Methods of PPE I

URL study guide

https://studiegids.vu.nl/en/courses/2024-2025/W_JSM_102

Course Objective

Upon completion of the course the student has acquired (a) basic knowledge of
• core mathematical and computational techniques of optimization
• Syllogistic, propositional and first-order predicate logic
• concepts and approaches in decision theory (utility theory, game theory, social choice theory), and (b) basic skills regarding
• logical syntax and semantics
• differentiation of functions of one or more variables
• finding extreme values of functions (one or more variables, with and without constraints)
• solving systems of linear equations
• modeling of individual preferences, interactive decision making, and voting procedures

Course Content

This course trains students in the formal thinking and reasoning used in PPE and applied to economic and political decision-making. The students become acquainted with basic concepts and techniques concerning formal reasoning (logic), optimization (mathematics), and decision making (decision theory). The Mathematics part of the course focuses, after a rehearsal of elementary concepts and tools from algebra and calculus, on how to solve mathematical optimization problems. Topics covered include the differentiation of functions (one or more variables), finding extreme values of functions (one or more variables, with and without constraints) and solving systems of linear equations. The Logic part of the course discusses techniques for the formal analysis of reasoning. Students will become acquainted with the basic concepts of syllogistic, propositional and first order logic. They will learn how to formalize sentences and arguments from natural language into the language of propositional and predicate logic. They will also learn how to determine the validity of arguments by means of models: Venn diagrams for syllogistic and truth tables for propositional logic. The part on Decision theory concerns the outlines of models of individual preferences (utility theory) and collective decision making (game theory), as well as the aggregation of individual preferences (social choice theory). Particular attention is paid to how the other formal techniques covered in the course are used in decision theory.

Teaching Methods

Lectures and seminars (math labs and active learning groups).

Method of Assessment

written mid term exam (33%)written final exam (67%)compulsory exercises in Maths Labs (Pass/Fail)

Literature

Sydsæter, K., P. Hammond and A. Strøm (2012), Essential Mathematics for Economic Analysis, 5th/6th Edition, Pearson Education, Chapters 6, 7, 8, 11,13, 14 (The VU Bookshop and Aureus sell a special edition including extended access code for MyMathLab) Logic in Action method, available here: https://logicinaction.org/ We will only use (parts of) Chapters 2, 3 and 4. Peterson, M. (2010), An Introduction to Decision Theory, Cambridge UP, Chapters 1-5, 11-13 Recommended reading: Sydsæter, K., P. Hammond and A. Strøm (2012), Essential Mathematics for Economic Analysis, 5th/6th Edition, Pearson Education, Chapters 1-4.

Target Audience

First year PPE students

Additional Information

Please note that participation in the seminars is mandatory.