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

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

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.

Catalog Distribution: (SBA-AS, SSC-AS)

Full details for ECON 1110 - Introductory Microeconomics

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.

Catalog Distribution: (SBA-AS, SSC-AS)

Full details for ECON 1120 - Introductory Macroeconomics

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.

Catalog Distribution: (SBA-AS, SSC-AS)

Full details for ECON 2300 - International Trade and Finance

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.

Catalog Distribution: (SBA-AS, SSC-AS)

Full details for ECON 3030 - Intermediate Microeconomic 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.

Catalog Distribution: (SBA-AS, SSC-AS)

Full details for ECON 3040 - Intermediate Macroeconomic Theory

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.

Catalog Distribution: (MQR-AS, SDS-AS, SMR-AS)

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

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.

Catalog Distribution: (MQR-AS, SDS-AS, SSC-AS)

Full details for ECON 3120 - Applied 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.

Catalog Distribution: (MQR-AS, SDS-AS, SSC-AS)

Full details for ECON 3140 - Econometrics

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.

Catalog Distribution: (HA-AS, HST-AS, SSC-AS)

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

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.

Catalog Distribution: (SBA-AS, SSC-AS)

Full details for ECON 3430 - Compensation, Incentives, and Productivity

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.

Catalog Distribution: (SBA-AS, SSC-AS)

Full details for ECON 3480 - Race and the American Labor Market in Historical Perspective

This course examines economic approaches to how new technologies impact the labour market. We will study how robots and digital technologies affect the nature of jobs and tasks, how technological developments affect the nature and flexibility of work contracts, as well as how firms and workers search and find each other. We will discuss the emergence of flexible work arrangements (gig economy, teleworking). The goal is to learn how economists approach and analyse these phenomena, both theoretically and empirically. 

Full details for ECON 3485 - New Technologies and the Labor Market

The goal of this course is to expand students' understanding of the economics of developing countries. We will address questions like: why do some countries grow quickly and others slowly? What factors prevent countries, households, and individuals from escaping the cycle of poverty? How do policymakers balance economic growth and environmental sustainability? Why don't financial markets work well in most developing countries, and do informal institutions fill the gap? How do we analyze the challenges facing small-scale farming households, and how do decisions by those households influence migration, labor markets, and the growth of industry? How do we evaluate policies and programs in order to understand what works for development? The approach in this course will be primarily microeconomic, although a basic understanding of macroeconomics is important for some topics. Emphasis will be on theory, real-world examples, and reading and interpreting research and policy papers.

Full details for ECON 3550 - Economics of Developing Countries

Familiarizes students with the economic analysis of consumer policy issues. Uses the tools of microeconomic analysis to investigate the interaction between government and the marketplace, with an emphasis on how that interaction affects consumers. Examines the rationale for and effects of regulation of industry. Considers alternative theories of regulation, including the capture, economic, and public interest theories. Applies those theories to specific types of regulation, including economic regulation of specific industries (e.g., telecommunications, electricity, trucking, railroads, postal services) as well as to broader social regulation (e.g., health, safety, environmental). The effects of regulatory reform in numerous industries are also examined. An attempt is made to examine current topics relating to consumer policy.

Catalog Distribution: (SBA-AS, SSC-AS)

Full details for ECON 3610 - The Economics of Consumer 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.

Catalog Distribution: (SBA-AS, SSC-AS)

Full details for ECON 3670 - Behavioral Economics and Public Policy

Research on decision theory resides in a variety of disciplines including computer science, economics, game theory, philosophy, and psychology. This course attempts to integrate these various approaches. The course is taught jointly by faculty from Game Theory and Computer Science. The course covers several areas: (1) basic decision theory. This theory, sometimes known as "rational choice theory," is part of the foundation for the disciplines listed above. It applies to decisions made by individuals or by machines; (2) the limitations of and problems with this theory. Issues discussed here include decision theory paradoxes revealed by experiments, cognitive and knowledge limitations, and computational issues; (3) new research designed in response to these difficulties. Issues covered include alternative approaches to the foundations of decision theory, adaptive behavior and shaping the individual decisions by aggregate/evolutionary forces and more computationally based approaches.

Catalog Distribution: (MQR-AS, SMR-AS, SSC-AS)

Full details for ECON 3810 - Decision Theory I

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.

Full details for ECON 3825 - Networks II: Market Design

This course introduces students to the economics of renewable and nonrenewable natural resources. Topics covered include the valuation and use of land; the extraction and management of nonrenewable resources such as minerals, rare earth elements, and energy resources; renewable and nonrenewable sources of energy; forest management; water and groundwater economics, management, and conservation; and sustainability. Students will learn how to use dynamic models to analyze decision-making over time, and to solve dynamic optimization problems analytically and numerically. Students will also learn how to analyze and explain the intuition and logic behind the theory and concepts. Students will apply the methods, quantitative tools, and concepts to analyze natural resource issues at global and local levels; to introspectively reflect on their own lives and future aspirations; and to draw lessons and implications for leadership, management, and policy. A solid background in calculus is required.

Catalog Distribution: (SBA-AS, SSC-AS)

Full details for ECON 3860 - Resource 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.

Catalog Distribution: (SBA-AS, SSC-AS)

Full details for ECON 3865 - Environmental Economics

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 3875 - Policy Analysis: Welfare Theory, Agriculture, and Trade

Studies mathematical models of conflict and cooperation in situations of uncertainty (about nature and about decision makers).

Catalog Distribution: (MQR-AS, SMR-AS, SSC-AS)

Full details for ECON 4020 - Game Theory I

This course is meant to be a second game theory course for those students, who have had exposure to game theory. The class will be organized topically, and some topic choice will depend upon student interest. About half the term will be devoted to evolutionary game theory --- static theory, deterministic dynamics, and stochastic dynamics. Other core topics include potential games and strategic complementarities. Additional topics may be selected from among cooperative game theory, refinements of Nash equilibrium, and estimation in games.

Catalog Distribution: (MQR-AS, SMR-AS)

Full details for ECON 4022 - Game Theory II

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.

Catalog Distribution: (SBA-AS, SSC-AS)

Full details for ECON 4210 - Money and Credit

This is an advanced course intended for upper level economics undergraduates who enjoy learning about and analyzing economic models. The course provides an introduction to the economic analysis of politics. Part I discusses collective choice and introduces some core ideas from social choice theory. Part II provides an overview of economic theories of political behavior. Part III discusses how political decisions are distorted away from those that would be made by the benevolent governments from public economics textbooks. Part IV offers economic perspectives on a number of contemporary issues in American politics.

Catalog Distribution: (SBA-AS, SSC-AS)

Full details for ECON 4290 - Economic Analysis of Politics

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.

Catalog Distribution: (SBA-AS, SSC-AS)

Full details for ECON 4510 - International Trade Theory and Policy

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.

Catalog Distribution: (SBA-AS, SSC-AS)

Full details for ECON 4610 - Industrial Organization I

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.

Catalog Distribution: (SBA-AS, SSC-AS)

Full details for ECON 4902 - Banks

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.

Full details for ECON 4991 - Honors Program

Full details for ECON 4997 - Cross-Cultural Work Experiences

Full details for ECON 4998 - Cross-Cultural Work Experiences

Independent study.

Full details for ECON 4999 - Independent Study in Economics

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.

Full details for ECON 6100 - Microeconomic Theory II

Topics in Non-Cooperative Game Theory.

Full details for ECON 6110 - Microeconomic Theory III

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.

Full details for ECON 6140 - Macroeconomics 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.

Full details for ECON 6200 - Econometrics 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).

Full details for ECON 6420 - Health Economics II

This course is the second of a two-course sequence. Both PAM 6090 and this course are, for the most part, targeted at students looking to do empirical research into the effects of some X on some Y. Both courses require students to complete problem sets that involve "hands-on" exercises – some based on real data and some using Monte Carlo simulations. The hope is that this "learning by doing" will reinforce what is taught in class. Usually, the first course covers core methods, specifically regression adjustment, matching and instrumental variables. This second course covers additional topics in matching (we will touch on machine learning methods in the process), regression discontinuity designs, panel data methods, and mediation analysis in spring 2019. 

Full details for ECON 6591 - Empirical Strategies for Policy Research II

Research on decision theory resides in a variety of disciplines including computer science, economics, game theory, philosophy, and psychology. This course attempts to integrate these various approaches. The course is taught jointly by faculty from Game Theory and Computer Science. The course covers several areas: (1) basic decision theory. This theory, sometimes known as "rational choice theory," is part of the foundation for the disciplines listed above. It applies to decisions made by individuals or by machines; (2) the limitations of and problems with this theory. Issues discussed here include decision theory paradoxes revealed by experiments, cognitive and knowledge limitations, and computational issues; (3) new research designed in response to these difficulties. Issues covered include alternative approaches to the foundations of decision theory, adaptive behavior and shaping the individual decisions by aggregate/evolutionary forces and more computationally based approaches.

Full details for ECON 6760 - Decision Theory I

This course is meant to be a second game theory course for those students who have had exposure to game theory. The class will be organized topically, and some topic choice will depend upon student interest. About half the term will be devoted to evolutionary game theory --- static theory, deterministic dynamics, and stochastic dynamics. Other core topics include potential games and strategic complementarities. Additional topics may be selected from among cooperative game theory, refinements of Nash equilibrium, and estimation in games.

Full details for ECON 6822 - Game Theory II

Social science research almost always combines empirical observation (data), the construction of concepts (language), and the logical analysis of the relations between observations and concepts (statistics).  This course examines the relations between these three dimensions as the analyst moves from one to the other both as practice and in the crafting of a formal summary of findings and argument. We will be particularly interested in the foundational assumptions that underpin the connections between empirical reality, language, and statistical analysis. While these foundational assumptions are often taken for granted by social scientists, they vary dramatically between social science disciplines.  The implicit contradiction between that variance and their doxic acceptance within disciplines will be a primary focus of the course.

Full details for ECON 6910 - Foundations of the Social Sciences

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

Independent study.

Full details for ECON 6990 - Readings in Economics

Analyzes the ways identification problems limit the conclusions that may be drawn in empirical economic research and studies how identified and partially identified parameters can be estimated. In the first part of the course, the focus is on nonparametric models. Ways data can be combined with weak assumptions to yield partial identification of population parameters are discussed.

Full details for ECON 7230 - Semi/Non Parametric Econometrics

The course introduces students to Bayesian time series methods. Students will learn how to make likelihood-based inference about unobserved quantities, e.g. model parameters, policy impacts or future outcomes, conditional on the observed data. Applications include structural vector autoregressions, state space models and linearized dynamic stochastic general equilibrium macro models. Student will become familiar with numerical posterior simulation techniques such as Gibbs sampling and the Metropolis-Hasting algorithm. The course is useful for any students interested in empirical work that involves time series and/or structural likelihood-based estimation.

Full details for ECON 7300 - Applied Bayesian Time Series Methods

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

This course aims to provide an in-depth perspective on three important themes in modern labor economics: (1) Job search, (2) Technological change and new forms of work, (3) Sorting of workers and firms. Both micro and macro perspectives will be considered.

Full details for ECON 7465 - Advances in Labor Economics

Rounds out some topics in the theory of industrial organization with the specific intent of addressing the empirical implications of the theory. Reviews empirical literature in the SCP paradigm and in the NEIO paradigm.

Full details for ECON 7520 - Industrial Organization and Regulation II

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

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

Research workshop featuring guest lecturers.

Full details for ECON 7841 - Econometrics Workshop

Research workshop featuring guest lecturers.

Full details for ECON 7842 - Microeconomic Theory Workshop

Research workshop featuring guest lecturers.

Full details for ECON 7843 - Industrial Organization Workshop

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

Research workshop featuring guest lecturers.

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

Research workshop featuring guest lecturers.

Full details for ECON 7848 - Public Economics Workshop

Research workshop featuring guest lecturers.

Full details for ECON 7849 - Behavioral Economics Workshop

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 7851 - Third Year Research Seminar II

Research workshop featuring guests lecturers.

Full details for ECON 7853 - Applied Microeconomics Workshop