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.
|
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.
|
Fall, Winter, Spring, Summer. |
| ECON2300 |
International Trade and Finance
One-semester introduction to international economic principles and issues. Begins by surveying key topics such as the elements of comparative advantage, tariff and nontariff barriers, and multilateral institutions. The second part of the course treats selected topics in international finance, including exchange rates, balance of payments, and capital markets. Discusses current issues such as the effects of trade liberalization, trade and economic growth, and instability in international capital markets. Designed as a less technical introduction to concepts developed at a more advanced level in AEM 4300 and ECON 4510-ECON 4520.
Full details for ECON 2300 - International Trade and Finance |
Spring, Summer. |
| 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.
|
Fall, Spring, Summer. |
| ECON3140 |
Econometrics
Introduction to the theory and application of econometric techniques. Emphasis is on foundations and development of econometric models, focusing on how a theoretical economic model can be placed into a statistical framework where data is used for the purposes of prediction/forecasting, measurement, and/or testing of economic theory. Topics include estimation and inference in bivariate and multiple regression models, instrumental variables, regression with qualitative information, heteroskedasticity, serial correlation.
|
Spring. |
| ECON3340 |
The Evolution of Social Policy in Britain and America
Surveys the history of social policy in Great Britain and the United States from 1800 to the adoption of the British welfare state after World War II. Topics include the role of poor relief in the early 19th century; the changing relationship between public relief and private charity; the adoption of social insurance programs and protective labor legislation for children and women; government intervention in the Great Depression; and the beginnings of the welfare state.
Full details for ECON 3340 - The Evolution of Social Policy in Britain and America |
Fall or Spring. |
| ECON3430 |
Compensation, Incentives, and Productivity
Examines topics in labor economics of particular relevance to individual managers and firms. Representative topics include recruitment, screening, and hiring strategies; compensation (including retirement pensions and other benefits); training, turnover, and the theory of human capital; incentive schemes and promotions; layoffs, downsizing, and buyouts; teamwork; and internal labor markets. Focuses on labor-related business problems using the analytic tools of economic theory and should appeal to students with strong quantitative skills who are contemplating careers in general business, consulting, and human resource management as well as in economics.
Full details for ECON 3430 - Compensation, Incentives, and Productivity |
Fall or Spring. |
| ECON3480 |
Race and the American Labor Market in Historical Perspective
This class investigates race and class in the American labor market from Colonial America to the present day. We investigate the circumstances and labor institutions that brought labor to the U.S. and how laborers of various classes were received. A primary goal of the class is to understand the degree to which social mobility was historically possible in different time periods in American history. Social mobility is intimately tied to labor market institutions and the ability for workers to get ahead within those institutions. Some of the institutions we study are Indentured Servitude, Slavery, tenant farming, the Great Migration and labor organization in the industrial north. Ultimately we hope to build an understanding of the historical roots of the role of race and class today.
Full details for ECON 3480 - Race and the American Labor Market in Historical Perspective |
Spring. |
| ECON3670 |
Behavioral Economics and Public Policy
Standard economic theory assumes that individuals are rational decision-makers; however, that is often not the case in the real world. Behavioral economics uses findings from psychology to determine ways in which individuals are systematically irrational to improve upon existing models. The first part of this course reviews these theories, while the second part of the course focuses on how these findings have been used to design better education, health, and tax policies as well as many others.
Full details for ECON 3670 - Behavioral Economics and Public Policy |
Spring. |
| ECON3770 |
Inequality in U.S. Higher Education
Is the U.S. college system a great equalizer or a cause of growing inequality? Improved access to higher education has brought millions of Americans into the middle class, and yet rising selectivity has meant that a disproportionate share of the economic elite come from a few top colleges. This course will explore the three big parts of the college experience --- (1) admissions and the college-going decision; (2) education while in college; and (3) college completion and labor market entry --- and ask how each part contributes to inequality in economic outcomes. Lectures and readings will focus on simple economic theories of higher education as well as the empirical methods used to test these theories.
Full details for ECON 3770 - Inequality in U.S. Higher Education |
Spring. |
| ECON3805 |
Competition Law and Policy
This course will examine issues that arise when a country attempts to implement and maintain a "competition policy" as a way of promoting economic growth and efficiency. The basic reading material will start with actual cases (most of them arising under U.S. antitrust law), and use those cases to probe the legal, economic and broad policy issues that the cases raise.
|
Fall. |
| ECON3825 |
Networks II: Market Design
Networks II builds on its prerequisite course and continues to examine how each of the computing, economic, sociological and natural worlds are connected and how the structure of these connections affects these worlds. In this course, we will construct mathematical models for and analyze networked settings, allowing us to both make predictions about behavior in such systems, as well as reason about how to design such systems to exhibit some desirable behavior. Throughout, we will draw on real-world examples such as social networks, peer-to-peer filesharing, Internet markets, and crowdsourcing, that illustrate these phenomena.
|
Spring. |
| ECON4020 |
Game Theory
Studies mathematical models of conflict and cooperation in situations of uncertainty (about nature and about decision makers).
|
Spring. |
| ECON4110 |
Cross Section and Panel Econometrics
Introduction to cross-section and panel econometrics. Topics include multiple-regression analysis with qualitative information, simple and advanced panel data methods, instrumental variables estimation, simultaneous equation models.
Full details for ECON 4110 - Cross Section and Panel Econometrics |
Spring. |
| ECON4210 |
Money and Credit
A systematic treatment of the determinants of the money supply and the volume of credit. Economic analysis of credit markets and financial institutions in the United States.
|
Spring. |
| ECON4220 |
Financial Economics
Examines the theory and decision making in the presence of uncertainty and the practical aspects of particular asset markets.
|
Fall. |
| ECON4300 |
History of Economic Analysis
Covers early writings in economics and their relationship to current economic analysis and policy issues. Examples include ancient and medieval philosophers on justice in exchange; mercantilist arguments for trade protection; early theories about the effect of monetary expansion (D. Hume); the role of the entrepreneur (Cantillon); and general competitive equilibrium (the Physiocrats). The most recent reading assignment in this course is Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations but the emphasis is on the relationship between the precursors of Adam Smith and his Wealth of Nations to modern economics analysis and current efforts to answer some of the questions raised in the early writing on economics.
|
Spring. |
| ECON4350 |
Economics of Migration
We live in a world of increased mobility: people move across urban-rural, state, and national borders in search of a better employment, education, civil rights, and lives for themselves and their children. Immigration is a significant phenomenon: in 2017, 258 million people or 3.5 per- cent of the world population were permanent immigrants. Furthermore, matters of immigrants, refugees, and immigration policy are often the biggest news stories of the day. Economists have been studying internal and international migration for more than five decades, examining the causes and consequences of these processes.
|
Spring. |
| 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. |
| ECON4610 |
Industrial Organization I
This course takes a game theoretic approach to the study of markets and market power. Topics include pricing, collusion, entry, product differentiation, advertising, and bargaining.
|
Fall or Spring. |
| ECON4660 |
Behavioral Economics
Introduces students to behavioral economics, an emerging subfield of economics that incorporates insights from psychology and other social sciences into economics. Examines evidence on how human behavior systematically departs from the standard assumptions of economics, and also investigates attempts by behavioral economists to improve economic analyses.
|
Fall or Spring. |
| ECON4810 |
Resource Economics
This course introduces students to the economics of renewable and nonrenewable natural resources. Topics covered include the valuation and use of land; water economics, management, and conservation; fishery economics; the extraction and management of nonrenewable resources such as minerals, rare earth elements, and energy resources; groundwater; renewable and nonrenewable sources of energy; forest use; and sustainability. Students will learn how to use dynamic models to analyze decision making over time. A solid background in calculus is required.
|
Spring. |
| ECON4820 |
Environmental Economics
This class will focus on the role of the environment in the theory and practice of economics. It will make use of microeconomic analysis at the intermediate level and will incorporate real-world examples. It examines market failure, externalities, benefit-cost analysis, nonmarket valuation techniques, and cost-effective policy instruments.
|
Spring. |
| ECON4840 |
Policy Analysis: Welfare Theory, Agriculture, and Trade
The first half of the course surveys the theory of welfare economics as a foundation for public policy analysis. Major issues addressed include the problem of social welfare measurement, the choice of welfare criteria, and the choice of market or nonmarket allocation. Basic concepts covered include measurement of welfare change, including the compensation principle, consumer and producer surplus, willingness-to-pay measures, externalities, and the general theory of second-best optima. The second half focuses on public policy analysis as applied to domestic agricultural policy and international trade. The domestic policy component examines major U.S. farm commodity programs and related food and macroeconomic policies and analyzes their effects on producers, consumers, and other groups. The international trade component examines the structure of world agricultural trade, analytical concepts of trade policy analysis, and the principal trade policies employed by countries in international markets.
Full details for ECON 4840 - Policy Analysis: Welfare Theory, Agriculture, and Trade |
Spring (not offered every year). |
| ECON4991 |
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 of their junior year.
|
Spring. |
| ECON4997 | Cross-Cultural Work Experiences | |
| ECON4998 | Cross-Cultural Work Experiences | |
| ECON4999 |
Independent Study in Economics
Independent study.
|
Fall, Spring. |
| ECON6100 |
Microeconomic Theory II
Topics in consumer and producer theory, equilibrium models and their application, externalities and public goods, intertemporal choice, simple dynamic models and resource depletion, choice under uncertainty.
|
Spring. |
| ECON6110 | Microeconomic Theory III | |
| ECON6115 | Applied Microeconomics II: Game Theory | |
| ECON6140 |
Macroeconomics II
Covers the following topics: dynamic programming; stochastic growth; search models; cash-in-advance models; real business-cycle models; labor indivisibilities and lotteries; heterogeneous agents models; optimal fiscal and monetary policy; sustainable plans; and endogenous growth.
|
Spring. |
| ECON6200 |
Econometrics II
A continuation of ECON 6190 covering statistics: estimation theory, least squares methods, method of maximum likelihood, generalized method of moments, theory of hypothesis testing, asymptotic test theory, and nonnested hypothesis testing; and econometrics: the general linear model, generalized least squares, specification tests, instrumental variables, dynamic regression models, linear simultaneous equation models, nonlinear models, and applications.
|
Spring. |
| ECON6420 |
Health Economics II
This course belongs to the health economics sequence. In addition to health economics, some topics cover public and labor economics. Students will also learn how to develop research sketches. First, we talk about U.S. health insurance and its intersection with the labor market. Then, we talk about health care providers, their reimbursement and behavior. Next, we study social insurance systems for health risks, such as disability or sick leave insurance. Finally, we cover specific topics like health measurement, the value of a statistical life or cost-benefit analysis. The lectures will not cover health behaviors (PAM 6410), human capital and early childhood effects, the environment-health literature, and effects of income, education, and unemployment on health (behaviors).
|
Spring. |
| ECON6970 |
Empirical Public Finance and Taxation
The principal objective of this course is to explore empirical evidence on the role of government intervention in the economy. The focus of the course will be on reading important papers and learning techniques that will allow you to produce original research in public economics and to analyze critically existing research in the field.
Full details for ECON 6970 - Empirical Public Finance and Taxation |
Spring. |
| ECON6990 |
Readings in Economics
Independent study.
|
Fall, Spring. |
| ECON7200 |
Advanced Topics in Econometrics II
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 7200 - Advanced Topics in Econometrics II |
Spring. |
| ECON7335 |
Introduction to Information Economics
Many economic decisions have to be made in settings in which many interacting agents have imperfect and diverse information about pay-off relevant variables. This course gives an overview of existing research in macroeconomics and finance that deviates from settings with perfectly informed rational agents. The course will cover both methodological and substantial aspects of the existing literature.
Full details for ECON 7335 - Introduction to Information Economics |
Spring (weeks 1-7). |
| ECON7530 |
Industry Dynamics
This is an advanced study course in Industry Dynamics. Much improvement has been made in the study of aggregate productivity, investment, and aggregate output dynamics by understanding the micro structure of the economy. This course introduces the main tools exploited in the literature to study these macroeconomic problems and discusses the research frontier. The course opens up with a theory of entrepreneurship and occupational choice. Then it describes firms growth and its impact on industry equilibrium. It introduces techniques for computation of productivity and marginal products at the firm level and its implications for cross-country disparities in income per capital and the life cycle of firms. Next, we analyze economies consistent with industry equilibrium and endogenous long-run growth. For that, we build basic notions on stochastic calculus which are used at the frontier of research. Finally, we study industry equilibrium in open economies and in economies with incomplete markets. The course closes with a normative analysis of industry equilibrium allocations. The course is designed to encourage avenues for novel research.
|
Spring. |
| ECON7650 |
Development Microeconomics Graduate Research Seminar
Graduate students and the instructor present draft research proposals, papers, and preliminary thesis results for group review and discussion. Students who actively participate by offering written and oral comments on others' work receive 1 credit. Students who also present their own proposal or paper receive 2 credits. Presentations last 75 minutes and thus represent a substantial investment of time. Students who present a second proposal or paper receive 3 credits.
Full details for ECON 7650 - Development Microeconomics Graduate Research Seminar |
Fall, Spring. |
| ECON7660 |
Microeconomics of International Development
Focuses on models of individual, household, firm/farm, and market behavior in low- and middle-income developing economies. Topics include agricultural land, labor, and financial institutions; technology adoption; food security and nutrition; risk management; intra-household analysis; reciprocity networks; and product/factor markets analysis. Emphasizes empirical research.
Full details for ECON 7660 - Microeconomics of International Development |
Spring. |
| ECON7841 |
Econometrics Workshop
Research workshop featuring guest lecturers.
|
Fall, Spring. |
| ECON7842 |
Microeconomic Theory Workshop
Research workshop featuring guest lecturers.
|
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.
|
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.
|
Fall, Spring. |
| ECON7848 |
Public Economics Workshop
Research workshop featuring guest lecturers.
|
Fall, Spring. |
| ECON7849 |
Behavioral Economics Workshop
Research workshop featuring guest lecturers.
|
Fall, Spring. |
| ECON7851 |
Third Year Research Seminar II
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.
|
Spring. |