Modeling Economic and Social Systems
Overview
Why do nation-states fight wars? When is it the right time to bluff in poker and diplomacy? Why do stock markets crash? And why do people have the values and beliefs that they do? All of these phenomena depend on modeling how humans make decisions. This cluster, with faculty from economics, political science, sociology, and statistics, will teach students how to build and test models in the social sciences.
There are two types of courses in this cluster. The introductions to game theory and statistical modeling provide students with training in mathematical methods so that they can quickly get to the point where they are able to engage in original research. Another aspect of training in methods is that interdisciplinary work in the social and natural sciences is greatly facilitated by early methods training of this kind, and either of these courses will allow students to read broadly in a number of disciplines.
The courses on culture and games will allow students to build models of human behavior and see how methods are applied in the social sciences. As part of their applied course, students will be asked to work in small groups and complete an original research project. Students will have access to computer labs and experimental facilities at the Social Science Research Institute. The hope is that this cluster will serve to generate cohorts of undergraduates who will be able to engage in increasingly sophisticated research during their tenure at Duke.
Cluster Prereq: Math 31 or the appropriate AP score.
Courses
Seminar: Statistics 99FCS, An Introduction to Statistical Modeling
David Banks, Professor of the Practice, Department of Statistical Science
In this course, students will learn about statistical modeling, with primary emphasis on developing critical thinking skills and perfoming analyses on real data sets. After completing this course, students will be able to design and analyze basic statistical studies, to understand and criticize statistical methods in journals and the media, and to appreciate the power and utility of statistical thinking. Examples and methods are drawn primarily from the behavioral, natural, and social sciences and public policy.
As part of this course, students will also learn to use the statistical modeling package R.
[ - ] Hide course description
Seminar: Economics 99FCS, An Introduction to Game Theory
Genna Miller, Visiting Instructor, Department of Economics
The goal of this course is three-fold. First, we develop an analytical way of thinking that underlies many questions in the social sciences and that is broadly applicable to many facets of life -- business, politics, and personal decision-making. Second, we lay the foundation for students who choose to continue in the social sciences, so that they can better integrate intuition with the technical tools that they will need to develop in later courses. In so doing, we will make use of a number of mathematical concepts ranging from decision theory to game theory. We will also utilize techniques in experimental economics in order to test theories for ourselves, in our own classroom. Third, we will use these basic tools to describe the sorts of research questions studied by professional social scientists.
Students will work in small groups to develop their own formal, theoretical model of a particular situation of interest to them, and will then present their ideas to the class at the end of the semester. As part of their project, students will also devise an experiment and/or game in which their classmates can participate, in order to illustrate and test the theory they developed in their project.
Seminar: Political Science 99FCS, Games Humans Play: Models of Diplomacy, Poker and War
Scott DeMarchi, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science
This course will build models of various games humans play, with a focus on behavior that is of general interest(e.g., bluffing). Throught the course, we will play games and attempt to model these games using the tools of game theory and computational political economy. In recent years, various teams of researchers have made progress in studying games such as chess and poker(in particular, Texas Hold`em), and we will survey this literature. As a result, students will be exposed toan overview of modern research findings in both computer science and social science.
The main assignment for the course will be to model a game of interest to the student. Students will work in small groups to accomplish this goal and will present their findings to the class at the end of the semester.
[ - ] Hide course description
Seminar: Sociology 99FCS Population, Modernization and Culture Wars
Angela O`Rand, Professor and Chair, Department of Sociology
This course will focus on conducting quantitative research on variations in the values and beliefs across societies that represent 85 percent of the world's population. Such values as individual autonomy, self expression, gender equality and democracy and beliefs attached to major religions such as Buddhism, Catholicism and Islam are among the topics of interest. Group and individual research projects will utilize the World Values Surveys linked to economic and demographic indicators. The course will provide an opportunity to learn how to formulate a research question motivated by theory; to examine the associations among structural and attitudinal variables; and to understand the strengths and limitations of such quantitative databases and analyses.
Students will be placed in groups and given a specific assignment using the survey and indicator datasets and asked to prepare presentations. In addition, individual students will select a question that interests them and complete a paper for the course. This paper must include a statistical model to support or reject their hypothesis.
[ - ] Hide course description
Focus 99FCS.14 Special Topics in Focus: Modeling Social and Economic Systems
Students faculty will meet weekly in this half-credit course to discuss issues of common interest that bridge the topics of individual seminar courses.
[ - ] Hide course description