ECONOMICS (AS) {ECON}
L/R 001. Introduction to Micro Economics. (C) Society Sector. All classes. Introduction to economic analysis and its application. Theory of supply and
demand, costs and revenues of the firm under perfect competition, monopoly and oligopoly, pricing of factors of production,
income distribution, and theory of international trade. Econ 1 deals primarily with microeconomics.
L/R 002. Introductory Economics: Macro. (C) Society Sector. All classes. Prerequisite(s): ECON 001. Introduction to economic analysis and its application. An examination of a market
economy to provide an understanding of how the size and composition of national output are determined.
Elements of monetary and fiscal policy, international trade, economic development, and comparative economic
systems.
L/R 010. Introduction to Economics for Business. (A) Staff. The first part of the course covers basic microeconomic concepts such as opportunity
cost, comparative advantage, supply and demand, importance of costs and revenues under perfect competition
vs. monopoly, externalities and public goods.
The second part of the course introduces macroeconomic data, two models of the
labor market, a model of the aggregate household,
and the standard AD-AS model. The course concludes
with an introduction to fiscal policy, banking, and
the role of the Central Bank.
013. (PPE 201) Strategic Reasoning. (C) Prerequisite(s): ECON 001, some high school algebra. This course may
NOT be taken concurrently or after Econ 212. This course is about strategically interdependent decisions. In such situations,
the outcome of your actions depends also on the actions of others. When making your choice, you have to think what
the others will choose, who in turn are thinking what you will be choosing, and so on. Game Theory offers several concepts
and insights for understanding such situations, and for making better strategic choices. This course will introduce
and develop some basic ideas from game theory, using illustrations, applications, and cases drawn from business,
economics, politics, sports, and even fiction and movies. Some interactive games will be played in class. There will
be little formal theory, and the only prerequisite is some high-school algebra. This course will also be accepted by
the Economics department as and Econcourse, to be counted toward the minor in Economics (or as an Econ elective).
024. Development Economics. (C) Prerequisite(s): ECON 001 or ECON 010. This course presents an overview of the field of development economics. The
general aim is to show how economic analysis has been applied to issues related to developiing countries. Among
the topics covered are: income distribution, poverty, health, population growth, migration, growth, and the
rural economy.
030. (PPE 030) Public Policy Analysis. (C) Staff. Prerequisite(s): ECON 001 and 002 or ECON 010. Credit cannot be received for both ECON 030 and 231. This course provides an introduction to the economic method for analyzing public
policy questions. It develops the implications of this method for the role of government in a market economy and
for the analysis of specific public projects.
033. (PPE 033) Labor Economics. (B) Distribution Course in Society. Class of 2009 & prior only. Prerequisite(s): ECON 001 or ECON 010. Credit cannot be received for both ECON 033 and 233. The course begins with an extensive discussion of models of labor market demand
and supply. The rest of the course addresses a variety of related topics including the schoool-to-work transition,
job training, employee benefits, the role of labor unions, discrimination, workforce diversity, poverty, and public policy.
034. (PPE 034) Economics of Family & Gender. (A) Prerequisite(s): ECON 001, 002, or 010 and ECON 103. The course will use economic theory and econometric analysis to explore issues
regarding decision making and allocation of resources within the family. The impact of gender roles and differences
on economic outcomes will be discussed. We will study some feminist criticism of the economic tools for understanding
household allocations and gender differences. The US economy will serve as the reference point though
developing countries will also be discussed.
035. (PPE 035) Industrial Organization. (C) Distribution Course in Society. Class of 2009 & prior only. Prerequisite(s): ECON 001 or ECON 010. Credit cannot be received for both ECON
035 and 235. Theories of various industrial organizational structures and problems are developed,
including monopoly, oligopoly, moral hazard and adverse selection. These theories are then applied to the study
of various industries, antitrust cases, and regulatory issues.
036. (PPE 036) Law and Economics. (C) Distribution Course in Society. Class of 2009 & prior only. Prerequisite(s): ECON 001 or ECON 010. Credit cannot be received for both ECON
036 and 234. The relationship of economic principles to law and the use of economic analysisto
study legal problems. Topics will include: property rights and intellectual property; analysis of antitrust and
economic analysis of legal decision making.
039. (HCMG202) Economics and Financing of Health Care Delivery. (A) Distribution Course in Society. Class of 2009 & prior only. Prerequisite(s): ECON 001 or ECON 010 or permission
of instructor. For non-Econ Majors only. Students may not receive credit for HCMG 202, HCMG 302, or Econ 236.
Systematic and critical review of the present economic literature on the health
care "industry". Topics include the demography and determinants of illness, the demand for curative and preventive
care and determinants of recent health cost inflation, the efficacy of markets, and the role of government.
050. International Economics. (C) Distribution Course in Society. Class of 2009 & prior only. Prerequisite(s): ECON 001 and 002 or ECON 010. ECON 050 is a one-semester course in international
economics. Students wishing to study the subject in greater depth should take instead the two-semester sequence
ECON 251 and 252. A student may not receive credit for both ECON 050 and ECON 251 or ECON 252.
Introduction to the theory of international trade and international monetary
economics. The theoretical background is used as a basis for discussion of policy issues. Patterns of international trade
and production; gains from trade; tariffs, and impediments to trade; foreign exchange markets, balance of payments, capital
flows, financial crises, coordination of monetary and fiscal policy in a global economy.
062. The Soviet and Post-Soviet Economy. (C) Distribution Course in Society. Class of 2009 & prior only. Prerequisite(s): ECON 001 and 002 or ECON 010. ECON 103 and ECON 262 helpful. The development and operation of the Soviet centrally planned economy. Its strengths
and weaknesses, and causes of its collapse. The transition from central planning to a market economy.
L/R 101. Intermediate Microeconomics. (C) Distribution Course in Society. Class of 2009 & prior only. Prerequisite(s):
ECON 001 and 002; MATH 104 and either MATH 114 or
MATH 115. Note: Incoming freshmen with AP or transfer
credit for Econ 1 and Econ 2, MUST complete Math
104 and Math 114 or Math 115 before enrolling in
Econ 101. Upper classmen must have at least a B+
in Math 104 to take Econ 101 and Math 114 or Math
115 concurrently.
Theories of consumer behavior, demand, production, costs, the firm in various
market contexts, factor employment, factor incomes,
elementary general equilibrium, and welfare.
L/R 102. Intermediate Macroeconomics. (C) Distribution Course in Society. Class of 2009 & prior only. Prerequisite(s):
ECON 001, ECON 002, ECON 101, MATH 104 and MATH 114
or MATH 115. Finance 101 does not satisfy any of
the Economoics department requirements. Therefore,
students are required to take Econ 102.
Facts and theories about the determination of per capita income and its differences
across countries and across time. The study of economic
fluctuations in output and employment. The role of
government in influencing these aggregate variables:
monetary and fiscal policy.
L/R 103. Statistics for Economists. (C) Prerequisite(s): MATH 104 and MATH 114 or MATH 115 and ECON 001 and ECON 002.
Intended primarily for economics majors. ECON 103
cannot be taken by any student who has already completed
Statistics at least at the level of STAT 430 (including
the sequence STAT 430/431). Such students must take
an additional 200-level course to satisfy course
requirements of the major.
The course focuses on elementary probability and inferential statistical techniques.
The course begins with a survey of basic descriptive
statistics and data sources and then covers elementary
probability theory, sampling, estimation, hypothesis
testing, correlation, and regression. The course
focuses on practical issues involved in the substantive
interpretation of economic data using the techniques
of statistical inference. For this reason empirical
case studies that apply the techniques to real-life
data are stressed and discussed throughout the course,
and students are required to perform several statistical
analyses of their own.
L/R 104. Econometrics. Prerequisite(s): ECON 101, 103, MATH 104 and MATH 114 or MATH 115 or permission from instructor. This course is designed to introduce students to econometric
techniques and their applications in economic analysis
and decision-making. The main objective of the course
is to train the student in (i) handling economic
data; (ii) quantitative analyses of economic models
with probabilistic tools; (iii) econometric techniques,
their application as well as their statistical and
practical interpretation; (iv) implementing these
techniques on a computer. Estimation and inference
procedures are formally analyzed for simple econometric
models and illustrated by empirical case studies
using real-life data. The course covers linear regression
models, simultaneous-equations models, discrete choice
models and univariate time series models. Estimation
and Inference is conducted using least squares and
likelihood based techniques. Students are required
to perform several econometric analyses of their
own.
199. Independent Study. (C) Staff. Prerequisite(s): ECON 101, 102, 103 and written permission from the Director
of Independent Research. Please see the Undergraduate
Coordinator in Economics (160 McNeil) for the appropriate
sequence number.
Individual study and research under the direction of a member of the Economics
Department faculty. At a minimum, the student must
write a major paper summarizing, unifying, and interpreting
the results of the study. This is a one semester,
one c.u. course.
210. Economics of Family. (M) Prerequisite(s): ECON 101, MATH 104 and MATH 114 or MATH 115. Students may
not receive credit for ECON 034 and ECON 210. In
addition, any 200-level evening course (Section 601),
when offered, WILL NOT count for Economics Majors
unless you are officially registered as an LPS student.
This course will use economic tools to explore decision making and allocation
of resources within the family. The course will use
both economic theory and econometric evidence to
investigate these issues. The impact of gender roles
and differences will be examined and the effect of
these differences on economic decisions and outcomes
both within and outside the family will be discussed.
Student participation will be an integral part of the course. During class,
students will be required to evaluate data and relate
it to the theoretic model covered. Student participation
will also include two in-class oral presentations.
Students will be working with CWiC (Communication
Within the Curriculum) as they work on these presentations.
211. Social Choice Theory. (M) Prerequisite(s): ECON 101; MATH 104 and MATH 114 or MATH 115. (ECON 211 was
formerly ECON 116). In addition, any 200-level
CGS course (Section 601), when offered, MAY NOT
count for Economics Majors, unless you are officially
registered as an LPS student. This course investigates a topic which lies at the heart of economic, social
and political sciences, namely the aggregation
of individual preferences. Can a society as
a whole exhibit preferences as individuals do?
Can these preferences be based on individual
ones, and show the same level of coherence?
Which process can lead from individual preferences
to the preferences of the society? At the end
of the 18th century, the pioneers in the field
already realized that mathematics is the only
language powerful enough to make deep progress
in the understanding of these questions. The
formalization involves pure logic as well as
geometry and combinatorics.
212. Game Theory. (C) Distribution Course in Society. Class of 2009 & prior only. Prerequisite(s):
ECON 101; MATH 104 and MATH 114 or MATH 115.
Any 200-level LPS course when offered, WILL
NOT count for Economics Majors unless you are
officially registered as an LPS student.
An introduction to game theory and its applications to economic analysis. The
course will provide a theoretical overview of modern
game theory, emphasizing common themes in the analysis
of strategic behavior in different social science
contexts. The economic applications will be drawn
from different areas including trade, corporate strategy
and public policy.
221. Econometric Forecasting. (C) Distribution Course in Society. Class of 2009 & prior only. Prerequisite(s):
ECON 101, 102, 103; MATH 104 and MATH 114 or
MATH 115. ECON 220 is highly desirable but not
strictly required. In addition, any 200-level
CGS course (Section 601), when offered, WILL
NOT count for Economics Majors unless you are
officially registered as an LPS student. This course provides a comprehensive introduction to forecasting in economics
and business. Topics covered include statistical
graphics, trends, seasonality, cycles, forecast
construction, forecast evaluation and forecast
combination.
222. Advanced Econometric Techniques and Applications. (B) Distribution Course in Society. Class of 2009 & prior only. Prerequisite(s):
ECON 101, 220; MATH 104 and MATH 114 or MATH
115. In addition, any 200-level LPS course,
when offered WILL NOT count for Economics Majors
unless you are officially registered as an LPS
student.
This course introduces students to advanced study in econometrics, with an emphasis
on methods used in microeconomic applications and
in evaluating the effects of social interventions.
The methods covered include methods for handling
limited dependent variables (useful, for example,
in forecasting the demand for a new good), maximum likelihood estimators, and flexible semiparametric and non parametric
estimation methods, and randomized and nonexperimental
methods of estimating treatment effects. Applications
of econometrics to the field of program evaluation
will also be studied.
231.Public Finance. (C) Prerequisite(s): ECON 101; MATH 104 and MATH 114 or MATH 115. ECON 103 is recommended.
Credit cannot be received for both ECON 030 and
231. In addition, any 200-level LPS course, when
offered, WILL NOT count for Economics Majors
unless you are officially registered as an LPS
student. This course has two parts. The first looks at market and government failures
and discusses the need for public policies as
well as limits to their effectiveness including
the evaluation of public projects using cost
benefit analysis. The second part focuses on
the economic analysis of taxation, including
the economic incidence and efficiency of taxes.
232.(PPE 232) Political Economy. (B) Prerequisite(s): ECON 101; MATH 104 and MATH 114 or MATH 115. ECON 103 is recommended.
The LPS 200-level course, when offered, WILL
NOT count for Economics Majors unless you are
officially registered as an LPS student. This course examines the political and economic determinants of government policies.
The course presents economic arguments for government
action in the private economy. How government
decides policies via simple majority voting,
representative legislatures, and executive veto
and agenda-setting politics will be studied.
Applications include government spending and
redistributive policies.
233.Labor Economics. (C) Distribution Course in Society. Class of 2009 & prior only. Prerequisite(s):
ECON 101; MATH 104 and MATH 114 or MATH
115. ECON 103 is recommended. Credit cannot
be received for both ECON 033 and 233. In
addition, the LPS 200-level course, when
offered, WILL NOT count for Economics Majors
unless you are officially registered as
an LPS student. Labor supply and labor demand, income distribution, labor market contracts and
work incentives, human capital, labor market
discrimination, job training and unemployment.
234.Law and Economics. (B) Distribution Course in Society. Class of 2009 & prior only. Prerequisite(s):
ECON 101; MATH 104 and MATH 114 or
MATH 115. Credit cannot be received
for both ECON 036 and 234. In addition,
the LPS course, when offered, MAY NOT
count for Economics Majors, unless you
are officially registered as an LPS
student. This course will use basic microeconomic tools to understand how the law often,
but not always, promotes economic efficiency.
Among the areas to be discussed will be tort
law, property law, intellectual property, antitrust
regulation. The distinction between common law
and legislative law will be drawn.
235.Industrial Organization. (C) Distribution Course in Society. Class of 2009 & prior only. Prerequisite(s):
ECON 101; MATH 104 and MATH 114
or MATH 115. ECON 103 is recommended.
Credit cannot be received for both
ECON 035 and 235. In addition, the
LPS 200-level course, when offered,
WILL NOT count for Economics Majors
unless you are officially registered
as an LPS student. Theories of various industrial organizational structures and problems are developed,
including monopoly, oligopoly, nonlinear pricing
and price discrimination. These theories are
used to model various industries, antitrust
cases, and regulatory issues.
236.(HCMG302) Economics and Financing of Health Care Delivery. (B) Prerequisite(s): ECON101, MATH 104, and either MATH 114 or MATH 115. For ECON
majors only. Intermediate Micro is a prerequisite
and this course will use advanced quantitative
methods. Students may not take Econ 039, HCMG
202. Cross-listed with HCMG 302. In addition,
the LPS 200-level course, when offered, WILL
NOT count for Economics Majors unless you are
officially registered as an LPS student.
This course provides an application of economic principles to the health care
sector. By recognizing the importance of scarcity
and incentives this course will focus on the critical
economic issues in producing, delivering and financing
health care. In particular, the course will analyze
determinants of demand for medical care, such as
health status, insurance coverage and income; the
unique role of physicians in guiding and shaping
the allocation of resources in medical care markets;
and competition in medical care markets, especially
among hospitals. Special emphasis will be placed
on the evaluation of policy instruments such as government
regulation, antitrust laws, 'sin taxes' on cigarettes
and alcohol, and public health programs. The course
will use more advanced quantitative methods and formal
economic theory; knowledge of calculus and basic
microeconomics are recommended.
237. (BPUB230, FNCE230, REAL230) Urban Fiscal Policy. (M) Inman. Prerequisite(s): ECON 101, ECON 102, MATH 104 and MATH 114 or 115. The purpose of this course is to examine
the financing of governments in the urban economy.
Topics to be covered include the causes and consequences
of the urban fiscal crisis, the design of optimal
tax and spending policies for local governments,
funding of public infrastructures and the workings
of the municipal bond market, privatization of government services, and public financial systems for emerging economies. Applications
include analyses of recent fiscal crises, local services
and taxes as important determinants of real estate
prices, the infrastructure crisis, financing and
the provision of public education, and fiscal constitutions
for new democracies using South Africa as an example.
241. Topics in Macroeconomics - Growth, Development, and Business Cycles. (C) Distribution Course in Society. Class of 2009 & prior only. Prerequisite(s):
ECON 101, 102, 103; MATH 104 and MATH 114 or
MATH 115. ECON 220 and/or ECON 221 are highly
desirable but not strictly required. In addition,
the LPS 200-level course, when offered, WILL
NOT count for Economics Majors unless you are
officially registered as an LPS student. This course provides a comprehensive introduction to international financial
markets and macroeconomic fundamentals, and the
links between them, as relevant for exchange
rate forecasting, portfolio allocation, hedging,
risk management, and asset pricing in global
contexts. The course is demanding and very highly
quantitative.
242.Topics in Macroeconomics. (C) Distribution Course in Society. Class of 2009 & prior only. Prerequisite(s):
ECON 101 and 102; MATH 104 and MATH 114 or MATH
115. ECON 103 is recommended. A student may not
receive credit for ECON 072 and ECON 242. In
addition, the LPS 200-level course, when offered,
WILL NOT count for Economics Majors unless you
are officially registered as an LPS student. This course covers topics of interest in macroeconomics. It studies how household
decision making and government policies and interventions
determine macroeconomic aggregates. There will
be an emphasis on developing and applying economic
models. Students are expected to have completed
intermediate macroeconomics Econ 102.
243.Monetary and Fiscal Policies. (C) Distribution Course in Society. Class of 2009 & prior only. Prerequisite(s):
ECON 101 and 102; MATH 104 and MATH 114 or
MATH 115. ECON 103 is recommended. In addition,
the LPS 200-level course, when offered, WILL
NOT count for Economics Majors unless you are
officially registered as an LPS student. This is an advanced course in macroeconomics. A relatively simple, but well
defined and internally consistent model of the
U.S. economy is set up and used to study how
output is generated given the initial resources,
how output is divided between consumption and
addition to capital stock, and how this process
accumulates over time. The role of prices including
the rate of interest in this process is also
reviewed, and monetary and fiscal policies needed
to improve the performance of the economy under
such circumstances are discussed.
244.Macro-Modeling. (M) Distribution Course in Society. Class of 2009 & prior only. Prerequisite(s):
ECON 101 and 102; MATH 104 and MATH 114
or MATH 115. ECON 103 is recommended. In
addition, the LPS 200-level course, when
offered, WILL NOT count for Economics Majors
unless you are officially registered as an
LPS student. Fundamentals of modern macroeconomic modeling and applications for forecasting
and policy analysis. Attention will focus on
representing such macroeconomic phenomena as
inflation, unemployment, the business cycle,
productivity, and secular growth. Students will
build a macro model. Topics will include how
to simulate a range of fiscal and monetary policies
and how to measure their effectiveness for stabilization
and growth.
245.Math for Economists. (C) Prerequisite(s): ECON 101, ECON 102, MATH 104 and MATH 114 or 115. The LPS
200-level course, when offered, WILL NOT count
for Economics Majors unless you are officially
registered as an LPS student.
This course will introduce students to mathematical tools that are commonly
used in modern economics and give students experience
using these tools to answer economic questions. Topics
covered may include constrained optimization, duality,
dynamic fixed point theorems and optimal control
theory.
251.International Trade. (A) Distribution Course in Society. Class of 2009 & prior only. Prerequisite(s):
ECON 101 and 102; MATH 104 and MATH 114 or MATH
115. A student may not receive credit for both
ECON 050 and ECON 251. In addition, the LPS 200-level
course, when offered, WILL NOT count for Economics
Majors unless you are officially registered as
an LPS student. Structure of the world economy; theory of international trade; economic growth
and international trade; international trade
policy: developed countries; developing countries.
Direct investment, technology transfers, and
the multinational firm.
252.International Finance. (B) Distribution Course in Society. Class of 2009 & prior only. Prerequisite(s):
ECON 101 and 102; MATH 104 and MATH 114 or
MATH 115. A student may not receive credit for
ECON 050 and ECON 252. In addition, the LPS 200-level course, when offered, WILL NOT count for Economics
Majors unless you are officially registered as an
LPS student. International monetary economics with
emphasis on economic policy in an open economy. Topics
covered in the course include: balance-of-payments
adjustment, theories of exchange rate determinaton,
the effects of exchange rate devaluation, macroeconomic
policy under fixed and floating exchange rates, the
Euro-dollar market, currency and balance of payments
crises.
260.Decision Making Under Uncertainty. (C) staff. Prerequisite(s): ECON 101, ECON 103, MATH 104 and MATH 114 or 115.
261. Topics in Development. (M) Prerequisite(s): ECON 101; MATH 104 and MATH 114 or MATH 115. ECON 103 is recommended.
Student may not receive credit for Econ 033 and
Econ 261. In addition, the LPS 200-level course,
when offered, WILL NOT count for Economics Majors
unless you are officially registered as an LPS
student.
This course studies institutions in developing economies. The first section
of the course will cover the organization of production
in traditional agrarian societies. Topics will include
land, labor and credit markets. The second section
of the course will focus on the role of the community
in facilitating the transition to the modern market
economy. Here we will study how the community spreads
information, permits the formation of informal networks
and organizes collective institutions, allowing individuals
to take advantage of new economic opportunities.
SM 300. Honors Seminar. (E) Distribution Course in Society. Class of 2009 & prior only. Staff. Prerequisite(s):
ECON 101, 102, 103, and 220 and two 200 level courses;
MATH 104 and MATH 114 orMATH 115. GPA of at least 3.5 in Economics and permission of the instructor. Course meets weekly. Required
of all honors majors. Students prepare an honors thesis in economics over the academic year, supervised
by a faculty member of their choice. In both semesters students present their work in progress to the class. Any
student intending to do empirical work in the thesis should have COMPLETED ECON 103 and 220.
Regularly Offered Ph.D. Courses
680. Microeconomics. (A) Prerequisite(s): Equivalent of ECON 003 or permission of instructor. Basic tools of microeconomic analysis: consumer choice, firm behavior; partial
and general equilibrium theory. Econ 681 is a more theoretical course covering the same material.
681. Microeconomic Theory. (A) Prerequisite(s): Equivalent of ECON 003; meeting the department's minimal mathematical requirements; or permission of instructor. Basic tools of microeconomic theory: consumer choice, firm behavior, partial
and general equilibrium theory. This is a more theoretical treatment of the basic tools of microeconomic analysis than
Econ 680.
682. Game Theory and Applications. (B) Prerequisite(s): ECON 680 or 681. A graduate level introduction to decision making under uncertainty, applied
game theory, and information economics.
701. Microeconomic Theory I. (A) Prerequisite(s): Meeting the Department's minimal mathematical requirements. Nonlinear programming, theory of the consumer and producer, general equilibrium.
702. Macroeconomic Theory I. (B) Prerequisite(s): Meeting the Department's minimal mathematical requirements; ECON 701, 703 and 898, or equivalents. Dynamic programming, search theory, neoclassical growth theory, asset pricing,
business cycles.
703. Microeconomic Theory II. (A) Prerequisite(s): Meeting the department's minimal mathematical requirements. Game theory, decision making under uncertainty, information economics.
704.Macroeconomic Theory II. (B) Prerequisite(s): Meeting the Department's minimal mathematical requirements; ECON 701, 703 and 898, or equivalents. Equilibrium notions in the growth model. Economies with distortions. Incomplete
markets. Overlapping generations.
705.Econometrics I: Fundamentals. (A) Prerequisite(s): Meeting the Department's minimal mathematical requirements. Violations of classical linear regresson assumptions, nonlinear regression models
(including logit, probit, etc.), diagnostic testing, distributed lag models, panel data models, identification,
linear simultaneous-equations model.
706.Econometrics II: Methods & Models. (B) Prerequisite(s): Meeting the department's minimal mathematical requirements; ECON 705 and 898, or equivalents. Analysis in time and frequency domains, state space representations, Kalman
filtering, conditional heteroskedasticity, nonlinear and nonparametric methods for time series, integration, co-integration,
numerical and simulation techniques.
708. The Economics of Agency, Information, and Incentives. (C) Prerequisite(s): Meeting the Department's minimal mathematical requirements; ECON 898 or equivalents. This course studies the economics of adverse selection and moral hazard in strategic
settings. The primary focus is on the agency relationship and the structure of agency contracts. Other settings
include auctions, bilateral trading, and the internal organization of the firm.
712. Topics in Advanced Economic Theory and Mathematical Economics. (C)
Topics and prerequisites announced each year.
713.Game Theory. (C) Prerequisite(s): ECON 701 and 703. A rigorous introduction to the concepts, tools, and techniques of the theory
of games, with emphasis on those parts of the theory that are of particular importance in economics. Topics include games
in normal and extensive form, Nash equilibrium, games of incomplete information and Bayesian equilibrium, signaling
games, and repeated games.
714.Quantitative MacroEconomic Theory. (C) Prerequisite(s): ECON 702 and 704. Computation of Equilibria. Calibration of models. Heterogenous agents, macroeconomic
models.
716. Equilibrium Theory. (C) The course relies heavily on material covered in Microeconomic Theory I (ECON 701). This course covers various topics in equilibrium theory (broadly conceived as
the analysis of any model in which the collective outcome of individual actions in an economic -- or, even more generally,
social setting is described by a system of equations). In recent years the focus has been on the theory of equilibrium
in a competitive setting when financial markets are "imperfect," for example, when there are an
incomplete set of financial markets, or when households' transactions on financial markets are restricted by various conventions
or institutions.
721. Econometrics III: Advanced Techniques of Cross-Section Econometrics. (C) Prerequisite(s): ECON 705 and 706. Qualitative response models, panel data, censoring, truncation, selection bias,
errors in variables, latent variable models, survey design, advanced techniques of semiparametric estimation and
inference in cross-sectional environments. Disequilibrium models. Methods of simulated moments.
722. Econometrics IV: Advanced Techniques of Time-Series Econometrics. (C) Prerequisite(s): ECON 705 and 706. Consistency and asymptotic normality for m-estimator and for generalized
moment estimators. Asymptotics for integrated and
cointegrated time-series. Inference in presence of
nuisance parameters identified only under the alternative:
consistent moment tests, testing for threshold effects,
testing for structural breaks. Estimation of stochastic
differential equations from discrete observations:
simulated method of moments, indirect inference.
Discrete time GARCH models and their continuous limits.
730.International Trade Theory and Policy. (C) Prerequisite(s): ECON 701 and 702. Pure theory of international trade, commercial
policy, and trade.
731.International Monetary Theory and Policy. (C) Prerequisite(s): ECON 701 and 702. Balance of payments, international capital movements, and foreign exchange examined
against a background of current theories and policies.
740.Monetary Economics. (C) Prerequisite(s): ECON 703, 704, 705, and 706. The role of money as a medium of exchange and as an asset. Models of the demand
for money.
741.Economic Growth. (C) Prerequisite(s): ECON 701 and 702. Theories of economic growth and their quantitative implications.
750.Public Economics. (C) Prerequisite(s): ECON 701 and 703. Public goods, externalities, uncertainty, and income redistribution as sources
of market failures; private market and collective choice models as possible correcting mechanisms. Microeconomic theories
of taxation and political models affecting economic variables.
751.Public Economics II. (C) Prerequisite(s): ECON 701 and 703. Expenditures: Alternative theories of public choice; transfers to the poor;
transfers to special interests and rent seeking; social insurance; publicly provided private goods; public production and bureaucracy.
Taxation: Tax incidence in partial and general equilibrium; excess burden analysis. Topics on tax incidence
and efficiency: lifetime incidence and excess burden,
dynamic incidence, the open economy. Normative theories
of taxation: Optimal commodity and income taxation.
The political economy of income taxation.
753. Macroeconomic Policy. (C) Prerequisite(s): ECON 702. A review of alternative theories of growth and business cycles, and their relevance
for recent history of selected industrialized countries. Fiscal and monetary policy in a dynamic setting and
their application to current policy issues.
760. Development Economics: Basic Micro Topics. (C) Prerequisite(s): ECON 701 and 705, or permission of instructor. Analysis of selected topics in economic development related to household/firm
(farm) behavior, including determinants of and the impact of human resources, contractual arrangements in land, labor
and credit markets, investment and savings. Emphasis on tractable modeling that leads to integrated analysis given
available data.
780. Industrial Organization. (C) Prerequisite(s): ECON 701. Development of microeconomic models to explain the structure and performance
of markets. Among other topics: the conditions under which monopoly power can be exercised, the relationship between
profit rates and concentration or size, the persistence of profits over time, industry turnover and interindustry
comparisons.
781.Empirical Methods for Industrial Organization. (C) Prerequisite(s): ECON 780. The goal of the course is to explore links between theory and data in order
to identify and test implications of economic models. Reduced form and structural approaches will be used to study a variety
of topics that include: Estimation of multiproduct cost functions; detection of collusion, multimarket contact, and
network externalities; asymmetric information: auctions and nonlinear pricing; price competition and product differentiation;
and complementarities: innovation and organizational design.
785. Selected Topics in Industrial Organization. (C) Prerequisite(s): ECON 701. The course will cover topics in oligopolistic competition, product selection,
the operation of markets under imperfect information
and related subjects.
791. (DEMG796, SOCI796) Economic and Demographic Interrelations. (M) Prerequisite(s): Microeconomic theory and econometrics at the graduate or advanced undergraduate level, or
permission of instructor. Application of economics to the analysis of demographic behaviors and processes
including fertility, mortality, health, marriage and migration. Focus is on the development and testing of models of
household behavior using econometric tools. Consideration is also given to the economic consequences of population
growth.
792.Economics of Labor I. (C) Prerequisite(s): ECON 701, 703, 705, and 706. Topics include: Theories of the supply and demand for labor, wage determination,
wage differentials, labor market discrimination, unemployment, occupational choice and dynamics of specific labor
markets, theory of matching, trade unions. The theory and empirics of human capital accumulation, intertemporal
labor supply, search, intergenerational mobility of income and wealth, contracts and bargaining, efficiency wage models,
principal/agent models, and signaling models.
793.Economics of Labor II. (C) Prerequisite(s): ECON 792 or permission of instructor. A continuation of ECON 792.
898. Elementary Mathematics for Economists. (A) Vector spaces, linear transformations and matrices, quadratic forms definite
matrices, eigenvalues and similarity transformations,
linear difference and differential equations, point
set topology, and fixed point theorems.
980. Topics in Economics. (M) Topics and prerequisites announced when course is offered.
982. Topics in Econometrics. (C) Topics and prerequisites announced when course is offered.
983. Topics in Microeconomics. (C) Topics and prerequisites announced when course is offered.
984. Topics in Macroeconomics. (C) Topics and prerequisites announced when course is offered.
998. Individual Readings and Research. (C)
999. Independent Study. (C)
Workshops and Research Seminars Forum at which visiting speakers, Penn faculty, and graduate students present
research ideas SM
719. Economic Theory. (C) Related Courses: ECON 712. SM
729. Econometrics. (C)Related Courses: ECON 721 and 722.
SM 739.International Economics. (C) Related Courses: ECON 730 and 731. SM
749. Monetary Economics. (C) Related Courses: ECON 740 and 741.
SM 759. Political Economy. (C) Related Courses: ECON 750 and 751. SM
769. Economic Development Workshop. (C) Related Courses: ECON 760, 761, 791. Forum at which visiting speakers, Penn faculty, and graduate students present
research ideas. SM
779. Comparative Economic Systems. (C) Related Courses: ECON 770 and 771.
SM 789. (BPUB959) Applied Microeconomics Workshop. (C) Related Courses: ECON 780 and 781. SM
799. Empirical Microeconomics. (C) Related Courses: ECON 791, 792, 793. |
