Course	ECON 101A Introduction to Microeconomics
Professor	Andrew Pearlman
CRN	95260
Schedule	Tu Th 9:00 -10:20 am OLIN 204
Distribution	OLD: A/E/Q	NEW: SOCIAL SCIENCE

Cross-listed: Environmental Studies, GISP

This course covers the essential ideas of economic analysis. Students will learn how economists explain human behavior as we seek to satisfy our needs and wants. The first part of the course develops models of consumer and firm behavior, including demand and supply, in the context of an idealized competitive market. From there we analyze several ways in which the real world deviates from this model, including monopoly and other forms of imperfect competition, information problems, minimum wages and other price controls, taxes, and government regulation. Along the way we will explore public policy problems such as pricing the environment, winners and losers from international trade, health care costs and insurance, and the high price of textbooks. Econ 101 and 102 may be taken in either order.

Course	ECON 101E Experimental Microeconomics
Professor	Tsu-Yu Tsao
CRN	95261
Schedule	Mon Wed 3:00 -4:20 pm OLIN 305
Distribution	OLD: A/E/Q	NEW: SOCIAL SCIENCE

Cross-listed: Environmental Studies, Global & Int’l StudiesTraditionally, economics has been regarded as a non-experimental science, where researchers have to rely on direct observations of the real world to verify their theories. That view, however, has changed in the last twenty years as many researchers begin to test economic theories in laboratory settings. In this course, we will follow this relatively new methodology in economics and use in-class experiments to study economic concepts. Each week, we devote one class meeting to conducting an experiment and the other to understand the underlying principles of the experiment and how those principles can be applied to analyze real-world issues. Topics to be addressed include minimum wage law, legality of drug use, farm subsidies in the U.S., the protection of intellectual property and pricing of AIDS drugs in developing countries, tradeoffs between efficiency and equity associated with taxation, the use of pollution permits in combating environmental degradation, international trade, and labor market discrimination. This course can be used to fulfill the requirement of Econ 101: Introduction to Microeconomics for students who intend to moderate into economics.

Course	ECON 102A Introduction to Macroeconomics
Professor	Tamar Khitarishvili
CRN	95262
Schedule	Mon Wed 10:30 -11:50 am OLIN 307
Distribution	OLD: A/E/Q	NEW: SOCIAL SCIENCE

Cross-listed: Global & Int’l Studies

This course begins with the examination of the aggregate behavior of modern economies: the factors leading to economic growth, explanations of booms and recessions, unemployment, interest rates, inflation, budget deficits or surpluses, and international trade. We will also analyze the government’s ability (or inability) to use monetary and fiscal policies to achieve economic goals such as full employment and price stability. Throughout the course, we will debate whether government should use monetary and fiscal policy tools to try to “fine tune” the economy and what the likely effects of such government involvement are. We will analyze these issues using current domestic and international examples. Econ 101 and 102 may be taken in either order.

Course	ECON 102B Introduction to Macroeconomics
Professor	Tamar Khitarishvili
CRN	95263
Schedule	Mon Wed 1:30 -2:50 pm OLIN 101
Distribution	OLD: A/E/Q	NEW: SOCIAL SCIENCE

See description above.

Course	ECON 120 Social Security and Health Care
Professor	Andrew Pearlman
CRN	95264
Schedule	Mon Wed 12:00 -1:20 pm OLIN 205
Distribution	OLD: A	NEW: SOCIAL SCIENCE

Looming as two significant long-term policy questions in the U.S. are Social Security and health care financing. Today these topics share the stage in a national debate about the role of government in a market economy, and both policy areas have been cited as financial crises. This course is designed to apply dispassionate economic analysis to an often-confusing public debate, to explode the myths, and to highlight the undeniable realities. For Social Security, we investigate the purpose and history of the program, its current functions, and its micro and macro effects on the economy. We then consider Social Security’s financial outlook and to what extent it presents a crisis, and evaluate proposed solutions. Special consideration will be given to President Bush’s reform proposals. For health care, we examine health care markets, insurance, and the arguments for government intervention. We will study how Medicare and Medicaid work, their roles in the escalation of national health care expenditures, and we will evaluate competing proposals to restructure federal health policy. In both Social Security and health care, we will use international comparisons throughout the course to shed light on the U.S. situation.

Course	ECON 200 Money and Banking
Professor	Dimitri Papadimitriou
CRN	95265
Schedule	Tu Th 10:30 -11:50 am OLIN 307
Distribution	OLD: C/E	NEW: SOCIAL SCIENCE

Cross-listed: Global & Int’l Studies

An examination of the role of money and financial intermediaries in determining aggregate economic activity. Interactions of savers, investors, and regulatory authorities in domestic and international capital markets are analyzed, and the linkage between the financial system and the real economy traced. The functions of central banks, commercial banks, securities dealers, investment banks, and other intermediaries are covered in detail. The debate over the goals, tools, indicators, and effectiveness of monetary policy is considered in the light of current national and international economic problems.

Course	ECON 201 Intermediate Microeconomics
Professor	Tsu-Yu Tsao
CRN	95266
Schedule	Mon 9:00 – 11:20 am OLIN 204 Wed 9:00 - 10:20 am OLIN 203
Distribution	OLD: A	NEW: SOCIAL SCIENCE

A further development of principles and analytical methods begun in Intro to Microeconomics: demand, supply, and the workings of the price system. The positive and normative characteristics of alternative market structures – perfect competition, monopolistic competition, oligopoly, pure monopoly, and in resource markets, monopsony – are studies in depth. Market forces are examined in the context of social and political institutions that shape, and are shaped by, market outcomes. The alleged “trade-off” between equity and efficiency is debated in the context of a variety of applications.

Prerequisite: Introduction to Microeconomics

Course	ECON 219 Economic History of Central Asia
Professor	Tamar Khitarishvili
CRN	95267
Schedule	Tu Th 9:00 -10:20 am OLIN 303
Distribution	OLD: C/E	NEW: SOCIAL SCIENCE / RETHINKING DIFFERENCE

Cross-listed: Asian Studies, Global & Int’l Studies, History, Russian and Eurasian Studies

Central Asia has made headlines due to its vast reserves of oil and natural gas and the geographic proximity to Russia, China and Afghanistan. Yet, little is known about the region, which includes Mongolia and five countries of the former Soviet Union (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan). This course will explore the economic history of Central Asia from early times until today. Several major themes will be explored. The economic development of Central Asia was closely linked to the fortunes of the Silk Road, which passed through the region. We will study the impact that being the main segment of the Silk Road had on the lifestyle and economic wellbeing of the Central Asian population. We will also analyze the lasting influence that the rise of Genghis Khan in 13th century had on the region. As the heart of his empire, Central Asia experienced dramatic changes as free trade and commerce prospered, a common paper currency system was introduced, and physical infrastructure developed. We will then evaluate the impact that the discovery of oil and natural gas in 19^th century has had on the region, as it became the battle zone between Russia and the Great Britain in 19th century and Russia and the United States today. Finally, we will look at the challenges that Central Asia faces today as it attempts to leave behind the Soviet legacy and move forward.

Course	ECON 242 Environmental Economics
Professor	Kris Feder
CRN	95268
Schedule	Tu Th 2:30 -3:50 pm OLIN 307
Distribution	OLD: A/E	NEW: SOCIAL SCIENCE

Cross-listed: Environmental Studies

The interrelationships between economic and ecological systems: the materials balance; the economic role of ecosystem services; the economic value of extractive and in situ uses of the environment as a source of productive inputs and a repository for wastes; market and non-market allocations of natural resources among alternative uses. The standard neoclassical analysis of pollution as a consequence of externality and market failure is developed, general conditions for efficient resource use and waste disposal are derived, and rationales for public management of environmental resources are examined. Conventional policy solutions are evaluated with particular focus on United States environmental policy. Orthodox analyses of environmental problems are contrasted with alternative interpretations, including those of ecological economics, steady-state economics, and geoclassical economics. Of special interest are the questions of land tenure and entitlement—of individual and collective rights to nature.

Prerequisite: ECON 102.

Course	ECON 254 Feminist Economics
Professor	Rania Antonopoulos
CRN	95269
Schedule	Tu Th 1:00 -2:20 pm OLIN 303
Distribution	OLD: A	NEW: SOCIAL SCIENCE / RETHINKING DIFFERENCE

Cross-listed: American Studies, Gender Studies

This course reexamines economics by looking at traditional theories through a feminist lens. Emerging feminist approaches challenge the currently used framework of economic analysis, at both the micro and macro levels, for omitting a crucial analytical category, that of gender. In introducing this centrally important category, feminist economics seeks to correct the mainstream vision of how contemporary societies organize the activities of production and distribution. From a scientific point of view, a gender-based schema makes the complexity of economic interactions among institutions and people more transparent, and is thus better suited to address issues of public policy and ultimately societal transformation. Topics that will be covered, include: feminist critiques of economic theories :“en-gendering” the economic question per se; the importance of re-conceptualizing the economy as a three sector model: household sector, market sector and government sector; household production versus market oriented production: a gendered system; social division of labor by gender: structures of gender occupation and segregation; contemporary labor market issues and policies: wage gap, comparable worth, discrimination and affirmative action; economic growth, poverty trends and government policy: gendered impact; “efficient” versus “equitable” growth: how do we evaluate economic prosperity?

Course	ECON 265 Development from the Ground Up: Community-Based Development
Professor	Sanjaya DeSilva
CRN	95270
Schedule	Wed Fr 10:30 -11:50 am OLIN 204
Distribution	OLD: A	NEW: SOCIAL SCIENCE / RETHINKING DIFFERENCE

Cross-listed: Asian Studies; Environmental Studies; Global & Int’l Studies; Human Rights; Society, Technology & Society

This course critically examines the concept and practice of community-based (or community-led) development as an alternative to the widely studied top-down theories and policies of development. We begin by asking whether the end goals of “development” are universal outcomes such as income, or outcomes that vary with the values of individuals or communities. Conceptualizations of well-being in Buddhist and Gandhian thinking will be considered to highlight the cross-cultural differences in what constitutes a “good life”. We will develop a broader definition of development as economic, social and political empowerment that allows an individual or a community to achieve whatever it is that they value and desire. We will then examine several grassroots development movements that have focused on empowerment. Two examples are the micro-credit movement that began with the Grameen Bank of Bangladesh and the Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement of Sri Lanka. We will also attempt to relate the concept of community-based development to the neoclassical paradigm of economics. We will critically examine the impact of market expansion and the consequent erosion of informal exchange relations from the perspective of community empowerment. Several innovative ideas such as fair trade, eco-tourism and micro-credit that attempt to combine community empowerment with market expansion will be studied. Throughout the course, the relationship of community-based development with ecological sustainability and political decentralization will be highlighted.

Prerequisites: Econ 101 or permission of instructor.

Course	ECON 329 Econometrics
Professor	Sanjaya DeSilva
CRN	95271
Schedule	Tu Th 4:00 -5:20 pm OLIN 309
Distribution	OLD: E/Q	NEW: SOCIAL SCIENCE

Econometrics is the artful blending of economic theory with statistics. Economic theory helps us to develop behavioral hypotheses, while statistics help us to test these hypotheses. For example, consumer theory tells us that there is an inverse relationship between price and quantity demanded; we use econometrics to see if consumers actually behave in this way. This course covers the proper use of statistical tools, such as linear regression, multivariate regression and hypothesis testing. Students will have an opportunity to apply these tools to analyze a variety of economic issues. Prerequisites: ECON 229 and either ECON 201 or ECON 202.

Course	ECON 330 Seminar in Geoclassical Economics
Professor	Kris Feder
CRN	95272
Schedule	Fr 12:00 -2:20 pm OLIN 307
Distribution	OLD: A	NEW: SOCIAL SCIENCE

Cross-Listed: Environmental Studies

This seminar reviews the literature of geoclassical economics from it roots in Locke, Quesnay, Smith, Ricardo and George to the recently published work of Tideman, Gaffney, Vickrey, Stiglitz, and others. The geoclassical tradition studies the role of land tenure and related property institutions in shaping social, political, and economic life. Its interdisciplinary research agenda includes economic applications to environmental issues, urban problems, economic cycles, tax policy, public choice, the economic theory of government, trade, debt and dependency, income distribution, and territorial disputes. Exploring discrepancies between geoclassical and neoclassical postulates, we ask whether geoclassical thought constitutes a consistent body of theory. Each student will present articles or excerpts from the primary literature, compose short critical essays, and write a research paper. Together as a class, we will attempt to characterize the nature and scope of the geoclassical research agenda and to identify a priority list of questions for research. (Econ 330 satisfies the History of Economic Thought field requirement in Economics.)

Prerequisites: Economics 102 and either 101 or 115. Moderated ES students with related background may enroll with permission of instructor.

Course	ECON CONF Senior Conference
Professor	Faculty
CRN	95273
Schedule	Tu 5:30 -6:50 pm ALBEE 102

Students writing Senior Projects in Economics will be required to attend the Senior Conference, which will meet not more than one evening every two weeks throughout the fall and spring terms. Not for credit.