The core courses in economics provide a solid foundation in economic theory and quantitative techniques. The 300- and above level courses apply the background acquired in the core courses, and provide more theoretical depth. 

Given the cumulative nature of the information, economics students should aim to take the two introductory courses in the first year of study, the remaining core courses in the second and third years of study, and the 300-level courses in the third and fourth years.  

 

 

Course level: 100 | 200 | 300 | 400

ECON-101 Introductory Economics
An introduction to economic systems and economic analysis, with emphasis on the operation of the US economy. Topics include theories of prices, consumer behavior, firm behavior, income distribution, employment, inflation, money, taxes and global economic interdependence.


ECON-103 Principles of Microeconomics
Courses provide general understanding of economic systems and economic analysis, with emphasis on the operation of the U.S. economy. Topics include the price system, theory of consumer behavior, theory of production, theory of the firm, income distribution, welfare economics, and the micro aspects of international trade.


ECON-104 Principles of Macroeconomics
Courses provide general understanding of economic systems and economic analysis, with emphasis on the operation of the U.S. economy. Topics include national income accounting, employment, inflation, monetary and fiscal policies, aggregate demand and supply analysis, economic growth, the monetary aspect of international economics, and comparative economic systems.



ECON-201 Topics in Applied Economics
Application of economic theory to a topic area using and extending the ideas studied in Economics 101. Topics may range from regional economic history and development to sports, gender, and bio-economics. Historical context, policy concerns, and application of economic theory to issues in the topic area are covered. Course introduces writing conventions and research techniques used in economic analysis. Prerequisites: Economics 101, 103 or 104.


ECON-208 Energy Economics
This course explores the key aspects of energy supply and demand covering issues in electricity, natural gas and oil sectors of the economy. It discusses the role of markets, regulation and deregulation of the industry. The course addresses market design questions related to energy generation, transmission, distribution and emissions control. It examines aspects of public policies affecting energy markets. Prerequisites: Economics 101 or 103.


ECON-209 Health Economics
This course will explore how the tools of economics could be applied to solve problems in health-care industry. It will cover topics on economic behavior of patients and providers, markets for health services, health-care finance and insurance, health-care policy, the organization and performance of health care delivery systems, as well as comparisons of these aspects across countries. Prerequisites: Economics 101 or 103.


ECON-211 American Economic History
Prerequisites: Economics 101 or 103.


ECON-212 African Economic History and Development
Intensive examination of Africa, using the framework of economic analysis and political economy to consider economic history, growth, and development. Economic theory provides the primary paradigm within which this region is studied, but consideration is also given to historical events that conditioned the economic outcomes. Reviews the pertinent theory and focuses on application of that theory to specific historical events. Prerequisites: Economics 101 or 103.


ECON-213 East Asian Economic History and Development
Intensive examination of East Asia, using the framework of economic analysis and political economy to consider economic history, growth, and development. Economic theory provides the primary paradigm within which this region is studied, but consideration is also given to historical events that conditioned the economic outcomes. Reviews the pertinent theory and focuses on application of that theory to specific historical events. Prerequisites: Economics 101 or 104.


ECON-214 Latin American Economic History and Development
Intensive examination of Latin America, using the framework of economic analysis and political economy to consider economic history, growth, and development. Economic theory provides the primary paradigm within which this region is studied, but consideration is also given to historical events that conditioned the economic outcomes. Reviews the pertinent theory and focuses on application of that theory to specific historical events. Prerequisites: Economics 101 or 103.


ECON-215 Economics of Transition
An introduction to the theoretical and empirical issues related to the difficult transition of Eastern Europe from a highly centralized economy and totalitarianism to a market democracy. It is built around two cores: the theoretical models, debates and characterization of the command versus the market economy and the models and regularities observed in the actual transformation process itself. Prerequisites: Economics 101, 103 or 104.


ECON-216 Political Economy of Oil
Examination of the political economy of oil extraction and the production, distribution, and consumption of oil products. Specific topics include the geography of oil and the economics of oil extraction, the evolution of the international oil market from the colonial era to the present, historical and social origins of the US dependency on oil, the economic impact of changes in oil prices, and the environmental costs of fossil fuels. Prerequisites: Economics 101 or 104.


ECON-217 British Economic History
A review of British Economic History from the rise of Britain as an economic power in the seventeenth century to the present day. Topics include the relationships between Britain, its American colonies, and its imperial possessions, the question of whether England declined in the late nineteenth century, the Great Depression, and British economic performance since WWII. Students apply economic theories to understand the relationships between economic growth, population growth, and the standard of living, institutional changes such as the growth of credit, banking and finance, and debates over the role of government in the economy and read contemporary accounts that record observers' impressions of the changes they saw taking place in Britain. Prerequisites: Economics 101 or 103.


ECON-218 Experimental Economics
This course provides an introduction to laboratory methods in economics and shows how experimental economics can be used to understand spontaneous and self-generating orders (emerging out of apparent chaos) around us. This course uses a combination of hands-on learning in laboratory experiments and Socratic roundtable discussions of readings. It will cover topics such as decision making, bargaining, public goods, market design, theories of fairness and learning, social issues like discrimination and gender differences, neuroeconomics. Prerequisite: Econ 101.


ECON-221 Current Issues in Economics
Application of economics principles to contemporary world events. Students examine public policy controversies and current events through the lens of economic analysis. Prerequisites: Economics 101, 103 or 104.


ECON-222 Issues Environ & Resource Econ
A study of how humans consume environmental and natural resources in direct and indirect ways. The course considers how renewable and non-renewable resources are used as inputs to production, as consumption goods, as recreational and aesthetic amenities, as waste recipients and processors. The course expands the basic concept of the economy to include environmental and natural resources like air quality, water quality and quantity, fossil fuels, wild and domesticated species, and the like. Students focus on the decision-making and analytical tools economics provides that help clarify and solve environmental and natural resource problems. Prerequisites: Economics 101 or 103.


ECON-223 Topics in Political Economy
Overview of political and economic theories that explain variations in the levels of development across the developing world. The focus is on power relations, including those that arise in gender and class interactions. Explores the interaction between politics and ideology in developing policies to fight unemployment, inflation, poverty and inequality. Prerequisites: Economics 101 or 104.


ECON-224 Talkin’ Bout My Generation: Economic Policy from the 1960s to the 2000s
This course surveys the changes in economic policy that have occurred in the United States from the 1960s to the present. We discuss the main philosophical perspectives that run through the policy debates of this period: liberalism versus conservatism, big versus small government, and so on. We examine the major components of economic policy during this period and the debates surrounding them: the War on Poverty, policies to control inflation and unemployment, supply-side economics, financial deregulation, welfare reform, health care reform, and others. Prerequisites: Economics 101 or 104.


ECON-231 Economics of Race and Gender
A study of racial and gender inequalities in the US. The course examines how mainstream and heterodox economic theories address issues of systematic racial and gender differences in labor markets such as wage and salary gaps, and in product markets such as mortgage lending and house purchases. Students examine how different economic understandings of the terms race and gender color economic theories that seek to explain differences in economic outcomes. Prerequisites: Economics 101, 103 or 104.


ECON-232 Economics and Gender
Application of microeconomic theory to gender issues in our economy. Course explores demographic issues such as fertility and divorce, considers the effect of the tax structure and other public policies on gender differences in labor force participation over time, and examines economic paradigms for explaining gender discrimination in our society. Prerequisites: Economics 101 or 103.


ECON-233 Economics and Race
An examination of how mainstream and heterodox economic theories address issues of systematic differences in outcomes between racial groups in labor markets, product markets, health care, and wealth accumulation. The course reviews how a focus on racial inequalities often involves an examination of ethnicity, gender and class and traces how different understandings of the term “race” colors economic theories that seek to explain differences in economic outcomes. Prerequisites: Economics 101, 103 or 104.


ECON-234 The Economics of Sports
Study of economic issues in professional, collegiate, and other amateur sports. The course examines the history and development of the economics of sports. Central themes of the study include public policy, the economic organization of the sports industry, the roles of women and people of color, labor relations, and monopoly and monopsony power. Prerequisites: Economics 101 or 103.


ECON-235 The Great Depression
A case study of the Great Depression of the 1930s to explore the principles of micro and macroeconomics and simultaneously to introduce techniques of quantitative reasoning. Students gain greater understanding of the impact of the depression on those who lived through it, its possible causes, and the lessons learned from it. In the course, students read a basic economics text, but also history and fiction, watch movies, and discuss various facets of the depression and the decade that preceded it. Prerequisites: Economics 101 or 103.


ECON-241 Introductory Economics and Business Statistics
Topics include nomenclature of descriptive statistics; probabilities using the normal, binomial, and Poisson distributions; Chi-square; sampling; estimation of parameters; hypothesis testing; linear regression; and correlation. A student may not receive credit for both this course and Mathematics 107, Psychology 205, or Biology 260. Prerequisites: Econ 101 and one course numbered 201 to 239, or 103 and 104, and one of the following: Math 105-106, 111 or the equivalent or permission of the Econ department.


ECON-243 Intermediate Macroeconomic Theory
Examination of classical, neoclassical, Keynesian, monetarist, new classical, and post-Keynesian economics, with particular focus on various theories and policies that relate to the determination of national (aggregate) income and price level, the determination and role of interest rates, and the part played by monetary and fiscal authorities in stabilizing the economy. Prerequisites: Econ 101 and one course numbered 201 to 239, or 103 and 104, and one of the following: Math 105-106, 111 or the equivalent or permission of the Econ department.


ECON-245 Intermediate Microeconomic Theory
Course uses the methodological tools of economics to examine consumer and producer behavior and economic behavior, both individual and collective, under different input and output market structures. Also analyzes implications of such behavior for general equilibrium and economic welfare. Prerequisites: Econ 101 and one course numbered 201 to 239, or 103 and 104, and one of the following: Math 105-106, 111 or the equivalent or permission of the Econ department.


ECON-249 History of Economic Thought and Analysis
Study of the development of economic ideas and policies in relation to the evolution of economics as a discipline from its roots in philosophical discourse to its modern form. Schools of economic thought from Physiocrats to neoclassical economics are examined. Emphasis is placed on the ideas of major contributors to economic thought from Plato to Keynes. Prerequisites: (Econ 101 and one course from 201-239) or (Econ 103 and 104) Recommended Econ 243 and 245.


ECON-250 Economic Development
Examination of economic and noneconomic factors accounting for economic growth and development in less developed areas of the world. Various theories of economic growth and development are analyzed and major policy issues discussed. Primary focus is on the study of the development experience in the Third World and the roles of international trade, aid, multinational corporations, as well as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, in the formation and application of Third World strategies for economic development. Satisfies distribution requirement in non-Western culture. Prerequisites: (Econ 101 and one course from 201-239) or (Econ 103 and 104).


ECON-251 International Economics
Introduction to the history and development of international commerce and its relation to the rise of the capitalist system. Fundamentals of international trade and finance are also elaborated, and these tools are applied to such issues as international business cycles, global competition and technical change, balance of payments and trade deficits, and the international debt crisis. Prerequisites: (Econ 101 and one course from 201-239) or (Econ 103 and 104).


ECON-253 Introduction to Political Economy and Afican Diaspora
Examination of the origins and development of capitalism and the contribution of Third World peoples and minorities in the U.S. to the process and continued growth of capitalist development. Primary focus is on the contributions of Africa and people of African descent. Prerequisites: (Econ 101 and one course from 201-239) or (Econ 103 and 104).


ECON-262 Monetary Policy
This course examines the conduct of monetary policy in the United States and other countries. Students learn about the objectives of monetary policy, the way monetary policy affects the macro economy over the course of the business cycle, and the tools that central banks use. Special attention is paid to the economic challenges currently facing the United States and world economies. Students participate in the Fed Challenge, a competition sponsored by the Federal Reserve System.


ECON-267 Finance
Emphasis is on financial planning, investment analysis, asset management, and sources and costs of capital. Prerequisites: (Econ 101 and one course from 201-239) or (Econ 103 and 104). Recommended: Econ 241, 243 and 245. Cross Listed with BUS 267.



ECON-301 Labor Economics
Theoretical and empirical study of the functioning of labor markets, with emphasis on wage and employment determination. Topics include time allocation, wage differences, discrimination, investment in education, mobility and migration, impact of legislation, unions and labor relations, and imperfect markets. Prerequisite: Econ 241 and 245.


ECON-303 Money and Financial Intermediaries
Course examines role of money, credit, and financial institutions in the determination of price and income levels. Coverage includes the commercial banking system, the Federal Reserve System, monetary theory, and the art of monetary policy. Emphasis is placed upon evaluation of current theory and practice in the American economy in the context of increased internationalization of financial activity. Prerequisite: Econ 241 and 243.


ECON-305 Public Economics
Introduction to principles, techniques, and effects of government obtaining and spending funds and managing government debt. Nature, growth, and amount of expenditures of all levels of government in the U.S. are considered, along with numerous types of taxes employed by various levels of government to finance their activities. Domestic and international implications of government debt are also considered. Prerequisite: Econ 241 and 245.


ECON-307 The Economics of Growth and Technological Change
Role of innovation in the evolution of economic systems. Topics include how profit incentives affect the research and development (R&D) process, the impact of technological change on occupational structure and the distribution of income, the particular market failures that exist in the market for "new knowledge," and what government policies can be used to arrive at "optimal" growth paths. The course concludes with an empirical examination of the "most important" sources of economic growth. Prerequisite: Econ 241 and 243.


ECON-308 Political Economy
An investigation into political economic and policy problems not directly confronted by mainstream economics. The focus is on the power relations, especially on who gains and who loses in a given set of economic relationships. Examples of significant issues include: the challenge for governments caused by the power of multinational corporations in a globalized world; the implications of inequalities attributable to gender, ethnic, and class relations; the proliferation of speculative financial activities and their implications for productivity; growing poverty in both the rich and the poor countries. Prerequisite: Econ 241, 243 and 245.


ECON-309 International Finance and Open Economy Macroeconomics
Study of international financial markets and their interactions with the macroeconomy. Topics include balance of payments accounting and foreign exchange markets. A theoretical model if the macroeconomy that incorporates international trade and foreign exchange markets is used to address a number of policy issues, such as the operation of fixed exchange rate systems, exchange rate crises, the evolution of the international monetary system, economic integration, and problems in the global capital market. Prerequisite: Econ 241 and 243.


ECON-312 Game Theory
Mathematical analysis of strategic interaction and decision making. Topics include normal form games and Nash equilibrium, dynamic games of complete and perfect information and subgame perfect equilibrium, static Bayesian games and Bayesian Nash equilibrium, and dynamic games with incomplete information and perfect Bayesian equilibrium. Specific topics and applications include: prisoner's dilemma, duopoly and oligopoly, bargaining, auctions, collective action problems, voting, and public choice. Prerequisite: Econ 241 and 245.


ECON-338 Economic Development
Examination of economic and noneconomic factors accounting for economic growth and development in less developed areas of the world. Various theories of economic growth and development are analyzed and major policy issues discussed. Primary focus is on the study of the development experience in the Third World and the roles of international trade, aid, multinational corporations, as well as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, in the formation and application of Third World strategies for economic development. Prerequisite: Econ 241, 243 or 245.


ECON-341 Environmental Economics
Investigation of the relationship between the economy and the environment, conditions for a mainstream theories and policies, including those based on externalities and social costs, property rights, cost-benefit analysis, and discounting, are studied in the light of conditions required for sustainability. Problems and prospects of both market controls and government regulation are considered. Special topics include renewable resources, valuation techniques, accounting for pollution and resource depletion in GDP statistics, and sustainable development. Prerequisite: Econ 101 and one course from Econ 201 to 239 and either Econ 245, ES 312 or BIO 205.


ECON-342 Industrial Organization and Public Policy
Application of microeconomic theory to the structure of industry. Course considers traditional, as well as recent and interdisciplinary theories of firm and industry behavior, with particular focus on oligopoly and game theory. Course also reviews the economic history of U.S. antitrust and regulatory policies and examines the effect of greater global interdependence. Students evaluate alternative policies for static economic efficiency, technological change, and equity. Prerequisite: Econ 241 and 245.


ECON-344 Energy Economics & Public Policy
This course explores the key aspects of energy supply and demand covering issues in electricity, natural gas and oil sectors of the economy. It discusses the role of markets, regulation and deregulation of the industry. The course addresses market design questions related to energy generation, transmission and distribution. It also provides an overview of economic institutions designed to control pollution emissions and examines other public policies affecting energy markets.


ECON-348 The Economics of Spatial Environmental Analysis
Application of advanced economic analysis to environmental problems. New media, technology and data have rapidly enhanced the economist's abilities to study problems in the environment and offer policy recommendations. Topics include national and global resource use, resource valuation, environmental justice, and economic and environmental policy through the frameworks of integrated resource policy and spatial analysis. Economic problems posed by imperfect information, uncertainty, and secondary data sources are considered. Prerequisites: Econ 245 or ES 196.


ECON-350 Quantitative Methods in Economics
Advanced statistical theory and the use of computers in data analysis. Topics include some applications of mathematics to economics, hypothesis testing and model specification, multiple regression and the determination of model acceptability. Prerequisite: Econ 241, 243 and 245.


ECON-351 Application of Mathematics to Economics and Business
Introduction to the application of calculus and matrix algebra to economics and business. Numerous illustrations of mathematically formulated economic models are used to integrate mathematical methods with economic and business analysis. Prerequisite: Econ 241, 243, 245 and 350.


ECON-352 Introduction to Econometrics
Study of the application of mathematical economic theory and statistical procedures to economic data. Coverage includes the development of appropriate techniques for measuring economic relationships specified by economic models and testing of economic theorems. Prerequisite: Econ 241, 243, 245 and 350, plus one other 300-level course.


ECON-362 Monetary Policy
This course examines the conduct of monetary policy in the United States and other countries. Students learn about the objectives of monetary policy, the way monetary policy affects the macro economy over the course of the business cycle, and the tools that central banks use. Special attention is paid to the economic challenges currently facing the United States and world economies. Students participate in the Fed Challenge, a competition sponsored by the Federal Reserve System.



ECON-401 Advanced Topics:History of Economic Thought
Investigation of different perspectives in economics. Close readings of classic primary texts are used to examine issues in the history of economics and alternative approaches to understanding the contemporary economy. Topics include competition, endogenous growth, technical change, effective demand, money and credit, and economic policy. Prerequisite: Econ 241, 243, 245, 249, and at least one 300-level Econ course.


ECON-402 Advanced Topics in Theoretical and Applied Macro-and Monetary Economics
Examination of advanced topics in macroeconomics and monetary theory and applications. Particular focus rotates, and includes such topics as the new neoclassical theory, rational expectations and post-Keynesian theory, monetary issues in international trade and economic development, econometric studies of money, regulation, and banking safety. Prerequisite: Econ 241, 243, 245, 249, and at least one 300-level Econ course.


ECON-403 Advanced Topics in Theoretical and Applied Microeconomics
Examination of special topics in advanced microeconomic theory and applications. Particular focus varies, and includes such topics as new household economics, industrial organization and public policy, game theory, information costs-structure-behavior, production and cost functions, welfare economics, and micro aspects of international trade. Prerequisite: Econ 241, 243, 245, 249, and at least one 300-level Econ course.


ECON-404 Capstone Seminar in Mathematical Economics
This course develops the language of mathematics in the context of economics. The course considers the mathematics and economic applications of equilibrium, slopes and derivatives, differentials, optimization (maximizing profits or utility and minimizing costs or expenditures), constrained optimization (e.g., maximizing utility subject to the budget constraint), and integration. Applications include problems in consumer and producer theory, general equilibrium, welfare economics, growth and discounting, oligopoly behavior, game theory, statistics, and econometrics.


ECON-420 Honors Research Seminar
Seminar for students writing the senior theses. Each participant completes an original research project under the supervision of a faculty thesis adviser. Students discuss course readings, review research methods, and present and discuss their findings. Prerequisite: By department invitation only.


ECON-450 Individualized Study-Tutorial
Individualized tutorial counting toward the minimum requirements in a major or minor, graded A-F


ECON-451 Individualized Study-Tutorial
Individualized tutorial counting toward the minimum requirements in a major or minor, graded S/U


ECON-452 Individualized Study-Tutorial
Individualized tutorial not counting in the minimum requirements in a major or minor, graded A-F


ECON-453 Individualized Study-Tutorial
Individualized tutorial not counting in the minimum requirements in a major or minor, graded S/U


ECON-460 Individualized Study-Research
Topics of an advanced nature for well qualified students. Individual reading and research, under the supervision of a faculty member. A student wishing to pursue independent study must present a proposal at least one month before the end of the semester preceding the semester in which the independent study is to be undertaken. Prerequisites: Permission of supervising faculty member and department chairperson. Offered both semesters.


ECON-461 Individualized Study-Research
Individualized research counting toward the minimum requirements in a major or minor, graded S/U


ECON-462 Individualized Study-Research
Individualized research not counting in the minimum requirements in a major or minor, graded A-F


ECON-463 Individualized Study-Research
Individualized research not counting in the minimum requirements in a major or minor graded S/U


ECON-470 Individualized Study-Internship
Internship counting toward the minimum requirements in a major or minor, graded A-F


ECON-471 Individualized Study-Internship
Internship counting toward the minimum requirements in a major or minor, graded S/U


ECON-472 Individualized Study-Intern
Internship not counting in the minimum requirements in a major or minor, graded A-F


ECON-473 Individualized Study-Internship
Internship not counting in the minimum requirements in a major or minor, graded S/U


ECON-474 Summer Internship
Summer Internship graded A-F, counting in the minimum requirements for a major or minor only with written permission filed in the Registrar's Office.


ECON-475 Summer Internship
Summer Internship graded S/U, counting in the minimum requirements for a major or minor only with written permission filed in the Registrar's Office


ECON-477 Half Credit Internship
Half credit internship, graded S/U.