|
11638 |
ECON 100 A Principles of Economics |
Aniruddha Mitra |
M . W . . |
11:50 -1:10 pm |
HEG 102 |
SSCI |
Cross-listed: Economics & Finance; 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
|
11639 |
ECON 100 B Principles of Economics |
Aniruddha Mitra |
. T . Th . |
10:10 - 11:30 am |
OLIN 204 |
SSCI |
See
above.
|
11640 |
ECON 100 C Principles of Economics |
James Green-Armytage |
. T . Th . |
1:30 -2:50 pm |
ALBEE 106 |
SSCI |
See
above.
|
11641 |
ECON 100 D Principles of Economics |
James Andrew Felkerson |
. . W . F |
10:10 - 11:30 am |
ALBEE 106 |
SSCI |
See
above.
|
11642 |
ECON 202 Intermediate
Macroeconomics |
James Andrew Felkerson |
M . W . . |
8:30 -9:50 am |
OLIN 202 |
SSCI |
Cross-listed: Environmental & Urban Studies, Global
& Int’l Studies
This course is the continuation of the introductory
macroeconomics course. In it, students will get acquainted with main models
that macroeconomists use to analyze the way economies behave. The course starts
by looking at the models that explain long run economic growth. We then focus
our attention on investigating economic theories that explain short run
business cycles, the periods of recessions and booms that occur on a regular
basis. An important part of the course is to investigate the role of
governments in affecting the long run and short run economic prospects of their
countries. We apply the acquired theoretical knowledge to a range of current
economic issues, including budget deficits and national debt, international
trade, and the role of institutions.
Prerequisite: either ECON 100, or the
combination ECON 101 / ECON 102, MATH 110.
Class size: 20
|
11643 |
ECON 203 Game Theory |
Aniruddha Mitra |
M . W . . |
10:10 - 11:30 am |
OLIN 204 |
SSCI |
Cross-listed: Economics
and Finance, Environmental and Urban Studies,
Global and Int’l Studies, Political Studies Game Theory is the study of how rational
actors behave when they know that their actions hold consequences not just for
themselves but for others as well and they are, in turn, affected by the
actions taken by others. While the discipline has come to be regarded as a core
area of economics, its applicability extends far beyond the analysis of
economic behavior. The object of this course is to introduce you to the basics
of game theory, emphasizing its generality as an analytical paradigm for social
science. We shall, therefore, focus on a wide variety of applications taken
from economics, political science, and the study of the environment. Prerequisite: Econ 100 or Econ 101. Class
size: 20
|
11977 |
ECON 221 Economic
Development |
Sanjaya DeSilva |
. T . Th . |
3:10 -4:30 pm |
OLIN 205 |
SSCI |
Cross-listed: Africana Studies; Asian Studies;
Environmental and Urban Studies; Global and International Studies; Human
Rights; LAIS; Science, Technology, and Society 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: ECON 100 or 102. Class
size: 20
|
11648 |
ECON 223 International
Trade |
Sanjaya DeSilva |
. . W . F |
11:50 -1:10 pm |
ALBEE 106 |
SSCI |
Cross-listed: Economics & Finance; Global & Int’l Studies International trade, the flow of
commodities across international borders, is a ubiquitous feature of the
contemporary global economy. This course provides an introduction to economic
theories and concepts that help us understand why nations
trade, who benefits and who loses from trade, and why trade is regulated.
Each week, we will pose a question based on an issue of current interest
(e.g. Does free trade contribute to widening the gap
between the rich and the poor? Why does the US import Chevy cars from Canada?
Should the US ban clothing imports from sweatshops in Bangladesh? Should
Apple move the production of iPads from China to the
US? Did NAFTA contribute to an increase in illegal immigration?) and develop theoretical tools that help us answer it.
Theories will be drawn from a variety of perspectives and the analysis will be
grounded in the historical and political context of each policy issue.
Prerequisite: Econ 100. Class size: 20
|
11649 |
ECON 225 Economic
Perspectives |
Pavlina Tcherneva |
. T . Th . |
10:10 - 11:30 am |
ALBEE 106 |
SSCI |
Why
do economists disagree? As economic systems evolve, so have the theories used
to explain them. Since Adam Smith, economists have used different assumptions,
models and methodologies to study the role of markets, states, and institutions
in the process of social provisioning. This course will survey the diverse
traditions in economics and introduce students to competing paradigms. It
covers several distinct approaches including Classical Political Economy,
Neoclassical, Institutionalist, Post Keynesian,
Marxist, Feminist, Development and Green Economics. The objective is to gain a
broad appreciation of the specific problems that each of these traditions
emphasizes and the contributions to theory and policy each has made. Students
will examine not only the evolution of ideas and theories, but also their
practical application today. Some of the specific
issues that the course will consider include
the causes and cures for unemployment, the evolution and interaction of
culture, technology and the environment, and the role and nature of money in
shaping the modern world. As we contemplate modern economic problems, sometimes
the good old ideas produce the best new
ideas. Prerequisite: Econ 100. Class size: 20
|
11647 |
ECON 229 Introduction
to Econometrics |
Sanjaya DeSilva |
. . W . F |
1:30 -2:50 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: 20
|
11645 |
ECON 304 Macroeconomic
Stability |
Pavlina Tcherneva |
. T . . . |
1:30 -3:50 pm |
HEG 201 |
SSCI |
This
course will examine the nature of economic instability and financial crises in
modern history and the Keynesian contributions to macroeconomic stabilization
policy. Students will be introduced to John Maynard Keynes’s investment theory
of the business cycle and Hyman P. Minsky’s financial
theory of investment. We will grapple with the controversial question of
government intervention by examining the theoretical justifications for and
against intervention, the optimal level of intervention, and the effects of
complete absence of intervention. We will also discuss specific economic
policies that deal with important problems such as inflation, unemployment,
poverty, financial crises, and other. The relative effectiveness of monetary
and fiscal policies will also be discussed.
Prerequisite: ECON 202
Class size: 15
|
11876 |
ECON 353 Public
Choice |
James Green-Armytage |
. T . Th . |
4:40 -6:00 pm |
OLIN 203 |
SSCI |
Cross-listed: Environmental
& Urban Studies; Political Studies This course
considers political processes, which aggregate individual preferences to form
collective decisions. We examine the concept of democracy in both a normative
and a positive manner, revealing non-obvious limitations, problems, and
possibilities. We consider the role of governments in economic affairs, both in
terms of how they ought to behave and the ways in which their actions may be
driven by the particular incentives that political agents face. We explore the
concept of majority rule, finding underlying ambiguities that serve as
potential sources of instability and admit arguments for a large number of
possible voting rules. We also analyze multiple-winner voting rules, including
proportional representation systems, and reconsider the dichotomy between direct
and representative democracy. Other topics include federalism and voting with
the feet, mechanism design, models of competition among political parties, rent
seeking, bureaucracy, and dictatorship. Prerequisite: Econ 100. Class
size: 15
|
11646 |
FIN / ECON 391 Corporate
Finance |
James Andrew Felkerson |
M . . . . |
1:30 -3:50 pm |
OLIN 303 |
SSCI |
Capital
is a scarce resource. Access to capital and its efficient use are critical to
business success. This course discusses how capital can be raised and allocated
within corporations to the advantage of corporate shareholders. Topics include:
allocation of capital for investments, measurement of the opportunity cost of
capital, capital structure, cash-distribution policy, corporate restructuring,
and long-term financing. At the end of course, you will know how to value a
company. On the way the topics we shall cover those that are important to all
managers whether or not they specialize in finance: (1) procedures for
analyzing companies’ financial data to determine how efficiently they have been
run; (2) methods for projecting funding needs based on principles of good
working capital management; (3) rules for choosing the maximal safe, or
optimal, level of debt in the structure of capital used for funding company
operations; (4) figuring the costs of the various types of funds that a company
uses and its weighted average cost of capital; and (5) combining all the
foregoing into a methodology, to wit, discounting free cash flows and adding
salvage value, for establishing a company’s value or price.
Class size: 15