IIT JAM 2024 Economics Syllabus: Subject Wise Syllabus, Exam Pattern & Important Books

Looking to pursue a master's degree in Economics? The IIT JAM 2025 exam is one of the golden opportunities to grab in order to do MSc Economics at reputed institutions like IIT's and NIT's. Read this Shiksha article to get the detailed syllabus for the IIT JAM MSc Economics course. Aspirants can also check the eligibility criteria and exam pattern for the same here.

IIT JAM Economics Syllabus; Know the Complete Syllabus, Important Books, Eligibility Criteria & Other Details

IIT JAM 2025 Economics Exam Pattern

IIT JAM 2025 Economics exam pattern states that each test paper is of three hours duration. In the exam, candidates need to attempt 60 questions which were of 100 marks weightage. These 60 questions are divided into three sections – A, B, and C. All these sections are compulsory and candidates need to attempt questions from all the sections. The medium of instruction for JAM test papers is English. 

The detailed IIT JAM exam pattern 2025 is mentioned in the table below:

Also Read: IIT JAM 2025 Exam Pattern: Exam Paper Pattern, Marking Scheme & Shift Timings 

IIT JAM 2025 Economics Syllabus

Aspirants preparing for the IIT JAM MSc Economics degree programme should start their preparation according to the Economics syllabus mentioned below:

Microeconomics
Consumer theory: Preference, utility and representation theorem, budget constraint, choice, demand (ordinary and compensated), Slutsky equation, revealed preference axioms.

Theory of production and cost: Production technology, isoquants, production function with one and more inputs, returns to scale, short run and long run costs, cost curves in the short run and
long run.
General equilibrium and welfare: Equilibrium and efficiency under pure exchange and production, welfare economics, theorems of welfare economics.
Market structure: Perfect competition, monopoly, pricing with market power, price discrimination (first, second and third), monopolistic competition and oligopoly.
Game theory: Strategic form games, iterated elimination of dominated strategies, Nash equilibrium, mixed extension and mixed strategy Nash equilibrium, examples: Cournot, Bertrand
duopolies, Prisoner's dilemma.
Public goods and market failure: Externalities, public goods and markets with asymmetric information (adverse selection and moral hazard).

Macroeconomics
National income accounting: Structure, key concepts, measurements, and circular flow of income - for closed and open economy, money, fiscal and foreign sector variables - concepts
and measurements. Behavioural and technological functions: Consumption functions - absolute income hypothesis, life-cycle and permanent income hypothesis, random walk model of consumption, investment functions - Keynesian, money demand and supply functions, production function.
Business cycles and economic models (closed economy): Business cycles-facts and features, the Classical model of the business cycle, the Keynesian model of the business cycle, simple
Keynesian cross model of income and employment determination and the multiplier (in a closed economy), IS-LM Model, Hicks' IS-LM synthesis, role of monetary and fiscal policies.
Business cycles and economic models (open economy): Open economy, Mundell-Fleming model, Keynesian flexible price (aggregate demand and aggregate supply) model, role of
monetary and fiscal policies.
Inflation and unemployment: Inflation - theories, measurement, causes, and effects, unemployment - types, measurement, causes, and effects.
Growth models: Harrod-Domar, Solow and Neo-classical growth models (AK model, Romer model and Schumpeterian growth model). Statistics for Economics
Probability theory: Sample space and events, axioms of probability and their properties, conditional probability and Bayes’ rule, independent events, random variables and probability
distributions, expectation, variance and higher order moments, functions of random variables, properties of commonly used discrete and continuous distributions, density and distribution
functions for jointly distributed random variables, mean and variance of jointly distributed random variables, covariance and correlation coefficients.
Mathematical statistics: Random sampling, types of sampling, point and interval estimation, estimation of population parameters using methods of moments and maximum likelihood
procedures, properties of estimators, sampling distribution, confidence intervals, central limit theorem, law of large number.

Hypothesis testing: distributions of test statistics, testing hypotheses related to population parameters, Type I and Type II errors, the power of a test, tests for comparing parameters from
two samples.
Correlation and regression: Correlation and types of correlation, the nature of regression analysis, method of Ordinary Least Squares (OLS), CLRM assumptions, properties of OLS,
goodness of fit, variance and covariance of OLS estimator.
Indian Economy
Indian economy before 1950: Transfer of tribute, deindustrialization of India.
Planning and Indian development: Planning models, relation between agricultural and industrial
growth, challenges faced by Indian planning.
Indian economy after 1991: Balance of payments crisis in 1991, major aspects of economic reforms in India after 1991, reforms in trade and foreign investment.
Banking, finance and macroeconomic policies: aspects of banking in India, CRR and SLR, financial sector reforms in India, fiscal and monetary policy, savings and investment rates in
India.
Inequalities in social development: India’s achievements in health, education and other social sectors, disparities between Indian States in human development.
Poverty: Methodology of poverty estimation, Issues in poverty estimation in India. India’s labour market: unemployment, labour force participation rates.

Mathematics for Economics
Preliminaries and functions: Set theory and number theory, elementary functions: quadratic, polynomial, power, exponential, logarithmic, functions of several variables, graphs and level curves, convex set, concavity and quasiconcavity of function, convexity and quasi-convexity of functions, sequences and series: convergence, algebraic properties and applications, complex numbers and its geometrical representation, De Moivre’s theorem and its application.
Differential calculus: Limits, continuity and differentiability, mean value theorems, Taylor’s theorem, partial differentiation, gradient, chain rule, second and higher order derivatives:
properties and applications, implicit function theorem, and application to comparative statics problems, homogeneous and homothetic functions: characterisations and applications.
Integral calculus: Definite integrals, fundamental theorems, indefinite integrals and applications.
Differential equations, and difference equations: First order difference equations, first order differential equations and applications.
Linear algebra: Matrix representations and elementary operations, systems of linear equations: properties of their solution, linear independence and dependence, rank, determinants,
eigenvectors and eigenvalues of square matrices, symmetric matrices and quadratic forms, definiteness and semidefiniteness of quadratic forms.
Optimization: Local and global optima: geometric and calculus-based characterisations, and applications, multivariate optimization, constrained optimization and method of Lagrange multiplier, second order condition of optima, definiteness and optimality, properties of value function: envelope theorem and applications, linear programming: graphical solution, matrix formulation, duality, economic interpretation.

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IIT JAM Economics Books to Read for IIT JAM 2025 Examination

Books that aspirants should consider while preparing IIT JAM MSc Physics course are as mentioned below:

IIT JAM 2025 Economics: Eligibility Criteria

Candidates can check the minimal eligibility criteria for enrolling in MSc Physics course from below:

Candidates can check out the JAM 2025 eligibility criteria in detail from here: IIT JAM Eligibility Criteria 2025: Know Educational Qualification and Age Limit 

IIT JAM 2024 Economics Preparation Tips

IIT JAM 2025 exam is highly competitive in nature as this exam will provide admissions to the finest institutions in the country like IITs, NITs and other popular result-sharing institutes. Aspirants who wish to appear in the JAM 2025 Economics exam should have a proper preparation strategy that will help them ace the examination. Here are some important JAM 2025 Mathematics preparation tips that one can check out and prepare accordingly. 

• Syllabus and Pattern: First, aspirants must know the JAM 2025 Economics syllabus in order to know the difficulty level and topics to be covered for the examination. Knowing the JAM 2025 exam pattern will help the candidates understand the format of the questions that will be asked in the examination. 
• Marking Scheme and Duration: Familiarize yourself with the exam format, including the number of questions, weightage of each section, and total time duration. This will help you develop a time management strategy for the exam.
• Solid Textbooks: Use recommended textbooks and resources to build a strong foundation in core mathematical concepts
• Previous Years' Papers: Solve previous years' IIT JAM question papers to understand the question types, difficulty level, and recurring themes. Analyze solutions to identify patterns and improve your problem-solving approach.
• Mock Tests and Sample Papers: Regularly attempt mock tests and sample papers to simulate the exam experience, identify your strengths and weaknesses, and work on time management.
• Strategic Time Table: Create a well-structured study schedule that allocates sufficient time to each topic based on its weightage and your comfort level. Be consistent with your studies.
• Join a Coaching Institute (Optional): Consider enrolling in a coaching program if you need additional guidance, structured learning, or access to mock tests and practice problems.
• Online Resources: Explore online lectures, video tutorials, and practice problems offered by various platforms to supplement your learning.

Joint Admission test for Masters (JAM) has been established as a benchmark for undergraduate level Science education in the country for the last two decades. The objective of JAM is to provide admissions to postgraduate degree programmes and consolidate science as a career option for students across the country. These programmes offer high-quality education in
their respective disciplines, comparable to the best in the world. The curricula for these programmes are designed to provide the students with opportunities to develop academic talent leading to a challenging and rewarding professional life.

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