Principles of Economics
	Course Number: ECON 100 A			CRN Number: 11238	Class cap: 22	Credits: 4
	Professor:	Michael Martell
	Schedule/Location:		Mon  Wed     3:30 PM – 4:50 PM Hegeman 102
	Distributional Area:		SA Social Analysis
	Crosslists:	Economics & Finance; Global & International 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 Math Placement.

 

Principles of Economics
	Course Number: ECON 100 B			CRN Number: 11239	Class cap: 22	Credits: 4
	Professor:	Oleksandr Valchyshen
	Schedule/Location:		Tue  Thurs    10:10 AM – 11:30 AM Hegeman 102
	Distributional Area:		SA Social Analysis
	Crosslists:	Economics & Finance; Global & International 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 Math Placement.

 

Principles of Economics
	Course Number: ECON 100 C			CRN Number: 11240	Class cap: 22	Credits: 4
	Professor:	Liudmila Malyshava
	Schedule/Location:		Tue  Thurs    5:10 PM – 6:30 PM Hegeman 102
	Distributional Area:		SA Social Analysis
	Crosslists:	Economics & Finance; Global & International 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 Math Placement.

 

Intermediate Microeconomics
	Course Number: ECON 201			CRN Number: 11287	Class cap: 22	Credits: 4
	Professor:	Kris Feder
	Schedule/Location:		Tue  Thurs    10:10 AM – 11:30 AM Reem Kayden Center 115
	Distributional Area:		SA Social Analysis
	Crosslists:	Economics & Finance

Microeconomics is the study of how individual households and firms interact to determine the allocation of goods and services in a market setting. In this course, we revisit concepts introduced in Principles of Economics, pursue them in further depth, and interpret them in graphical and mathematical terms. Topics include: the analysis of economic efficiency, the definition and measurement of social welfare, consumer behavior, individual and market demand, choice under uncertainty, production and cost, profit maximization, market structures (perfect competition, monopoly, duopoly, monopsony, monopolistic competition, and oligopoly), market failures, strategic behavior, price discrimination, the economics of information, the provision of public goods, the use of game theory to model economic behavior, and the market effects of taxes and other government policies. Students work through a series of problem sets as they learn to manipulate and apply microeconomic models. A final paper will examine an application or a critique of neoclassical microeconomic theory. A firm grasp of the materials covered in this course is essential for students pursuing advanced studies in economics. Economics majors should take ECON 201 and ECON 202 during the junior year, after taking several 200-level economics courses.

 

Game Theory
	Course Number: ECON 203			CRN Number: 11288	Class cap: 22	Credits: 4
	Professor:	Aniruddha Mitra
	Schedule/Location:		Mon  Wed     10:10 AM – 11:30 AM Henderson Comp. Center 101A
	Distributional Area:		MC Mathematics and Computing
	Crosslists:	Economics & Finance; Environmental & Urban Studies; Global & International Studies; Politics

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: MATH 110, Precalculus Mathematics, or a passing grade on Part II of the Math Placement Diagnostic.

 

Economic History of Asia
	Course Number: ECON 218			CRN Number: 11289	Class cap: 22	Credits: 4
	Professor:	Sanjay DeSilva
	Schedule/Location:		Tue  Thurs    5:10 PM – 6:30 PM Hegeman 308
	Distributional Area:		HA Historical Analysis
	Crosslists:	Asian Studies; Global & International Studies

This course surveys the historical events and circumstances that have shaped the economic landscape of modern Asia. We begin in the nineteenth century when European contact had initiated a process of dramatic change throughout the continent; Japan began a process of unprecedented modernization, China confronted a series of internal conflicts and external threats, and much of the rest of the continent was absorbed directly into the colonial economy. We then compare the trajectories of economic change during the twentieth century. Particular attention is paid to the various economic models pursued in the region, including the colonial export economy of Southeast Asia, export-oriented industrialization in Japan, South Korea and Southeast Asia, import-substituting industrialization in India, and the communist economy of Mao’s China and mainland Southeast Asia. The regions covered are East Asia, Southeast Asia and South Asia. Prerequisite: Econ 100 or prior coursework in Asian Studies.

 

The Right to Employment
	Course Number: ECON 227			CRN Number: 11290	Class cap: 22	Credits: 4
	Professor:	Pavlina Tcherneva
	Schedule/Location:		Mon  Wed     10:10 AM – 11:30 AM Levy Seminar
	Distributional Area:		HA Historical Analysis D+J Difference and Justice
	Crosslists:	Africana Studies; American & Indigenous Studies; Environmental & Urban Studies; Human Rights; Sociology

In 1944, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt warned, “People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made.” Today, the COVID-19 crisis and mass unemployment have once again exposed the pervasive pathologies in the economy, such as inequality, poverty, and discrimination that reproduce systemic racial, gender and environmental injustice. Roosevelt responded to the economic calamity of his time—the Great Depression—with far-reaching economic policies and an appeal for what he called a Second (Economic) Bill of Rights that led with the right to decent and remunerative employment. “Jobs for All” was a signature demand during the Civil Rights era, when Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King insisted that unemployment is a key force for racial subjugation. Today, the Job Guarantee has been called perhaps the most crucial component of the Green New Deal Resolution, a program that ensures a just transition for all workers and an antidote to systemic racial and gender discrimination that emerges from labor markets.  This interdisciplinary course traces the history of the struggle to secure the right to employment for  all. It will focus on the economic, legal, and policy developments in the United States, and will introduce students to some international policy initiatives and innovative programs. A key question for discussion is whether these proposals and concrete policies have advanced the goal of equity and economic justice. Students will read legislative documents, economic analyses, policy proposals, and program reviews.  This course is part of the Racial Justice Initiative, an interdisciplinary collaboration among students and faculty to further the understanding of racial inequality and injustice in the United States and beyond. This is an OSUN Network Collaborative Course, taught on multiple OSUN partner institutions and designed to allow students to learn and work together across campuses.

 

Introduction to Econometrics
	Course Number: ECON 229			CRN Number: 11291	Class cap: 18	Credits: 4
	Professor:	Sanjay DeSilva
	Schedule/Location:		Tue  Thurs    1:30 PM – 2:50 PM Albee 106
	Distributional Area:		MC Mathematics and Computing
	Crosslists:	Economics & Finance; Environmental & Urban Studies; Global & International Studies

This course explores 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, and how to carry out an empirical research project. This course fulfills the statistical methods requirement for the economics major. Prerequisite: Economics 100, at least one other economics course and pre-calculus.

 

Ecological Economics
	Course Number: ECON 242			CRN Number: 11292	Class cap: 22	Credits: 4
	Professor:	Kris Feder
	Schedule/Location:		Tue  Thurs    1:30 PM – 2:50 PM Henderson Comp. Center 101A
	Distributional Area:		SA Social Analysis
	Crosslists:	Environmental & Urban Studies

Ecological economics (ECE) is a transdisciplinary field of study that draws upon principles of physics, ecology, and other natural and social sciences as well as economics. ECE views the economy as “an open subsystem of a larger ecosystem that is finite, nongrowing, and materially closed (though open with respect to solar energy).” As human population and production grow, say proponents, ECE is “a necessary evolution of economic thought” (Daly and Farley). The positive analyses of ECE are motivated by three normative social goals: (1) efficient allocation of scarce resources, including those—such as ecosystem services—that do not pass through markets; (2) justice in distribution; and (3) an ecologically sustainable scale of economic activity. Prerequisite: ECON 100.

 

Behavioral  Economics
	Course Number: ECON 243			CRN Number: 11691	Class cap: 22	Credits: 4
	Professor:	Gautam Sethi
	Schedule/Location:		Tue  Thurs    3:30 PM – 4:50 PM Hegeman 106
	Distributional Area:		SA Social Analysis

This course will introduce students to behavioral economics, an exciting, new field that combines insights from economics, psychology, and other disciplines to develop a fuller and more accurate understanding of human behavior. The two primary findings of behavioral economics—that people are less than fully rational and that people are usually nice—are applied to understand traits such as planning and procrastination, gambling and buying insurance, framing, overconfidence, and happiness. Behavioral economics uses findings from lab and field experiments to help us not only improve our individual cognition and persuasion ability but also advance social goals that foster cooperation, improve health outcomes, reduce poverty, and create a sustainable future for all.

 

Economics of Conflict
	Course Number: ECON 245			CRN Number: 11293	Class cap: 22	Credits: 4
	Professor:	Aniruddha Mitra
	Schedule/Location:		Mon  Wed     11:50 AM – 1:10 PM Hegeman 106
	Distributional Area:		SA Social Analysis D+J Difference and Justice
	Crosslists:	Global & International Studies; Human Rights; Politics

This course explores the economic literature on conflict, focusing primarily though not exclusively on civil war. We start with the central question: if conflict takes such a toll on society, why does it occur? In other words, is the decision to go to war a rational choice? We use this to explore the causes of internal conflict, paying particular attention to the debate on whether it is grievance or opportunity that predicts the onset of collective violence. This leads naturally to an investigation of the essentially intertwined role of economic inequality, ethnic fragmentation, and natural resource endowments on the occurrence of conflict. We then move on to an exploration of the lasting consequences of conflict, emphasizing the fact that war is essentially a gendered phenomenon. We end the course by looking at policies that help in the post-war reconstruction of societies and prevent the recurrence of conflict.

 

Economic Growth and Inequality
	Course Number: ECON 247			CRN Number: 11286	Class cap: 20	Credits: 4
	Professor:	Liudmila Malyshava
	Schedule/Location:		Tue  Thurs    8:30 AM – 9:50 AM OSUN Course
	Distributional Area:		SA Social Analysis D+J Difference and Justice
	Crosslists:	American & Indigenous Studies; Global & International Studies; Human Rights

Since the 1980s, income inequality has increased dramatically and is now the highest on record. Since 2000, 95% of income gains have gone to the top 1% whose share remains at an all-time high, even during economic downturns. Economists have only recently acknowledged and turned their attention to these facts. There is still much uncertainty regarding the causes and consequences of such disturbing trends, let alone the potential economic policies required to combat inequality and restore social justice. This course presents a survey of the landmark theories of economic growth and income distribution focusing on their interconnectedness. Students are invited to explore the causes and consequences of economic inequality from a variety of analytical perspectives, to judge the current social division based on ethical and moral values, and to discuss concrete actions to bring about positive change toward a just society. Through what processes is income created and distributed? Why has growth become so biased toward the very few? Is there such a thing as a balanced or equitable growth and, if so, what does it require? What are extractive and predatory governments? Why do policies designed to address inequality end up exacerbating its already unprecedented levels and leading to further, more pronounced social class division and concentration of power? In answering these questions, we focus on the case of the United States, one of the most unequal economies in the world, and complement our analysis with international comparisons. This is an OSUN Online Class, taught online and open to Bard students and students from OSUN partner institutions.

 

Macroeconomic Stability
	Course Number: ECON 304			CRN Number: 11295	Class cap: 16	Credits: 4
	Professor:	Pavlina Tcherneva
	Schedule/Location:		Mon       12:30 PM – 2:50 PM Blithewood – Levy Institute
	Distributional Area:		SA Social Analysis

This course will examine the nature of economic instability and financial crises, and the relative effectiveness of monetary and fiscal policies. Students will be introduced to John Maynard Keynes’s investment theory of the business cycle and Hyman P. Minsky’s financial theory of investment. They will examine several competing perspectives on the sources of instability and the theoretical justifications for macroeconomic stabilization policy. We will interrogate the impact of postwar stabilization policies on inflation, unemployment, and financial fragility, including but not limited to those during the 70s stagflation period, the 2008 Great Recession, and the COVID19-induced global crisis. Prerequisite: ECON 202.

 

Developing Cities
	Course Number: ECON 319			CRN Number: 11296	Class cap: 16	Credits: 4
	Professor:	Sanjay DeSilva
	Schedule/Location:		Wed     3:30 PM – 5:50 PM Albee 106
	Distributional Area:		SA Social Analysis
	Crosslists:	Environmental & Urban Studies; Global & International Studies

Economic theorists and policymakers have long worked under the assumption that developed economies are urban and industrial while developing economies are rural and agricultural. This historical dichotomy is no longer meaningful. Today, a majority of the world’s people live in urban areas, not just in the West but also in the developing regions of Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe and Central Asia, East Asia and the Pacific, and Middle East and North Africa. Almost all of the world’s future urban growth will occur in developing economies, and much of this growth will be concentrated in mega-cities; already, of the 27 urban areas that have more than 10 million people, 22 are in developing economies. This dramatic urbanization of the developing world offers tremendous opportunities and poses difficult challenges. This research seminar will introduce upper college students to the economics literature on important urban issues: for example, causes of urban growth; spatial patterns of growth; rural-urban migration; industrial and post-industrial cities; urban inequality; informality, property rights and political representation; infrastructure and urban renewal; congestion, pollution and other environmental problems. The seminar will be organized around student-led independent and group research on these themes. Prerequisites: Moderation in economics or EUS and prior coursework in economics, or permission of instructor.

 

Seminar in the Economics of Discrimination
	Course Number: ECON 338			CRN Number: 11297	Class cap: 16	Credits: 4
	Professor:	Michael Martell
	Schedule/Location:		Wed     9:10 AM – 11:30 AM Olin 303
	Distributional Area:		SA  Social Analysis  D+J Difference and Justice
	Crosslists:	Africana Studies; American & Indigenous Studies; Gender and Sexuality Studies; Human Rights

Cross-listed: Gender and Sexuality Studies  Many economists believe that markets are a relatively effective mechanism for coordinating wants and desires among members of society. Nevertheless we observe differences in economic outcomes for different groups of society. In this course we will explore the process through which differences in earnings manifest as well as the impact of these differences on wealth and well-being.  We pay particular attention to the role of discrimination in generating unequal outcomes in labor markets.  We will study discrimination with standard neo-classical approaches as well as through the analytical approaches of various schools of political economy including feminist, institutionalist, and Marxist.  We will discuss equality of economic opportunity and economic outcomes across, as well as relevant public policies for race, class, gender, sex and sexual orientation. Prerequisite: ECON 100

 

Corporate Finance
	Course Number: ECON 391			CRN Number: 11294	Class cap: 22	Credits: 4
	Professor:	Oleksandr Valchyshen
	Schedule/Location:		Tue  Thurs    11:50 AM – 1:10 PM Hegeman 106
	Distributional Area:		SA Social Analysis
	Crosslists:	Economics & Finance

Accounting
	Course Number: FIN 190			CRN Number: 11391	Class cap: 22	Credits: 4
	Professor:	. Jennifer Brown
	Schedule/Location:		Tue  Thurs    5:10 PM – 6:30 PM Reem Kayden Center 102
	Distributional Area:		MC  Mathematics and Computing
	Crosslists:	Economics

 

The Rise of Capitalism
	Course Number: PS 281			CRN Number: 11338	Class cap: 18	Credits: 4
	Professor:	Lucas Guimaraes Pinheiro
	Schedule/Location:		Tue  Thurs    3:30 PM – 4:50 PM Reem Kayden Center 102
	Distributional Area:		SA  Social Analysis
	Crosslists:	Economics; Global & International Studies; Human Rights; Philosophy