Population Economics 01:220:477
Rutgers University, Professor Ira N. Gang, Email: gang at.rutgers.edu Include 439 in the subject line
 
Special Note on No Text and How to Approach the Material in this Course.
Read this note completely to see how I expect you to use –or not use— the  material I have made available.

Many students ask for a text.  Unfortunately there is no text available for Population Economics. I have set up the class with other readings. ALL OF THE READINGS are there to reinforce and expand on the lectures, to provide more examples and interpretations than I can cover in lecture; to provide you with the opportunity to go beyond what we talk about in class.  In making up the examinations I do NOT look at any of the readings.  The questions on the exams are drawn from what I cover during my lectures.  Will every question on the exam be on something I mentioned in class?  Well, yes and no!  Yes in the sense that I do not go elsewhere to look for material on which to ask questions.  No in the sense that, as always,  I expect you to have mastered the material we discuss in class prior to the exam and use that as a basis for answering further questions on the topics.  This is what an upper level course in Economics is all about.  This is why it has all the pre-requisites. I strongly recommend that you form "study groups" with other members of the class and review the material and quiz one another regularly.

Will you do better on the exam if you study the Readings?  Most likely, as long as you do so in addition to coming to lectures and studying that material. It is much more important to do something I have yet to convince many students to do: I very strongly recommend that right from the beginning of the course you find yourself a set of study partners and meet with them regularly.  You will find that each of you pick up on different aspects of the class and probably have different material in the notes you take from class.  Test each other! Explain the material to each other!