Fall 2007

Behavior of firms and consumers, functions of the price system, competition and monopoly, labor markets, poverty, government regulation, international trade, and the environment.

Unemployment, inflation and output determination and links.Effects of government taxation and spending on growth, investment,saving, consumption, and trade.

Off-campus studies course; title of course offered at off-campus institution appears as a section title.

Decision making by business firms, consumer preferences and behavior, uncertainty, competition, monopoly, labor and resource markets, efficient resource allocation, externalities, and government policy.

The determinants of aggregate income, employment, and inflation;economic fluctuations; fiscal and monetary policy; financialmarkets; the national debt.

Introduction to statistical methods appropriate for analyzing economic data: probability theory, random variables and probability distributions, sampling, estimation, statistical inference.

Economic history of the Middle East from the rise of Islam to the modern era. Roles of law, religion. Processes of institutional transformation, stagnation, modernization.

A focus on the Chinese economy, its reform and transition to a market economy, its relation with East Asian countries and integration into the world economy.

International cooperation and conflict in the world economy. Global economic problems of growth and development, trade and finance, migration, economic stability, and the environment.

The money, bond, stock, and other financial markets; portfolio choice; determinants of asset prices and interest rates; inflation; interactions between financial markets and government policies.

Role of the government; income and corporate taxation; direct versus indirect taxation; optimal tax structure; public goods; public sector pricing; public debt and macroeconomic stability.

Urban trends and problems, including changing urban form and function, urban public finance, housing, renewal, poverty, race, transportation, and the environment.

Introduction to quantitative methods for analyzing economic equilibria; comparative statics and dynamics. Utility theory, consumer behavior, and profit maximization. Model formulation in micro and macroeconomics.

Analysis of strategic economic interactions. Topics include bargaining, insurance, patents, voting, environment depletion, strategic trade, learning, reputation, strikes, corporate takeovers, and the provision of public goods.

Application of statistical methods to economic data: estimating economic relationships using regression analysis, testing hypotheses involving economic behavior, forecasting economic variables.

What is happiness? How does it vary by socio-economic status and over the life cycle? This course will develop insight into the nature and determinants of subjective well-being. Recommended preparation: ECON 305

Common law and property; rationing of justice; resource allocation between prevention and enforcement; division of decision making between public and private sectors.

Determinants and economic consequences of international trade patterns; effects of trade restrictions and trading blocs; trade negotiations and arrangements.

Consequences of trade deficits; theories of capital and currency markets, exchange rate regimes, and international monetary coordination.

A human capital interpretation of labor demand and supply; wage determination, differentials, and discrimination; job turnover and occupational mobility; unions and collective bargaining.

Health as an investment in human capital; analysis of the demand for and supply of health services and manpower; health insurance; cost-effectiveness analysis; market structures and the pricing of medical services.

Supervised individual research. Not available for graduate credit. Requires departmental approval.

Individual research supervised by a faculty advisor. Successful completion required for departmental honors degree.

Selected topics in economic theory, history, or policy.

Theories of the household and the firm; product and factor markets; perfect and imperfect competition; welfare criteria.

Optimization of the consumer and the firm; duality and imputed value; perfect and imperfect competition in product and factor markets. Recommended preparation: 500

Aggregate demand, supply and government policy; theories of economic growth and business cycles; static and dynamic implications of government policies. Recommended preparation: 501, 502

Application of econometric tools using standard econometric software packages for microcomputers; empirical applications to selected economic problems of estimation and inference.

Introduction to probability theory and statistical inference to prepare students for graduate courses in econometrics and economic theory; probability, random variables, distributions, estimation, testing, asymptotics.

Information, property rights, bargaining, transaction costs, incentives, free-riding and contracting in organizations; the nature of cooperation; bureaucracies.

Research leading to the master's degree. Maximum units which may be applied to the degree to be determined by the department. Graded CR/NC.

Credit on acceptance of Thesis. Graded CR/NC.

Credit on acceptance of Thesis. Graded CR/NC.

Credit on acceptance of Thesis. Graded CR/NC.

Selected topics in economics as developed by the instructor.

Simultaneous equation models, dynamic structural econometric models, vector autoregressions, causality, forecasting, univariate and multivariate nonstationary time series, tests for unit roots, cointegration, autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity models, time series models with changes in regime.

Stock returns, predictability and volatility, random walk and variance-bounds tests, estimation of capital asset, multifactor, and derivative pricing models, term structure of interest rates.

Model construction and application to policy and planning: open economy macroeconomics, trade and investment, institutions, technology, income inequality, environment, policy reforms, political economy.

Equilibrium model of finance economy; absence of arbitrage; complete and incomplete markets; asset pricing theory: representative agent pricing, Capital Asset Pricing Model, martingale property of security prices.

Decision making, economic behavior and organization in firms; types of competition and market structure; property rights, nonprofit decision making.

Current research in economic theory presented by faculty, students, and outside scholars. Graded CR/NC.

Current research in econometrics presented by faculty, students, and outside scholars. Graded CR/NC.

Current research in international, regional, and urban development economics presented by faculty, students, and outside scholars. Graded CR/NC.

Topics in dynamic economics involving business fluctuations, economic growth and development, microeconomic adjustments and market mechanisms; related quantitative and qualitative methods; empirical research involving economic change. Graded CR/NC.

Time-series methods; aggregation; structural models and methods such as factor analysis and multiple indicator models; various special topics.

Research leading to the doctorate. Maximum units which may be applied to the degree to be determined by the department. Graded CR/NC.

Credit on acceptance of Dissertation. Graded CR/NC.

Credit on acceptance of Dissertation. Graded CR/NC.

Credit on acceptance of Dissertation. Graded CR/NC.

Credit on acceptance of Dissertation. Graded CR/NC.

Credit on acceptance of Dissertation. Graded CR/NC.