The UCLA Economics Precollege Summer Institute is offering a three-week-long introduction to Python for Economists. Python is a commonly used programming language for data science. It is a powerful and easy-to-learn tool that can be applied to make simple histograms or fit complicated machine-learning models. This course is a basic introduction to Python for basic data exploration, analysis, and visualization.
Students will learn about data types and focus on analysis through a hands-on approach. Students will complete the program with the foundation to recognize data types and manipulate data for visualization and application. The data and examples will mainly come from finance and economics. Learn from one of the top-ranked economics departments in the world. UCLA’s Economics Department has two interlocking objectives. We conduct cutting-edge research by developing new methodologies and applying them to understand society’s most critical issues. We also seek to train the next generation of economic leaders in the private sector, government, and academia. You will have the chance to work with current undergraduate students and faculty as part of our Economics Precollege Summer Institute. Expand your knowledge of critical economic issues affecting the United States and the world – all while earning college credit and studying at one of the top-ranked economics departments in the world!
Lecture topics include:
- Data Types
- Flow Control, Functions & Loops
- Numerical Programming (NumPy)
- Basic Math & Array Functions
- Data Manipulation (pandas)
- Visualization
- Basic Regression & Time Series
- Data Analysis Applications
The course grade will be based on class participation, one midterm exam, a cumulative final exam.
During the Python for Economics Institute students will attend or participate in:
- Lectures on economics by UCLA faculty followed by discussion sessions led by UCLA Economics Peer Learning Facilitators
- Apply data analysis using Python on various economic issues, and multiple standpoints
