Fall 2017

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.

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.

Application of statistical methods to economic data: estimating economic relationships using regression analysis, testing hypotheses involving economic behavior, forecasting economic variables. Prerequisite: ECON-317. Duplicates credit in former ECON-414.

Contemporary economic problems of the Middle East: comparative and historical perspectives on issues of institutions, investment, oil, trade, migration, finance, inequality, labor and capital markets. Recommended preparation: ECON 205 and ECON 303.

Development and business applications of: theory of the firm; theory of the consumer; inter-temporaldecisions; decisions under risk; market failures; industrial and enterprise structure. Prerequisites: MATH 118 or MATH 125 or MATH 126 or MATH 226. Not for major credit for: Economics, Economics/Mathematics, Social Sciences (Economics). Duplicates credit in former ECON 251.

Theoretical development and significance to business and markets of economic growth; inflation;unemployment; monetary and fiscal policy; business cycles; savings and investment; exchange rates. Corequisite: ECON 351. Recommended preparation: introductory economics course, high school math, and algebra. Not for major credit for: Economics, Economics/Mathematics, Social Sciences (Economics). Duplicates credit in former ECON 252x.

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.

Key facts and basic mechanisms concerning financial crises and related topics (bank runs, sovereign default decision, currency collapse).

Selected policy dilemmas, including welfare reform, urban renewal, government budget deficits, regulation and deregulation, environmental problems, immigration, and global development. Lectures by leading authorities and weekly discussion sessions.

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.

Examination of the traditional and behavioral theories of decision-making and the state of the art in the field. Prerequisite: ECON 303.

Examination of economic theories and patterns of behavior useful in building new theories. Prerequisite ECON-303; Recommended preparation: ECON-317.

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

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

Economic approaches and political processes are used to explain observed international trade policy choices. Topics covered include globalization, regionalism, labor standards, the environment and sanctions. Recommended preparation: Micro- and Macroeconomics.

General equilibrium analysis of economics with financial markets; decision making under uncertainty; methods of risk reduction; portfolio theory and valuation of securities; efficiency of security markets.

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.

Economic consulting and managerial economic methods applied in real world problems. Economic methods to analyze issues of intellectual property, environmental damage, trademark infringement, brand value, and consumer demand. Prerequisite: ECON 303.

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.

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

Theories of aggregate economic activity; design and use of macroeconometric models; stabilization and control of inflation, unemployment, and growth.

Application of econometric tools using standard econometric software packages for microcomputers; empirical applications to selected economic problems of estimation and inference. Prerequisite: ECON 318.

The balance of payments, macroeconomic policy in an open economy, exchange rate determination, exchange rate systems, currency crises, international financial arrangements and monetary history. Prerequisite: ECON 501.

Classical economic theory; its precursors, main contributors, extensions, and critics; focus upon the writings and ideas of Smith, Say, Malthus, Ricardo, Mill and Marx. Prerequisite: ECON 303 and ECON 305.

Economic consulting and applied econometric methods applied to real world problems including issues of intellectual property, environmental damage, trademark infringement, brand value, and consumer demand.

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.

Practical principles for the long-term development of effective teaching within college disciplines. Intended for teaching assistants in Dornsife College. Open only to doctoral students in Economics. 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.

Optimization of the consumer and the firm; duality and imputed value; perfect and imperfect competition in product and factor markets. Prerequisites: ECON 401. Recommended preparation: ECON 500. Duplicates credit in former ECON 503.

Aggregate demand, supply and government policy; theories of economic growth and business cycles; static and dynamic implications of government policies. Prerequisite: ECON 401. Duplicates credit in former ECON 505.

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. Prerequisite: MATH-226. Duplicates credit in former ECON-514.

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. Prerequisite: ECON 609.

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. Prerequisites: ECON 609.

Use of quantitative models to describe and forecast economic activity; estimation and application of such models to selected policy problems. Prerequisites: ECON 609.

Experimental methods of and design of computer-based experiments. Use of standard software for data collection in individual decision-making experiments and games. Prerequisite: ECON-601. Recommended preparation: ECON-616. Graded C/NC.

Techniques of microeconometric analysis to inform health policy. Topics include: demand for health, medical care, and insurance, risk selection, medical innovation. Recommended preparation: ECON-601, ECON-611. (Duplicates credit in former PMEP 534.)

Model construction and application to policy and planning: open economy macroeconomics, trade and investment, institutions, technology, income inequality, environment, policy reforms, political economy. Prerequisites: ECON-501 or ECON-602; ECON-500 or ECON-601.

Balance of payments concepts and measures; price theory and the foreign exchange market; international monetary systems; adjustment mechanisms; speculation and official intervention.

Financial market equilibrium and partial equilibrium asset pricing in discrete and continuous time; properties of equilibria with and without complete markets: theory of option prices: Black-Scholes pricing formula; term structure of interest rates; hedging strategies and managing market risk using options, futures and swaps; hedging exchange-rates risks. Prerequisite: ECON-601.

Decision making, economic behavior and organization in firms; types of competition and market structure; property rights, nonprofit decision making. Prerequisite: ECON-500 or ECON-601.

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.

Presentations on current research in empirical microeconomics by outstanding scholars from leading Economics departments and faculty at USC. Open only to Economics Ph.D. students. 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.