CRN |
14114 |
Distribution |
A/E |
Course
No. |
ECON 101 A Q course |
||
Title |
Introduction
to Microeconomics |
||
Professor |
Sanjaya DeSilva |
||
Schedule |
Mon Wed 10:00 am - 11:20 am OLIN 203 |
Cross-listed: Environmental Studies
An examination of the logic of constrained choice,
with a focus on the economic behavior of individuals and organizations. The mechanics of the price system are
analyzed in terms of demand (utility) and supply (cost). The characteristics of
alternative market structures, from pure competition to monopoly, are derived
and evaluated. The conditions under which markets allocate resources
efficiently are worked out, and several causes of market failure are examined.
Simple graphical and mathematical methods (high-school level of difficulty) are
developed, their use reinforced by a variety of applications. Questions of
microeconomic analysis and policy raised by current events are debated. Econ.
101 and 102 may be taken in either order.
CRN |
14115 |
Distribution |
A/E |
Course
No. |
ECON 101 B Q course |
||
Title |
Introduction
to Microeconomics |
||
Professor |
Tsu-Yu Tsao |
||
Schedule |
Mon Wed 1:30 pm - 2:50 pm OLIN 203 |
See description above.
CRN |
14116 |
Distribution |
A/E |
Course
No. |
ECON 102 A |
||
Title |
Introduction
to Macroeconomics |
||
Professor |
Tamar Khitarishvili |
||
Schedule |
Tu Th 10:00 am - 11:20 am OLIN 201 |
This course begins with an examination of 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. 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 the government should use monetary and fiscal policy to try
to “fine tune” the economy and what the likely effects of such government
involvement are. ECON 101 and 102 may
be taken in either order.
CRN |
14117 |
Distribution |
A/E |
Course
No. |
ECON 102 B |
||
Title |
Introduction
to Macroeconomics |
||
Professor |
Tamar Khitarishvili |
||
Schedule |
Tu Th 1:30 pm - 2:50 pm OLIN
204 |
See description above.
CRN |
14118 |
Distribution |
A/E |
Course
No. |
ECON 110 |
||
Title |
Economic
Dimensions of Domestic Public Issues |
||
Professor |
Andrew Pearlman |
||
Schedule |
Tu Th 1:30 pm - 2:50 pm OLIN
203 |
This course examines the
economic dimensions of a few public issues with domestic scope. (International
and global concerns will be addressed in ECON 115.) The goal of this course is for students to learn a few basic
economic tools to understand how economists analyze topics with public policy
implications. Students will participate in the selection of four or five topics
of general interest. “Ripped from the headlines” issues for Spring 2004 might
include, for example, energy markets and regulation; the Bush administration’s
tax, energy, environmental, and other policies; or the rise and fall of the
“new economy.” Public issues of enduring interest might include the distribution
of income, wealth and property; welfare reform; health care; Social Security
and demographic changes; education; crime; pollution; or transportation.
Students will work in teams to conduct research and give class presentations on
each of the cases selected. Information will be drawn from media coverage;
scholarly analysis from academicians and think tanks; U.S. Government
publications and statistics; and the publications of advocacy groups on
opposing sides of an issue. After a general review of each issue we focus on
its economic dimensions. A few simple theoretical principles will be introduced
and used to illuminate the economic forces at work. In the standard economic
approach, individuals are assumed to behave rationally as they seek to maximize
their subjective utility, subject to constraints on the resources available to
them. Irrational social outcomes are explained as the consequence of
interacting choices by rational individuals.
Prerequisite: None.
CRN |
14119 |
Distribution |
A/E |
Course
No. |
ECON 202 |
||
Title |
Intermediate
Macroeconomics |
||
Professor |
Tamar Khitarishvili |
||
Schedule |
Wed Fr 3:00 pm - 4:20 pm OLIN 307 |
A treatment of the determinants of national income,
employment, and price levels in the short run; a study of the problem of
business fluctuations in the economy and theoretical attempts to explain them;
integration of short-run macroeconomic analysis with the theory of long-run
economic growth.
Prerequisite: ECON 102, Introduction to Macroeconomics
CRN |
14120 |
Distribution |
C |
Course
No. |
ECON 217 |
||
Title |
Economic
History of the World |
||
Professor |
Kris Feder |
||
Schedule |
Tu Fr 1:30 pm - 2:50 pm OLIN
308 |
Prerequisite: One economics course.
CRN |
14121 |
Distribution |
C/E |
Course
No. |
ECON 221 |
||
Title |
Economics
of Developing Countries |
||
Professor |
Sanjaya DeSilva |
||
Schedule |
Mon Wed 1:30 pm - 2:50 pm OLIN 303 |
Cross-listed: AADS, ES, Human Rights, LAIS
This course explores the economic conditions and
problems faced by the majority of the
world’s population that live in the developing countries of Asia, Africa, Latin
America and the Caribbean. The concept of economic development is defined and
related to ideas such as economic growth, sustainable development and human
development. Economic theories of development are introduced, and policies
designed to promote development at the local, national and international levels are evaluated.
Considerable attention is paid to understanding how household decisions in
rural agricultural societies are shaped by the institutional and policy
environments. Topics include the economic consequences of colonialism and
economic dependence; poverty and income distribution; investments in physical
and human capital; economic aspects of household choices such as schooling, and
fertility; rural-urban transformation; the effects of trade, industrial and
agricultural policies; the role of foreign capital flows; political economy
aspects of development policy; population growth and the environment; gender
and development. Students will be expected to carry out a case study of the
development experiences of a country of their choice.
Prerequisites: One Economics
course, or permission of the instructor.
CRN |
14122 |
Distribution |
A/E |
Course
No. |
ECON 224 |
||
Title |
The
Economics of Marriage, Family, and Other Things in Life |
||
Professor |
Tsu-Yu Tsao |
||
Schedule |
Mon Wed 10:00 am - 11:20 am OLIN 305 |
Prerequisite: ECON 101 (Introduction to Microeconomics) or
permission of instructor.
CRN |
14123 |
Distribution |
A/E |
Course
No. |
ECON 242 |
||
Title |
Environmental
Economics |
||
Professor |
Kris Feder |
||
Schedule |
Tu Th 3:00 pm - 4:20 pm OLIN
204 |
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.
Note: Professor Papadimitriou will teach EITHER Economics 302, OR Economics 311. Please see him at registration.
CRN |
14124 |
Distribution |
C |
Course
No. |
ECON 302 |
||
Title |
Topics
in Macroeconomics |
||
Professor |
Dimitri Papadimitriou |
||
Schedule |
Mon 3:00 pm - 5:20 pm OLIN
310 |
This course will examine advanced topics in macroeconomics
and critically review contemporary macroeconomic theories and models with
regard to their historical development. The foundations of macroeconomic theory
will be studied and alternative approaches to economic growth, distribution,
increasing returns, and endogenous change will be analyzed. The monetary and
financial aspects in macro foundations will be discussed, focusing on the work
of Minsky, Tobin, Sargent, Lucas, post-Keynesians, neo-Keynesians, new
Keynesians, and Sraffians. Readings will be mainly from primary journal
literature.
Prerequisite: Economics 102,
Introduction to Macroeconomics and Economics 202, Intermediate Macroeconomics.
Note: Professor Papadimitriou will teach EITHER Economics 302, OR Economics 311. Please see him at registration.
CRN |
14127 |
Distribution |
C |
Course
No. |
ECON 311 |
||
Title |
Seminar in National Economic Policy |
||
Professor |
Dimitri Papadimitriou |
||
Schedule |
Mon 3:00 pm - 5:20 pm OLIN
310 |
Cross-listed:
American Studies
The seminar is aimed at enabling students to explore
and assess macroeconomic decision‑making in the United States and
throughout the world. Public policy decisions are not made solely on the basis
of economic theory; indeed, political considerations are often the dominant
factors explaining particular actions of the government, the Federal Reserve,
and other agencies. Using an elementary framework of macroeconomic concepts,
the seminar analyzes national economic events that involve the application of
policy to domestic and international problems. Special emphasis is placed on
the use of monetary, fiscal, international trade, and exchange rate policies to
deal with unemployment, inflation, budget deficits, and instability.
Prerequisite: Introduction to Macroeconomics, or
permission of the instructor.
CRN |
14125 |
Distribution |
E |
Course
No. |
ECON 329 Q Course |
||
Title |
Econometrics |
||
Professor |
Sanjaya DeSilva |
||
Schedule |
Fr 8:30 am - 10:50 am HDRANX 106 |
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.
CRN |
14133 |
Distribution |
A/E |
Course
No. |
ECON 335 |
||
Title |
Labor
Economics |
||
Professor |
Andrew Pearlman |
||
Schedule |
Tu Th 10:00 am - 11:20 am OLIN 304 |
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: ECON 101 (Introduction
to Microeconomics).
CRN |
14126 |
|
|
Course
No. |
ECON CONF |
||
Title |
Senior
Conference |
||
Professor |
Economics Faculty |
||
Schedule |
Mon 6:00 pm - 7:20 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.