Courses

Courses by semester

Courses for

Complete Cornell University course descriptions are in the Courses of Study .

Course ID Title Offered
ECON1001 Principles of Micro-Economics Supplement
Reviews lecture material presented in ECON 1110 lectures; provides problem-solving techniques, study tips, and additional problems to prepare for exams and problem sets; provides additional time for questions and discussion of concepts. Provides additional instruction for students who need reinforcement.

Full details for ECON 1001 - Principles of Micro-Economics Supplement

Fall, Spring, Summer.
ECON1002 Principles of Macro-Economics Supplement
Reviews lecture material presented in ECON 1120 lectures; provides problem-solving techniques, study tips, and additional problems to prepare for exams and problem sets; provides additional time for questions and discussion of concepts. Provides additional instruction for students who need reinforcement.

Full details for ECON 1002 - Principles of Macro-Economics Supplement

Fall, Spring, Summer.
ECON1110 Introductory Microeconomics
Explanation and evaluation of how the price system operates in determining what goods are produced, how goods are produced, who receives income, and how the price system is modified and influenced by private organizations and government policy.

Full details for ECON 1110 - Introductory Microeconomics

Fall, Winter, Spring, Summer.
ECON1120 Introductory Macroeconomics
Analysis of aggregate economic activity in relation to the level, stability, and growth of national income. Topics may include the determination and effects of unemployment, inflation, balance of payments, deficits, and economic development, and how these may be influenced by monetary, fiscal, and other policies.

Full details for ECON 1120 - Introductory Macroeconomics

Fall, Winter, Spring, Summer.
ECON2040 Networks
This interdisciplinary course examines network structures and how they matter in everyday life. The course examines how each of the computing, economic, sociological and natural worlds are connected and how the structure of these connections affects each of these worlds. Tools of graph theory and game theory are taught and then used to analyze networks. Topics covered include the web, the small world phenomenon, markets, neural networks, contagion, search and the evolution of networks.

Full details for ECON 2040 - Networks

Fall.
ECON2801 Game Theory and Strategic Reasoning
This course is an introduction to game theory for students with diverse disciplinary backgrounds and interests.  The material covered will span economics, business, politics, and diplomacy by way of applications of game theory and also will demonstrate to students the art of reasoning in everyday life. In the process, they will learn the basic ideas and results of game theory, from multi-player, non-cooperative interactions, extensive-form games, auctions, and equilibrium concepts such as the Nash equilibrium, to cooperative bargaining. Though this is an introductory course, students will be encouraged to think about and try to resolve some open questions and philosophical paradoxes of game theory. There are no formal pre-requisites for the course, but familiarity with school algebra and geometry will be useful.

Full details for ECON 2801 - Game Theory and Strategic Reasoning

Fall.
ECON3030 Intermediate Microeconomic Theory
The pricing processes in a private enterprise economy are analyzed under varying competitive conditions, and their role in the allocation of resources and the functional distribution of national income is considered.

Full details for ECON 3030 - Intermediate Microeconomic Theory

Fall, Spring, Summer.
ECON3040 Intermediate Macroeconomic Theory
Introduces the theory of national income and determination and economic growth in alternative models of the national economy. Examines the interaction and relation of these models to empirical aggregate economic data. Reviews national accounts, output and employment determination, price stability and economic growth, in the context of alternative government policy programs and the impact of globalization.

Full details for ECON 3040 - Intermediate Macroeconomic Theory

Fall, Spring, Summer.
ECON3110 Probability Models and Inference for the Social Sciences
This course provides an introduction to probability and parametric inference. Topics include: random variables, standard distributions, the law of large numbers, the central limit theorem, likelihood-based estimation, sampling distributions and hypothesis testing.

Full details for ECON 3110 - Probability Models and Inference for the Social Sciences

Fall, Spring.
ECON3120 Applied Econometrics
Introduction to the theory and application of econometric techniques. Emphasis is on both development of techniques and applications of econometrics to economic questions. Topics include estimation and inference in bivariate and multiple regression models, instrumental variables, regression with qualitative information, heteroskedasticity, and serial correlation. Students are expected to apply techniques through regular empirical exercises with economic data.

Full details for ECON 3120 - Applied Econometrics

Fall, Spring, Summer.
ECON3130 Statistics and Probability
Provides an introduction to statistical inference and to principles of probability. It includes descriptive statistics, principles of probability, discrete and continuous distributions, and hypothesis testing (of sample means, proportions, variance). Regression analysis and correlation are introduced.

Full details for ECON 3130 - Statistics and Probability

Fall.
ECON3300 Development of Economic Thought and Institutions
Examines the causes and consequences of sustained economic growth, and the development of economics as a discipline, from pre-industrial mercantilist thought through the economics of John Maynard Keynes. Stresses the relationship between the consequences of 19th-century economic growth and the evolution of economic thought.

Full details for ECON 3300 - Development of Economic Thought and Institutions

Fall or Spring.
ECON3310 American Economic History I
Surveys problems in American economic history from the first settlements to early industrialization.

Full details for ECON 3310 - American Economic History I

Fall.
ECON3410 Economic Analysis of the University
Seeks to illustrate the complexity of decision making in a nonprofit organization and to show how microeconomic analysis in general, and labor-market analysis in particular, can usefully be applied to analyze resource allocation decisions at universities. Topics include financial aid, tuition, admissions policies, endowment policies, faculty salary determination, the tenure system, mandatory retirement policies, merit pay, affirmative action, comparable worth, collective bargaining, resource allocation across and within departments, undergraduate versus graduate education, research costs, libraries, athletics, and "socially responsible" policies. Lectures and discussions of the extensive readings are supplemented by presentations by Cornell administrators and outside speakers who have been engaged in university resource-allocation decisions or have done research on the subject.

Full details for ECON 3410 - Economic Analysis of the University

Fall.
ECON3545 International Finance and Macroeconomics
This course will examine the determinants of international capital flows and their consequences for growth and volatility. Basic analytical models in international finance, including those related to exchange rate dynamics, will be covered. Emerging market perspectives on these issues will be emphasized, with a particular focus on the economies of China and India. The course will also analyze the challenges created by rising global financial integration and new financial technologies (Fintech, digital currencies) for monetary policy, financial regulation, and other policies. Students will be required to write an independent research paper.

Full details for ECON 3545 - International Finance and Macroeconomics

Fall.
ECON3710 The Economics of Risky Health Behaviors
Risky health behaviors such as cigarette smoking, drinking alcohol, risky sex, drug use, and poor diet and physical inactivity (leading to obesity) are responsible for hundreds of thousands of preventable deaths and impose billions of dollars in medical care costs each year in the United States.  This course teaches the economic approach to studying risky health behaviors.  The research literature on the economic causes and correlates of risky health behaviors will be studied in detail.  Numerous policies to modify risky health behaviors, such as the minimum legal drinking age and recreational marijuana use laws, will be debated in class.  Students will use the statistical software package STATA to analyze data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health (Add Health) in order to answer research questions relating to risky behaviors. 

Full details for ECON 3710 - The Economics of Risky Health Behaviors

Fall.
ECON3800 Economics and the Law
Examines, through the lens of economic analysis, legal principles drawn from various branches of law, including contracts, torts, and property. Cases are assigned for class discussion; in addition, there are exams and writing assignments. 

Full details for ECON 3800 - Economics and the Law

Fall.
ECON3830 Economics of Consumer Protection and the Law
The course will focus on how legal rules and regulations impact consumers in the marketplace. A significant portion of this course will focus on how developments in tort law, contract law, property law, and regulatory law influence social welfare and serve to protect consumers in their interactions with the marketplace. The course will also focus on how the federal regulatory agencies function and analyze the effectiveness of these agencies in protecting consumers. The course will focus specifically on the Food and Drug Administration and the Federal Trade Commission. In addition to students interested in public policy and economics, the course can be helpful to students who are interested in attending law school as students will get exposed to many of the concepts they will address in a first year law school curriculum.

Full details for ECON 3830 - Economics of Consumer Protection and the Law

Fall.
ECON3850 Economics and Environmental Policy
This class will focus on the use of economics as a tool in forming and evaluating environmental policy, with a focus on how economists measure the health and economic effects of pollution and environmental regulation in the United States. Topics include: externalities in an environmental context; regulation methods such as command and control, Pigouvian taxation, and cap and trade; overview of current environmental legislation; environmental quality and health; regulation and environmental justice.

Full details for ECON 3850 - Economics and Environmental Policy

Fall.
ECON4220 Financial Economics
Examines the theory and decision making in the presence of uncertainty and the practical aspects of particular asset markets.

Full details for ECON 4220 - Financial Economics

Fall.
ECON4250 Economics of Crime and Corruption
This course will focus on economic models of crime and punishment, and on empirical evidence that evaluates the models. The first part of the course will introduce economic models of crime and study what factors motivate and deter criminal behavior. Then we will turn to empirical evidence and will discuss the role of higher fines, imprisonment, death penalty, abortion, drugs, guns and other factors in deterring crime. In the end of the course we will discuss corruption and whether it is harmful or beneficial to society.

Full details for ECON 4250 - Economics of Crime and Corruption

Spring.
ECON4260 Public Finance: The Microeconomics of Government
Analyzes the role of government in a free market economy. Topics include public goods, market failures, allocation mechanisms, optimal taxation, effects of taxation, and benefit-cost analysis. Current topics of an applied nature vary from semester to semester.

Full details for ECON 4260 - Public Finance: The Microeconomics of Government

Fall.
ECON4510 International Trade Theory and Policy
Surveys the sources of comparative advantage. Studies commercial policy and analyzes the welfare economics of trade between countries. Some attention is paid to the institutional aspects of the world trading system.

Full details for ECON 4510 - International Trade Theory and Policy

Fall or Spring.
ECON4902 Banks
Covers bank management and supervision, with special reference to international supervisory agreements (Basel II) and U.S. Federal guidance. Sources of risk are considered-market, credit, operational, and others. Quantitative methods for modeling and measuring risk are covered.

Full details for ECON 4902 - Banks

Fall, Spring.
ECON4903 Quantitative Analysis of Economic Data
The course will appeal to students who have strong quantitative skills and would like to see applications of economic theory to analyze issues prominent in major public debates. Currently, we offer a very limited number of advanced courses that require students to do independent research, discuss their ideas in teams, present their work, and write a research proposal.

Full details for ECON 4903 - Quantitative Analysis of Economic Data

Fall.
ECON4904 Public Finance: Resource Allocation and Fiscal Policy
Covers the revenue side of public finance and special topics. Subjects include the federal debt, the budget, and government regulation and transfers, as well as problems like local public goods, health care, education, the hierarchy of governmental structure, plus a variety of applied problems.

Full details for ECON 4904 - Public Finance: Resource Allocation and Fiscal Policy

Fall or Spring.
ECON4907 The Economics of Asymmetric Information and Contracts
This course provides an introduction to the economics of asymmetric information, contracts and mechanism design. Topics covered include: bilateral contracting problems with moral hazard and/or adverse selection, bargaining with asymmetric information, the design of optimal auctions and other multilateral mechanisms, signaling and incomplete contacts. Prerequisites include intermediate microeconomics and statistics. The student is expected to be comfortable with basic probability (random variables, expectation, independence, and conditional probability) and calculus.

Full details for ECON 4907 - The Economics of Asymmetric Information and Contracts

Fall.
ECON4990 Honors Program
Students should consult the director of undergraduate studies for details. Admission is competitive. Interested students should apply to the program in the spring semester of their junior year.

Full details for ECON 4990 - Honors Program

Fall.
ECON4998 Cross-Cultural Work Experiences
ECON4999 Independent Study in Economics Fall, Spring.
ECON6090 Microeconomic Theory I
Topics in consumer and producer theory.

Full details for ECON 6090 - Microeconomic Theory I

Fall.
ECON6130 Macroeconomics I
Covers the following topics: static general equilibrium; intertemporal general equilibrium: infinitely lived agents models and overlapping generations models; welfare theorems; equivalence between sequential markets and Arrow-Debreu Markets; Ricardian proposition; Modigliani-Miller theorem; asset pricing; recursive competitive equilibrium; the Neoclassical Growth Model; calibration; and introduction to dynamic programming.

Full details for ECON 6130 - Macroeconomics I

Fall.
ECON6170 Intermediate Mathematical Economics I
Covers selected topics in matrix algebra (vector spaces, matrices, simultaneous linear equations, characteristic value problem), calculus of several variables (elementary real analysis, partial differentiation) convex analysis (convex sets, concave functions, quasi-concave functions), classical optimization theory (unconstrained maximization, constrained maximization), Kuhn-Tucker optimization theory (concave programming, quasi-concave programming).

Full details for ECON 6170 - Intermediate Mathematical Economics I

Fall.
ECON6190 Econometrics I
Gives the probabilistic and statistical background for meaningful application of econometric techniques. Topics include probability theory probability spaces, random variables, distributions, moments, transformations, conditional distributions, distribution theory and the multivariate normal distribution, convergence concepts, laws of large numbers, central limit theorems, Monte Carlo simulation; statistics: sample statistics, sufficiency, exponential families of distributions. Further topics in statistics are considered in ECON 6200.

Full details for ECON 6190 - Econometrics I

Fall.
ECON6410 Health Economics I
This course teaches the economic approach to studying risky health behaviors such as cigarette smoking, drug use, alcohol abuse, risky sex, and poor diet and physical inactivity (leading to obesity), and suicide. We will examine in detail the research literature on the demand for health, economic models of addiction, the economic causes and correlates of risky health behaviors (e.g. education, prices, peers), and policies for modifying risky behaviors (e.g. taxes and other financial incentives, and providing information).

Full details for ECON 6410 - Health Economics I

Fall.
ECON6590 Empirical Strategies for Policy Analysis
Focuses on empirical strategies to identify the causal effects of public policies and programs. The course uses problem sets based on real-world examples and data to examine techniques for analyzing nonexperimental data including control function approaches, matching methods, panel-data methods, selection models, instrumental variables, and regression-discontinuity methods. The emphasis throughout, however, is on the critical role of research design in facilitating credible causal inference. The course aids students in both learning to implement a variety of statistical tools using large data sets, and in learning to select which tools are best suited to a given research project.

Full details for ECON 6590 - Empirical Strategies for Policy Analysis

Fall.
ECON6990 Readings in Economics Fall, Spring.
ECON7190 Advanced Topics in Econometrics I
Covers advanced topics in econometrics, such as asymptotic estimation and test theory, robust estimation, Bayesian inference, advanced topics in time-series analysis, errors in variable and latent variable models, qualitative and limited dependent variables, aggregation, panel data, and duration models.

Full details for ECON 7190 - Advanced Topics in Econometrics I

Spring.
ECON7260 Econometrics of Network Analysis
An overview of the models and methods for analyzing data with cross-sectional dependence, i.e., those able to explicitly test behavioral models with interdependent agents' decisions. The technicalities are presented in a basic formulation, favoring the transmission of ideas, intuitions, and stressing the links with underlying behavioral mechanisms essential to guiding the interpretation of the results. The open questions in the economics literature are emphasized. They include: 1) the definition of the reference group; 2) the possible presence of unobserved attributes that may generate a problem of confounding variables (spurious spatial correlation); and 3) simultaneity in agents' behavior that may hinder identification of exogenous effects, i.e., influence of agents' attributes) from endogenous effects, i.e., influence of agents' outcomes. This short course focuses on identification issues.

Full details for ECON 7260 - Econometrics of Network Analysis

Fall.
ECON7360 Public Finance
This course provides an introduction to the field of public economics.  The field is large, with significant theoretical and empirical components.  The emphasis of this course is on the theory.  It covers core ideas in the area of static and dynamic optimal taxation, public goods and externalities, social insurance and welfare, and state and local public finance.

Full details for ECON 7360 - Public Finance

Fall.
ECON7385 Economics and Politics
Focused on analytical models of political institutions, this course is organized around canonical models and their applications. These include voting models, menu auctions, models of reputation, and cheap talk games. These models are used to explain patterns of participation in elections, institutions of congress, lobbying, payments to special interest groups and other observed phenomena.

Full details for ECON 7385 - Economics and Politics

Fall.
ECON7420 Seminar in Labor Economics I
Includes reading and discussion of selected topics in labor economics. Stresses applications of economic theory and econometrics to the labor market and human resource areas.

Full details for ECON 7420 - Seminar in Labor Economics I

Fall.
ECON7440 Macro Labor
The purpose of this course is to familiarize students with canonical models of search and study their application in macroeconomics and labor economics. Our primary objective will be to study the most relevant frameworks for reading papers in the field - e.g., random search, directed search, wage posting, and island models. Particular emphasis will be placed on the application and quantitative evaluation of these frameworks.  Our secondary objective will be to study new papers and topics at the research frontier.

Full details for ECON 7440 - Macro Labor

Fall (weeks 1-7).
ECON7585 Behavioral Economics II
Explores the ways in which insights and methods from psychology can be integrated into economics, covering additional topics not covered in ECON 7580. Special attention will be devoted to integrating psychology into policy analysis and to the design and deployment of economic experiments.

Full details for ECON 7585 - Behavioral Economics II

Fall.
ECON7670 Topics in International Finance
This course will provide a selective overview of topics at the cutting-edge of academic research and policy debates about the international financial system. Main areas will include the effects of financial globalization on growth, volatility, and the transmission of business cycles. The course will also examine the determinants of the direction and composition of capital flows. It will then cover the causes and effects of the financial crisis and what implications it has for the research agenda in international finance and macroeconomics, with particular emphasis on the implications for monetary policy and financial regulation. This course is intended for advanced Ph.D. students, especially those in search of thesis topics, and will require extensive student involvement in preparing research proposals and critiques of existing literature. Students will develop their own research ideas during the course and are required to write a substantive research paper.

Full details for ECON 7670 - Topics in International Finance

Fall.
ECON7711 Microeconomics of Development: Applications to Health, Nutrition and Education
Advanced seminar explores recent empirical research and evaluation literature on issues of health, nutrition, education and intrahousehold decision-making in developing countries.

Full details for ECON 7711 - Microeconomics of Development: Applications to Health, Nutrition and Education

Fall (offered in odd-numbered years only).
ECON7740 Law and Economics, and Games
This course introduces graduate students to the main concepts and ideas of law and economics, founded on elementary game theory. These ideas are then applied to contemporary policy concerns, from promoting economic development and designing welfare interventions in developing countries, to controlling corruption and financial fraud. The defining feature of the course is the structuring of these topics within a common conceptual framework, and training students to develop these ideas further and apply them to new research questions.

Full details for ECON 7740 - Law and Economics, and Games

Fall.
ECON7841 Econometrics Workshop
Research workshop featuring guest lecturers.

Full details for ECON 7841 - Econometrics Workshop

Fall, Spring.
ECON7842 Microeconomic Theory Workshop
Research workshop featuring guest lecturers.

Full details for ECON 7842 - Microeconomic Theory Workshop

Fall, Spring.
ECON7843 Industrial Organization Workshop
Research workshop featuring guest lecturers.

Full details for ECON 7843 - Industrial Organization Workshop

Fall, Spring.
ECON7845 Workshop in Labor Economics
Presentations of completed papers and work in progress by faculty members, advanced graduate students, and speakers from other universities. Focuses on the formulation, design, and execution of dissertations.

Full details for ECON 7845 - Workshop in Labor Economics

Fall, Spring.
ECON7846 S.C. Tsiang Macroeconomics Workshop
Research workshop featuring guest lecturers.

Full details for ECON 7846 - S.C. Tsiang Macroeconomics Workshop

Fall, Spring.
ECON7847 Development Workshop
Research workshop featuring guest lecturers.

Full details for ECON 7847 - Development Workshop

Fall, Spring.
ECON7848 Public Economics Workshop
Research workshop featuring guest lecturers.

Full details for ECON 7848 - Public Economics Workshop

Fall, Spring.
ECON7849 Behavioral Economics Workshop
Research workshop featuring guest lecturers.

Full details for ECON 7849 - Behavioral Economics Workshop

Fall, Spring.
ECON7850 Third Year Research Seminar
Ph.D. students in the Field of Economics are required to take this year-long research seminar, and receive a grade of Satisfactory, in order to remain in good standing in the Ph.D. program. Students present and discuss each second-year paper, which must be completed before the semester opens and Economics 7850 meets for the first time. Students also present at least two additional papers or paper plans. These are intended to be part of the core of the student's thesis proposal, which must be given as part of the student's A Exam prior to the start of the fourth year of graduate study in the economics Ph.D. program. Economics 7851 ends with a mini-conference, attended by faculty and other Ph.D. students, in which each student makes a formal presentation in standard economics conference format, and each student discusses one of these presentations. Professional writing and presentation coaching is also provided.

Full details for ECON 7850 - Third Year Research Seminar

Fall.
ECON7853 Applied Microeconomics Workshop
Research workshop featuring guests lecturers.

Full details for ECON 7853 - Applied Microeconomics Workshop

Fall, Spring.
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