ISI Interview

[Amit Goyal]

Some of you have written to me asking what they ask in an ISI interview. Here is my reply:

ISI interview will not be too different from solving problems in an economics entrance exam. Its just that you will now be asked to solve those problems on the board. To prepare for it you need to practice problem solving. Unlike entrance exams, there is lesser or no scope to skip explanations that goes with each step. For example: Suppose you are asked to solve the following problem:
Let X and Y be i.i.d Uniform [0, 1]. Find the cumulative distribution function of Z = max{X, Y}.
Lets say you know how to do it and you wrote:
For 0 < z < 1,
Pr(Z ≤ z)
= Pr(max{X, Y} ≤ z)
= Pr(X ≤ z, Y ≤ z)                 (why?)
= Pr(X ≤ z)Pr(Y ≤  z)              (why?)
= z^2
Remember to answer those whys along with the derivation.

[n.saish]

Thank you Sir, is it the same for IGIDR ?

[Preet]

Pardon my ignorance but can someone provide explanation for these 'why'?

Amit Goyal wrote

Some of you have written to me asking what they ask in an ISI interview. Here is my reply:

ISI interview will be not too different from solving problems in an economics entrance exam. Its just that you will now be asked to solve those problems on the board. To prepare for it you need to practice problem solving. Unlike entrance exams, there is lesser or no scope to skip explanations that goes with each step. For example: Suppose you are asked to solve the following problem:
Let X and Y be i.i.d Uniform [0, 1]. Find the cumulative distribution function of Z = max{X, Y}.
Lets say you know how to do it and you wrote:
For 0 < z < 1,
Pr(Z ≤ z)
= Pr(max{X, Y} ≤ z)
= Pr(X ≤ z, Y ≤ z)                 (why?)
= Pr(X ≤ z)Pr(Y ≤  z)              (why?)
= z^2
Remember to answer those whys along with the derivation.

... [show rest of quote]

[Mr. Nobody]

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The author has deleted this message.

[Jim_Moriarity]

Sir,
     Could you please suggest us some sample questions for the interview.
A bunch of questions coming for ISI interview.

Regards,
Dibyo.

[Jim_Moriarity]

Only 7 days left for the ISI Delhi interview.
What should be done now?
My focus being solely on ISI D interview.

[Anand]

Meet your seniors.They will help you in good preparation of interview.Best of luck.

[Yo]

In the interview do they ask anything from econometrics ??

[amalgamateking]

ISI entrance doesn't focus on econometrics afaik. The syllabus says probability and statistics upto random variables. Even estimation and hypothesis testing isn't there. I have never come across any senior of mine telling me that he/she was asked an econometrics problem in the interview (Delhi or Kolkata)

Also, please check your email, I have sent you one.

[iti]

 Hey can someone provide solution to this question?

A professor has 20 hours to allocate between two PhD students. Let x1 and x2 be the time
allocated to the two students. The utility of each student is as follows:
U1 = −|x1 − 2| and U2 = −|x2 − 8|
(a) Find the set of Pareto efficient allocations.
(b) What will be the optimal time allocation if the professor maximizes a social function
given by : min{U1, U2}

[Algaeconomics]

Hey it's just like the first question in the PEB paper this year, just that it is a mod fn

[Seecha]

alibaba ... can you plz help me out with diagram of this ques. asked by iti?

[Sakshi Agarwal]

The answer to this question is that he should allocate 2 hrs to x1 and 8 hrs to x2 because then their utilities will be zero and this is the highest that they can achieve. Because if any other time is alloted to x1, lets say, 4, then his utility will be -2, which is less than zero. Thus, because the utility is negative of modulus, they cannot achieve a higher utility than zero. the no. of hours allocated is to them is kind of bad for the individuals.

[Asd1995]

Posting my interview experience:

If x is prefered to y then tx is prefered to ty for all t>0. Give an example of such preferences.

Suppose an agent has such preferences. We double his income keeping all prices constant. He prefered the bundle (x,y) before. What bundle does he prefer now?

[Ashish Gourav]

ISI Kolkata 2018

I was the first one to be interviewed in my slot. As soon as I entered was asked, "Are you based out of Mumbai?" ... I said Yes.

Q1. Do you know what is Pareto Optimality?

Q2. Was again asked about my definition of Pareto Optimality with few of my own words juggled.

Q3. What is the relation between Pareto Optimality and Competitive markets?

Q4. What is the intuition behind Pareto Optimality in case of Competitive Markets?

Q5. When does Pareto Optimality fails or (market failure) in case of competitive markets?
 
The interviewer gave good reasoning & hints about everything but I was lacking in theoretical understanding of the concepts.

[argrd8]

Can someone please explain this concept of preferences or provide any sources for the same?