Tag: Cambridge

A letter to my children

Posted on by Rhys Williams

In Cambridge we have the weird tradition of a parenting system, where 2nd years can get college children: it’s basically a buddy system to help freshers integrate into Cambridge life. Below is info for Girton Economists, but most should apply for Cambridge Economists.

Dear Kids,

Hi, my name is Rhys and I’m your college father. Your college mother is ***, who reads English and should be shortly in touch to fill in any gaps I miss. We are your college parents, every Cambridge student is assigned these when they start and it’s our job to give you information and act as a student pastoral outlet to help you settle in. [...]

Life at Cambridge Part II

Posted on by Rhys Williams

This is a long overdue follow on from my previous post Life at Cambridge, and details my experience of the Cambridge Economics Tripos for 1st year Lent and Easter terms.
The Course

Lent

Microeconomics

This term we began by looking at Game Theory, where we cover the basics such as Nash Equilibrium, before moving on to more sophisticated games, looking at 3×3 matrices as well as 2×2. Simultaneous games are considered, along with Cournot and Bertrand games and models of business strategy and the notion of game theory is applied to matters such as externalities and public goods. There are also references to evaluation, such as how game theory isn’t the best model of real-life situations; for example in a finite game, theory tells us that if it pays to cheat in the last round (i.e. [...]

Oxbridge Interview Questions

Posted on by Rhys Williams

The Oxbridge Interviews are coming up soon (Mine with Gonville and Caius is on the 5th!) and below are some Economic Interview Questions I have found, I’ll be answering some of them in future posts!

Why Economics?

Why Cambridge, or more specifically why this College?

Are large or small companies more successful?

Explain how the Phillip Curve arises. (Lesson here)

What are the effects of currency speculation? (Hot money is discussed here)

Compare Keynesian and Classical Macroeconomics.

Discuss the interaction between fiscal and monetary policy. (Lesson here)

Would it be feasible to have an economy entirely based on the service sector? [...]