2nd year classes

Well, I'm starting the second year tomorrow, and I have to figure out all these elective classes to take. For those interested, I have to fulfill a) field requirements and b) distribution requirements. Fields are combinations of three different classes in a related topic. I have to take two fields by the end of the year, and then take a comprehensive test in one of the fields next summer. The tests are a lot less stressful than the core examinations I took last summer, but it's still pretty important. For distribution requirements, I have to take 3 classes in fields different from my chosen two, and the three have to be in separate fields themselves.

My choices are pretty limited, especially because there's only one field that I'm actively interested in, which is the labor field. While not interested in labor economics per se, it is a very good sequence with a lot of applied micro.

Aside from that field, though, I don't know what I'm doing. I may take a growth and trade field (macro), a public economics field (micro), or the econometrics field (metrics). So it's really a crap-shoot right now, which sucks a little because I have to commit pretty strongly to at least two of those this quarter and then decide by the beginning of classes next quarter which are my two fields, because that's the only way to get all three classes together and fulfill my distribution requirements at the same time.

At the moment, my class schedule is the following for the fall quarter:

- Price Theory II (Murphy), the first class of the labor sequence. Murphy is amazing, so this should be good.
- International Growth and Trade (Lucas), the first class of a macro sequence. I'm not really interested in this class, as it's the neoclassical growth model over and over and possibly over again, which is a little boring to me at this point. However, it's my only chance to have any exposure to Lucas, who I hear is pretty smart or something. Anyway, I'll probably stick with it.
- Public Sector Economics (Mulligan), is exactly what it sounds like. The course description makes it sound pretty interesting, but by all accounts Mulligan is very boring. I have to see it for a couple classes before I make my decision.
- Numerical Methods (Judd) is a class I'm auditing because I'm a nerd. This class is a must for macro people, as it teaches the essentials of various optimization/approximation/programming needed for a lot of macro models. I'm just sitting in because of my computer science background gives me a (very slight) comparative advanatage and because I'm interested in the topic.

The first week, I'll probably also go to an IO class and a business school econometrics class, and see if I like those as well. There's also a macro game theory class which sounds interesting as well, but the chances are slim I end up there.