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

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.

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

Full details for ECON 3550 - Economics of Developing Countries

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

Risky health behaviors such as cigarette smoking, alcohol abuse, risky sex, drug use, poor diet and physical inactivity (leading to obesity), and self-harm 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. A policy wargame is conducted, with students creating advertisements, giving oral presentations, and lobbying policymakers to advocate a specific policy position.  

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

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

Examines, through the lens of economic analysis, legal principles drawn from various branches of law, including contracts, torts, and property. 

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

Full details for ECON 3800 - Economics and the Law

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 the concepts and methods used by economists to study not only cities, regions and their relationships with each other, but, more generally, the spatial aspects and outcomes of decision-making by households and firms. Areas examined include determinants of urban growth and decline, land and housing markets, transportation issues, segregation and poverty, and the allocation and distribution of urban public services. 

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

Full details for ECON 3855 - Urban 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.

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

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

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.

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

Full details for ECON 4110 - Cross Section and Panel Econometrics

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

The Undergraduate Honors Program in Economics is designed to offer students who have demonstrated academic excellence in the major an opportunity to pursue an independent research project and graduate with Latin honors. The program runs for the student's entire senior year, and the research is conducted under the close supervision of a faculty advisor. ECON 4991 is a 4-credit hour course and honors program students must register for this course for a Letter Grade. In this course the student completes the honors thesis based on the proposal developed in ECON 4990. ECON 4991 can be used as one of the courses required to complete the economics major. Students who successfully complete the two-course program (ECON 4990 - ECON 4991) are eligible for Latin honors. The level of honors awarded—none, cum laude, magna cum laude, or summa cum laude—is based on thesis quality as well as performance in the major and other factors. Students are expected to be in residence at Cornell during the semester.

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

This course teaches the fundamentals of non-cooperative game theory and classic applications used in applied work in economics and related fields such as finance, marketing, operations, and accounting. The course begins with a brief primer on non-cooperative game theory that covers pure versus mixed strategies, Nash equilibrium, and various equilibrium refinements. Coverage then turns to basic frameworks that utilize game theory to model a wide range of settings in economics and related fields. These include agency analysis, classic asymmetric information models such as adverse selection and signaling, time inconsistency, and repeated games and reputation.

Full details for ECON 6115 - Applied Microeconomics II: Game Theory

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

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

Independent study.

Full details for ECON 6990 - Readings in Economics

This course introduces econometric and machine learning methods that are useful for causal inference. Modern empirical research often encounters datasets with many covariates or observations. We start by evaluating the quality of standard estimators in the presence of large datasets, and then study when and how machine learning methods can be used or modified to improve the measurement of causal effects and the inference on estimated effects. The aim of the course is not to exhaust all machine learning methods, but to introduce a theoretic framework and related statistical tools that help research students develop independent research in econometric theory or applied econometrics. Topics include: (1) potential outcome model and treatment effect, (2) nonparametric regression with series estimator, (3) probability foundations for high dimensional data (concentration and maximal inequalities, uniform convergence), (4) estimation of high dimensional linear models with lasso and related methods, (5) estimation of high dimensional generalised linear models with L1 regularisation, (6) introduction to other machine learning methods such as neural networks, regression trees and random forests, (7) inference on semiparametric models with high dimensional components, orthogonalisation, de-biased machine learning, (8) other related topics, such as balancing methods, treatment choice problems, etc. Class slides will be circulated and students are expected to read theoretic and empirical research papers that involve machine learning methods.

Full details for ECON 7240 - Causal Inference and Machine Learning

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

Develops a mathematical and highly analytical understanding of the role of government in market economies and the fundamentals of public economics and related issues. Topics include generalizations and extensions of the fundamental theorems of welfare economics, in-depth analysis of social choice theory and the theory on implementation in economic environments, public goods and externalities and other forms of market failure associated with asymmetric information. The theoretical foundation for optimal direct and indirect taxation is also introduced along with the development of various consumer surplus measures and an application to benefit cost analysis. Topics of an applied nature vary from semester to semester depending on faculty research interests.

Full details for ECON 7350 - Public Finance: Resource Allocation and Fiscal Policy

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 7430 - Seminar in Labor Economics II

Many subfields in economics study various types of bilateral relationships between agents (e.g., friendships, favor-exchange, lending, etc.) and how the structure of those relationships affect aggregate outcomes (e.g., diffusion of technology, growth, propagation of financial shocks). This course aims to (1) give students a broad overview of economic and social networks as studied by economists, (2) introduce students to a selection of modern (primarily theoretical) in networks, and (3) prepare students to start their own research in this area. While the focus of the course is on the theory of networks, good research in this area is often motivated by an attempt to explain or contend with patterns uncovered by modern empirical work. We will therefore also consider empirical papers in finance, development economics, labor, media, etc.

Full details for ECON 7540 - Economics of Networks: Theory

This course provides an overview of the field of behavioral economics. The course reviews evidence on how human behavior systematically departs from the standard assumptions of economics, and discusses how one might formally model alternative assumptions based on this evidence. The course then examines attempts to empirically test these theories. The goal is not merely to point out problems with traditional economic assumptions, rather, it is to develop alternative assumptions and to investigate whether these alternative assumptions can be usefully incorporated into mainstream economics.

Full details for ECON 7580 - Behavioral Economics I

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

Topics vary from year to year but may include poverty, inequality, intra-household allocation, structural adjustment, and debt. Examination is by term paper.

Full details for ECON 7700 - Topics in Economic 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