 Geographical preferences.
Some Figures from 2010
 >3000 applications in total from across the world.
 Almost 2000 from UK/EU
 For UK/EU just over 450 offers, around 150 admitted
 For non-UK/EU around 800 offers, around 150 admitted
 A multicultural student population: about 50% of our
admissions come from outside the EU.
 If you come to Warwick you will be working and living
alongside some of the brightest students in the world...
Coming to Warwick in 2012
 Competition is fierce! So we also need:
 Superb motivation (personal statement, school report)
 Superb prior record (GCSEs, AS marks, school report)
 Commitment to Maths (Maths A-level or equivalent for most
of our courses)
 If you get an offer it will be in the range AAAb-A*AAA for
A-level students (likely A*AAa) and 38 for IB students.
 With minimum A grade, or 6 at Higher Level, in Maths
 Fees & funding info at http://go.warwick.ac.uk/ugfunding
 Student Funding Team are in the Digi Lab today
The End
 Many thanks for coming to this talk.
 I hope this helps you to decide whether you want to study
Economics and if so whether Warwick might be the place
for you!
 Students from Warwick Economics Courses will be on hand
to chat about their experiences after Q&A