Personal Statement
Applied Program: Economics

Ever since my childhood, I have displayed a unique aptitude in mathematics. This prominent capability allowed me to be enrolled into Mathematics Experimental Class to receive rigorous trainings in mathematics as early as my primary school days. Since the third grade, I started to receive more intensified trainings in specialized Olympics mathematics. My special sensitivity to figures and numbers, as well as the influence exerted on me by my father’s business sensitivity (my father is a successful businessman), helped to shape in me a special interest in economics and this special interest has now developed into a serious academic impulse to engage in the study and the research of economics.

I intend to apply for the Ph. D. degree program of Economics at Stanford University, for I view Economics as the quintessence of the science in Finance in my undergraduate program. My academic studies at Renmin University of China (RUC) aroused my interest in Finance. My systematic learning and solid foundation of professional knowledge have paved a smooth way for my education at a higher level, thus I have gained sufficient courage and confidence in choosing Economics as the orientation of my academic pursuit at Stanford. Stanford University is a well-established and most prestigious university in the United States, with its Economics study in a constantly leading position in the world.

In order to meet the harsh requirements set by Stanford University for its economics program, applicants have to be equipped with a solid groundwork in Mathematics, Economics, as well as in English. I am delighted to find that I am good at them all. As I have indicated in the first paragraph, my extraordinary talent for mathematics began to manifest itself at the stage of my primary school education, for then I could win a full score (100 points) in the Olympic Contest of Mathematics, second prize in the Joint Competition of Mathematics at senior high school. My outstanding achievements earned me a laudatory title of “Prince of Mathematics” among my fellow students. English was what I was immensely adept at, and I was the third prize winner in the Chengdu English Contest when I was studying at junior high school. In addition, I later assisted Mr. Chen Zhongyang in compiling his textbook Course-study Series on WTO-oriented Modern Financial English, and undertook some translation and proofreading work in it.

In my undergraduate program, I achieved straight A’s in all the important courses in advanced mathematics such as calculus, linear algebra, probability, and statistics. So did I in almost all the core courses of economics, including microeconomics, macroeconomics, international economics, political economics, financial management, and securities investment. Apart from doing my coursework well, I have made conscious efforts to broaden my perspectives by collecting relevant data to do some extracurricular research. Under the guidance Prof. Zhou Yie’an, my teacher of western economics, I read more than a dozen economics classics, some of them are usually listed in the bibliography for Ph. D. program and some are in English, including Monetary Theory by Haris, Commercial Bank by Ross and Finance by Ziwe Bodi. Such a wide-ranged reading made it possible for me to do relatively deep studies and research in macroeconomics and econometrics.

As a junior, I came to realize that at present little research has been done concerning the issuance volume of paper money and few successful models have been constructed. I wrote a research paper entitled An Empirical Study of China’s Issuance of Paper Money in which I performed quantitative analysis of the volume of the paper money issued by China’s Central Bank over the past 20 years. In better complete the paper, I first self-studied SAS and SPSS operations. In view of the fact that the Central Bank ‘s money issuance is closely related to the economic growth of China, I began with an overall examination of the macroeconomic situation of China since its opening-up campaign 20 years ago. With the help of diagrams, I tried to discover their interrelationship. After examining the relevance of various western monetary theories to China’s economic situation, I carried out time-sequence analysis of the sample data by using the classical quantity theory of money. Taking into account issues such as multiple collinearity, heteroscedasticity and sequence correlation common in multi-regression，I made repeated modification of my models. Furthermore, I introduced virtual variable to allow for the changes happened in China’s political environment since 1992. This research paper of mine has been published in x x x (Issue x x, 2002).

The current situation in the field of Economics is that it has been highly digitalized with Quantitative Study occupying a dominant place. Thus I will focus my attention of Economics study on Quantitative Analysis, which is where the advantage of Stanford’s Economics study and research lies. I have read a vast number of foreign professional teaching materials on my own accord and gained a keen insight into the closer interrelation of economics with mathematics and computer along with the proceeding of the information age. With the arrival of knowledge economy, the focus of economics study and research has been switched from the traditional level of material to that of knowledge technology. The traditional research on economics will also be transferred from the “bipolar” micro and macro study and research to an intermediate economy, an entirely new field chosen between the two poles.

However, the study of modern economics in China started at a relatively late stage. Now that China has completed her accession into the WTO, great momentum has been given to speed up her full economic integration into the world. In view of this major challenge, China is in a bad need of a large number of scholars well equipped with the up-to-date knowledge of economics. As for me, I view this as a tremendous and valuable opportunity. Taking into consideration my own advantages and endowments in mathematics and English, I am determined to pursue an advanced degree in Economics at Stanford University.

Concerning my learning schedules, I do hope I could be able to adapt quickly and well to the life and studies at an American university, make strenuous efforts to construct a solid foundation within two years, and spend about three years’ time on my in-depth researches on some perspective financial problems. Thus with my dedicated efforts, I am fully convinced that I will finally make myself an elite expert in this field. I have taken great initiative in having self-studied quite a number of professional teaching materials on finance while I did my undergraduate study program in China, such as Mankew‘s Principle of Economics (English Edition), Mishikin‘s Monetary Finance, and Falian‘s Modern Views of Microeconomy. That’s why I am able to make a sensible and clear choice of my research objective right now.

I am fully aware that I may well encounter all kinds of hardships on my long journey of academic pursuit. However, I think only when a man comes up against some difficulties can he be stimulated to surpass himself. As far as I am concerned, I am willing to lead a life full of challenges, for it could provide me with a brand new starting point for a higher goal in my life. As Archimedes once said, “Give me a place to stand, and I will move the world.”, so I would like to tell myself that “Give me a wider stage, and I will play a more splendid movement in my life.”