Teaching
BEM 106: Data Science in Economics and Finance
Link to most recent syllabus: LINK
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This is a two-part course about causal identification in economics/finance and practical data science research methods. It straddles the line between a traditional econometrics class and a Python bootcamp with real-world data used in industry.
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From the catalog: ​This course revolves around qualitative topics and quantitative methods in data science for finance and economics. We discuss linear models and inference, sources of bias, databases and data validation, web scraping, and introductory machine learning methods for clustering and text analysis. A special emphasis is placed on developing a robust understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of social science research methods as they apply to real-world problems. The class also introduces students to the Python programming language and its ecosystem of packages
EC 129: Economic History of the U.S.
Link to most recent syllabus: LINK
​Link to most recent reading list: LINK
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This is a topics course in U.S. economic history for Caltech undergraduates taught at the Ph.D. level. Students are expected to read and evaluate economic history papers written in the leading journals, conduct replication exercises, and come up with novel research questions.
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From the catalog: ​This course explores the economic development of the United States, emphasizing the historical narrative, economic theory, and analytical methods used to study it. We will cover ten topics – one topic per two lectures - about the major economic phenomena over the last 125 years. Students will engage with various research methods and economic theories pertinent to the field. Essential social science analytical tools, including linear models, inference, instrumental variables, and difference-in-differences, will be introduced. Students are expected to attend all classes and actively contribute to class discussions.
SS 229: Graduate Economic History
Link to most recent syllabus and reading list: LINK
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This is the second course in the second-year PhD sequence on economic history at Caltech.
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From the catalog: ​This course is designed for second- and third-year Social Science Ph.D. candidates who are interested in (a) writing a dissertation in economic history, (b) applying economic history tools and analysis to their current dissertation plan, or (c) learning more about the field of economic history. Even though the focus of this class is the United States, we will read some foundational papers whose focus is not the U.S. This class builds on its Winter quarter counterpart, SS229A. The main goal of the course is to involve students in academic research.
Student Feedback
(a very non-)Random sample of student feedback
Pawel is the GOAT!
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Pawel is goated. Highly recommend taking course.
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One of the best courses I have ever taken at Caltech. Professor Janas is very chill and knowledgable. I really enjoyed the lectures. I thought that the homework assignments deepened my understanding of the materials presented in class and were manageable, and were mostly coding-based, which I really liked. I really liked the Selenium assignment even though that homework took significantly more time than the other homework. The in-class quizzes are manageable and nothing to worry about as long as you pay some attention during the lecture. It seemed like most of the class was already exposed to the content presented in the class, but I found this class a good way to solidify my knowledge of that content and how it relates to data science. Definitely recommend!
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I really enjoyed the lectures. Professor Janas was very insightful, and I found the content to be very interesting. I also liked how lecture slides were posted before lecture so that I could annotate the slides/take notes during lecture and it made lectures easy to follow.​
I enjoyed the intuitive explanations of how our economy came to be where it is and the tremendous economic changes that have happened in the past couple centuries as well as how they project into near future.
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This might not be a writing intensive course in the future, but it's a great class to take. If you are at all interested about economics and how specific things impact the economy of the United States, take this class - Prof. Janas is amazing.
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