Courses

Last updated on Nov 5, 2024

ECON 622 PhD Computational Economics (UBC)

Co-instructed with Jesse Perla and Paul Schrimpf.

Course description: This elective PhD course presents an in-depth review of computational methods in economics. The course provides PhD students with an advanced understanding of the theory underlying computational tools used in economics research, and practical experience implementing these methods. The course is language agnostic and roughly divided into three parts. The first part covers the fundamentals of advanced computer programming using Julia, and covers topics including generic programming, numerical integration, and optimization. The second part covers machine learning in theory and practice, and covers topics like accelerated linear algebra and automatic differentiation in JAX, neural networks, and kernel spaces. The final section covers advanced theoretical concepts used in structural estimation including Bayesian graphical models, Markov Random Fields, advanced Markov-Chain Monte Carlo methods, and an eye on harnessing graph structure to reduce computational complexity.

Course materials: Materials for this course are available here.

Last updated on Nov 5, 2024

ECON 526 MA Quantitative Economics (UBC)

Co-instructed with Jesse Perla and Paul Schrimpf.

Course description: This core Master’s degree course presents a rigorous overview of the theory and practice of quantitative economics. The course is designed to provide students with the tools necessary to understand and conduct quantitative research in economics and finance using the Python programming language. The course is roughly divided into three parts. The first part covers the theory of linear algebra, probability, and statistics. The second part covers the theory and practice of causal inference, particularly through the lens of directed acyclic graphs. The third section covers advanced topics in econometrics and applied microeconomics, including difference-in-differences, regression discontinuity, and instrumental variables.

Lecture notes: Lecture notes for this course are available here.

Last updated on Feb 9, 2024

ECON 323 Quantitative Economic Modeling and Data Science (UBC)

Course description: This course presents an introduction to data science, economics, programming, and how they can be used to understand the world around us. We focus on learning practical programming skills for the workplace and future studies in economics and finance, envisioned as a complement to econometrics. Unlike other courses in computer science, data science, or statistics, the emphasis of this course includes both the programming and the statistics necessary to analyze data and subsequently interpret results through the lens of economics.

Lecture notes: The course closely follows QuantEcon’s Data Science Lectures.

Last updated on Feb 9, 2024

ECO4400 Games and Decisions (FSU)

Course description: This advanced elective course provides an introduction to the applied theoretical modeling of games and decision making, designed to be both practical for and accessible to students from a wide range of backgrounds. The course focuses on problems arising in business and economic environments, such as in public economics and industrial organization, with the primary goal of promoting critical and strategic thinking in both professional settings and everyday life.

Summer 2021 (face-to-face)

Selected student comments:

I appreciate that Philip takes a learning forward approach to instructing this class, he is transparent about being 'an easy grader' and it is obvious that he is more focused on learning than he is on his students getting grades. I think this is conducive to a healthy learning environment, at least for me personally. I think I have learned more in this class than 90% of my other economics courses. The assignments are directly correlated with what we learned in class and they are short and to the point. There is no busy work asked of us which allows me to put in ample time into actual important studying/learning with the materials given. He always gives great detailed feedback and follow through points. I also enjoy MobLab.
Dr. Solimine was very helpful in teaching us this course, and always offered additional help if we got lost on a problem. I really enjoyed having him as a professor.
I really liked how you provided detailed feedback on the exams and problem sets. It really helped me understand and learn from my mistakes.
Going to office hours was very helpful, where you gave full in depth explanations of the homework and exams each time for my understanding. The Mob Lab was fun to do because of the practical application of the material we learned was being put to use. I do not like senseless learning... ...with this class each week we learned then you would provide examples, sometimes in games relevance or real life economics issues where game theory could be implemented. With that in mind I thought it helped me be engaged a bit more.

Summer 2020 (online)

Selected student comments:

His effort and time put in outside class is outstanding. Genuinely cares about his students. One of the best teachers I've had at fsu.
I really appreciated the decision to have video lectures on MTuF and face-to-face lectures (or screen-to-screen I guess) lectures on WTh. This allowed for students to learn on their own in the beginning of the week and have ample time to ask a question during class before a quiz or assignment is due.
I liked his zoom lectures every Wednesday and Thursday. They helped a lot with the pre recorded lectures he gave. He would take the time to help all of us out which I like.
He helps in office hours very well and tries to make sure everyone understands what is going on even though its a tough class.
...he mixed the work load but also giving us time to take in the information without us just doing it to do it. I know for a fact I will be using game theory everyday of my life.

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Last updated on Feb 9, 2024

ECO2023 Principles of Microeconomics (FSU)

Course description: This introductory course covered basic topics in microeconomics, from supply and demand to market structure, capital markets, and financial economics. The primary goal of this course is to provide students with the insight to recognize economic problems and the tools to analyze them. Being filled (almost) entirely with incoming business-school freshmen, the course was designed to promote critical thinking and to encourage values that are important to academic achievement at the collegiate level.

Summer 2019 (face-to-face)

Selected student comments:

Philip was a very good teacher. He showed passion in the subject matter, teaches in a dynamic way, has good intentions for his students, etc. As a junior, I have not found many professors like this and I don't think I am the only one who feels this way.
I enjoyed having Phil as a teacher. He knows a lot about economics, math, and science. FSU is lucky to have him!
Always was clear in explaining everything. If somebody would not understand he would demonstrate what it looked like on a graph to provide a clearer understanding.
I greatly appreciated that Philip Solimine was very understanding and thoughtful. He highly encouraged meeting with him during his office hours to help with materials that we might not understand and he would also backtrack and explain further certain parts of the lessons that he just thought might have been difficult or that we did not seem to grasp well. He cared very much that his students were learning and understanding.

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