91645

ECON 100 A Principles of Economics

Aniruddha Mitra

M . W . .

10:10 am- 11:30 am

OLINLC 115

SSCI

Cross-listed: Economics & Finance; Environmental & Urban Studies ; Global & Int’l Studies This course is a one-semester introduction to the essential ideas of economic analysis. The microeconomics component of the course develops the basic model of consumer and firm behavior, including demand and supply, in the context of an idealized competitive market and examines 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. The macroeconomics component studies the aggregate behavior of modern economies - the factors leading to economic growth, explanations of booms and recessions, unemployment, interest rates, inflation, and budget deficits or surpluses – and the government’s ability (or inability) to use monetary and fiscal policies to achieve economic goals such as full employment and price stability. This course replaces the two-semester introductory microeconomics and macroeconomics sequence and is the foundational course in the economics curriculum. Prerequisite: passing score on Part I of the Mathematics Diagnostic. Class size: 22

91646

ECON 100 B Principles of Economics

Aniruddha Mitra

. T . Th .

10:10 am- 11:30 am

HEG 201

SSCI

See above. Class size: 20

91647

ECON 100 C Principles of Economics

James Green-Armytage

. T . Th .

1:30 pm -2:50 pm

RKC 103

SSCI

See above. Class size: 22

91648

ECON 100 D Principles of Economics

Andy Felkerson

. T . Th .

11:50 am -1:10 pm

HEG 106

SSCI

See above. Class size: 22

91652

ECON 122 What is Money?

Pavlina Tcherneva

M . W . .

1:30 pm -2:50 pm

ALBEE 106

SSCI

Related interest: Africana Studies; Anthropology What is money? This simple question has surprisingly many different answers. This course examines the origins, nature, and functions of money through historical time to illustrate the role it has played in the process of economic provisioning in different societies. Though the true origins of money are likely lost in the 'mists' of time, we can learn a lot from studying the monetary systems in ancient Egypt, Mesopotamian empires, as well as from the monetization of colonial Africa and the monetary regimes in modern nation-states. The course will examine different monetary systems in modern market economies: including gold standard episodes, money in the American colonies, sovereign currency regimes, monetary unions as in the EU, local currency areas, and emerging phenomena like bitcoin and peer-to-peer payment systems. We will apply different theoretical perspectives to the study of money to explain the functioning of these different monetary systems and the policy space they afford nations for achieving specific policy objectives. Class size: 22

91653

ECON 200 Money and Banking

Pavlina Tcherneva

M . W . .

3:10 pm -4:30 pm

ALBEE 106

SSCI

Cross-listed: Economics & Finance, 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. Prerequisite: ECON 100 or ECON 102. Class size: 22

91654

ECON 201 Intermediate Microeconomics

James Green-Armytage

. T . Th .

4:40 pm -6:00 pm

OLIN 204

SSCI

Cross-listed: Economics and Finance Microeconomics is the study of how individual economic units (households and firms) interact to determine outcomes (allocation of goods and services) in a market setting. In this course, we attempt to achieve the following three objectives: (1) Understand all the concepts covered in Introduction to Microeconomics in terms of mathematics; (2) Study advanced topics such as choice under uncertainty and information asymmetry that have traditionally relied on mathematics for illustration of ideas; and (3) Learn how to use mathematics to conduct in-depth economic analysis. In order to meet the last objective, we will devote most of the weekly “lab” sessions toward problem solving. During the lab sessions, students are expected to take turns explaining how to solve a particular problem to the rest of the class. A firm grasp of the materials covered in this course is essential to reading economics journal articles and pursuing advanced studies in economics. Prerequisites: Calculus I and ECON 100. Class size: 22

91655

ECON 205 Mathematical Economics

Aniruddha Mitra

. T . Th .

11:50 am -1:10 pm

HEG 102

MATC

Introduction to the use of elementary calculus and linear algebra in economic theory. This course provides the basic mathematical skills necessary to approach the professional economics literature. Emphasis is on formulating economic problems and building economic models in mathematical language. Applications are based upon simple micro- and macroeconomic models. Prerequisites: ECON 101 or 102; calculus. Class size: 22

91656

ECON / EUS 206 Economics From the Ground Up

Kris Feder

. . W . F

1:30 pm -2:50 pm

HEG 201

SSCI

Cross-listed: Environmental & Urban Studies Economics is the study of constrained choice. Most introductory textbooks begin by characterizing the processes and outcomes of complex markets involving exchanges of goods and money among millions of “agents” (households and firms), which are implicitly assumed to obey established social conventions and governmental directives. This course develops economic principles from the ground up through successive extensions of a simple intuitive model. We first explore the economizing behavior of a single individual, acting alone, who struggles to survive by employing available resources to produce food and shelter. From this “Robinson Crusoe” model we derive basic concepts such as income, wealth, and utility; opportunity cost; labor and wages; capital and interest; land and rent; risk, profit and loss; competition; and, uniting them all, the equimarginal principle of optimization. We then introduce cooperation and exchange among persons in order to analyze markets, prices, property, externalities, public goods, money and credit, and the economic functions of government. Throughout, the human economy is understood as embedded in local and global ecosystems. Thought experiments are supplemented with an historical survey of actual economies, from hunter-gatherer societies to agricultural subsistence economies to contemporary industrial systems. Prerequisite: ECON 100 or permission of instructor. Competence in high-school algebra and pre-calculus is important. Class size: 22

91657

ECON 211 THE History OF Economic Thought – 20^TH CENTURY

Olivier Giovannoni

. T . Th .

10:10 am- 11:30 am

HEG 308

SSCI

The course explores the ideas of the greatest economic thinkers of the 20th century. We introduce the important ideas, present the context during which they were developed, and we compare those ideas. We cover economists such as Marshall, Keynes, Hayek, Sraffa, Veblen, Schumpeter, Galbraith and Nobel Prize recipients Samuelson, Friedman, Sen, Stiglitz and Krugman; schools of thought such as the New Keynesians, Post-Keynesians and New Classicals; and issues such as the business cycle, unemployment, inflation, free markets, and the role of governments. We emphasize the diversity of economic thought, and will allow you to better understand the origins of contemporary economic debates. History of Economic Thought I is a natural complement but not a prerequisite. Prerequisite: Econ 101 and 102 or permission of the instructor. Class size: 25

91658

ECON 216 European Economic History

Olivier Giovannoni

. T . Th .

3:10 pm -4:30 pm

OLIN 204

HIST

Cross-listed: Global & Int’l Studies This course presents the economic development of Europe from its roots in the Roman Empire to the present day. The first part of the class presents the economics of the Roman Empire, of Feudal Europe, of Mercantilism, of Imperialism, and of the Industrial Revolution. The second part of the class is devoted to post-WWII Europe: reconstruction, the golden age, communism / socialism, the 80s turn around, Maastricht and the Euro, and the European crisis. The questions addressed include: What lessons does the Roman Empire teach us? What was the role of agriculture and urbanization in medieval Europe? Why did the Industrial Revolution take place in Britain, and not elsewhere? Why were some countries “no-shows”, or very slow, to join the development bandwagon? What are the economic motivations, and consequences, of wars? How do institutions and government interventions frame economic growth? How important is international trade for Europe? What opportunities and challenges do natural resources (or lack thereof) pose? How did the European Union and the Eurozone come to be? Can present-day Europe overcome its challenges? The course is designed for inquiring minds who wish to understand how Europe came to be the major economic area it is now. Our approach is interdisciplinary (history, sociology, politics, geography, institutions…); however we will insist on their economic aspect.  Class size: 25

91659

ECON 229 Introduction to Econometrics

Sanjaya DeSilva

. . W . F

11:50 am -1:10 pm

ALBEE 106

MATC

Cross-listed: Economics & Finance; Environmental & Urban Studies; Global & Int’l Studies This is the first of a two-course sequence designed to explore the tools economists use to summarize and interpret data. The first half of the course introduces the concepts of random variables, probability distributions, sampling, descriptive statistics and statistical inference. The second half of the course focuses on simple and multiple regression analysis. The emphasis is on acquiring a practical knowledge of econometric methods (theoretical foundations and advanced techniques are covered in Econ 329); students will learn how to organize and analyze data using Excel and STATA, how to read and interpret published empirical research, and how to carry out an empirical research project. This course fulfills the statistical methods requirement for the economics major. Prerequisite: Economics 100 and Pre-calculus. Class size: 22

91660

ECON 291 Foundations of Finance and investments

Andy Felkerson

. T . Th .

10:10 am- 11:30 am

HEG 106

SSCI

Cross-listed: Economics & Finance This course explores the foundations of the pricing of financial instruments and the structure and organization of financial markets. Methods will be developed to analyze and measure financial performance, price stocks and bonds, evaluate portfolios and understand financial derivatives as these relate to financial data. Additional topics include the investment decision-making process; trading practices; risk assessment and diversification. This course involves a substantial amount of statistical analysis and calculation, but no prior knowledge of statistics is required.

Class size: 22

91661

ECON 329 Advanced Econometrics

Sanjaya DeSilva

. . . Th .

1:30 pm -3:50 pm

ALBEE 106

SSCI

Cross-listed: Economics & Finance 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. Designed as an advanced continuation of Econ 229 (Introduction to Econometrics), this course provides a rigorous treatment of regression analysis. Topics include models and tests that deal with violations of classical assumptions, time series, panel data, structural models and limited dependent variables. In several research projects and assignments, students will use the econometric software STATA to analyze real world data. Prerequisite: Calculus I and Economics 229 or permission of instructor. A prior background in economics and statistics is assumed. Class size: 15

91663

ECON 335 Labor Economics

James Green-Armytage

M . W . .

11:50 am -1:10 pm

HEG 106

SSCI

Cross-listed: American Studies; Gender & Sexuality Studies This course focuses on the economic forces and public policies that affect employment and wages. We examine theoretical models of labor markets and how well they hold up to real-world empirical data. Topics emphasized include labor demand and supply, minimum wage laws, theories of unemployment, job search and matching models, family and life-cycle decision-making, human capital, efficiency wage theory, compensating wage differentials, worker mobility and migration, unions, and discrimination. Prerequisite: Economics 100. Additional recommended background: Intermediate microeconomics (Economics 201) and at least one statistics course. Class size: 15

91662

ECON 350 Economic Growth and Income Distribution

Olivier Giovannoni

. . W . .

1:30 pm -3:50 pm

HEG 300

SSCI

This course couldn't be more timely. Since the 1980s, income inequality has increased dramatically and is now the highest on record. More and more income goes to capital and profits, not workers and labor. Since 2000, 95% of income gains have gone to the top 1% -whose share is at an all-time high. Economists have only recently turned their attention to those facts and there is much uncertainty regarding the causes and consequences of those trends, let alone the potential economic policies required. What explains this shift in the distribution of income? What are the roles of technology, international trade, finance, institutions and governance? Why has growth become so biased towards the very few? Is there a tradeoff between growth and equity? Through what processes is income created and distributed? What are extractive and predatory governments? Is inequality bad and if so, why? Is there such a thing as a balanced, or equitable growth and if so, what does it take? This seminar presents a survey of the landmark theories of economic growth and income distribution and tries to relate those issues. The course is half lecture, half discussion and involves data procurement and analysis. The course is also research-based, through the reading of state-of-the-art journal articles and the writing of a term paper. We focus on the case of the United States and provide international comparisons. Class size: 15

91664

ECON 390 Contemporary Developments in Finance

Dimitri Papadimitriou

. T . . .

1:30 pm -3:50 pm

ALBEE 106

SSCI

Cross-listed: Economics & Finance The seminar will contrast the academic analysis of financial economics with the coverage it receives in the newspapers and on the nightly newscast. The stories on the news are almost always connected with people, whether we observe them shouting bids in a trading floor or talking on two phones simultaneously. Financial markets are dominated by people behaving in many different ways. Yet traditional finance theories concentrate on efficient markets, predictable prices that are determined by the concepts of present value, rates of return and analysis and pricing of computable risks. Human behavior has neither a place in the theory nor a need to be studied. This prevailing view has recently been challenged by the new paradigm of behavioral finance that considers the many anomalies of "rational" behavior and "efficiency" of markets. The new paradigm concerns itself with economic decision-making and investor psychology, and specifically with questions relating to how and why people exhibit a mixture of rational and irrational behavior. The seminar will examine the influence of economic psychology in the decision-making process of various agents as well as in the market's dynamics. Several guest lecturers will also offer their informed views in the development of contemporary finance. Class size: 15