Global Arc

This course provides hands-on experience in econometric analysis designed to help students to acquire the skills necessary to carry out their own empirical analyses in economics. Various aspects of empirical research in economics will be covered, including development of testable economic models, appropriate use of data, identification and causal inference, and specification and techniques for estimation of econometric models. Prerequisites: ECO 302 or ECO 312; and calculus. Two lectures, one precept.

By extending intermediate macroeconomics, we develop alternative macroeconomic frameworks with financial frictions to understand business cycles, financial crises and public policy. The lecture begins with a historical overview of financial crises and basic financial accelerator models which emphasizes the interaction between borrowing constraint, asset prices and aggregate production. We then introduce financial intermediaries and government to study banking crisis, credit policy and macro prudential policy. Pre-requisites: ECO 301 or ECO 311. Two 90-minute lectures, one precept.

The microeconomic theory of individual decision making under uncertainty and economic interaction under asymmetric information. Topics include expected utility, value of information, risk-sharing in insurance and asset markets, contracting with moral hazard and adverse selection, and auctions. Applications include health insurance and finance. Prerequisites: 300, MAT 175 or equivalent, and basic probability. Two lectures, one precept.

This class will cover the economics of gender, especially focusing on women's role in the economy. We will cover workplace discrimination, policies to promote gender equality, the historical evolution of economic gender roles in the US, and initiatives to promote women's empowerment in developing countries.

This course covers the evolution of racial inequality in the US, with a focus on Black-white economic disparities. We will study racial gaps in income and wealth over the 20th century and examine the role of public policy in mitigating or exacerbating this inequality. Students will come away with an understanding of key episodes of racial progress and will hone their data science skills by analyzing historical data to make evidence-based proposals for reducing group-based inequality. Finally, the course will build students' research literacy by supplementing readings of technical papers with policy briefs, podcasts, and op-eds.

This course introduces basic concepts and methods in time series analysis with applications in macroeconomics. Applications will focus on fiscal and monetary policies, exchange rate regimes, international capital flows, and economic growth. Pre-requisites: ECO 302 or ECO 312.

This course introduces basic concepts and methods in time series analysis with applications in macroeconomics. Emphasis is placed on developing an understanding of how the techniques work, and when they are most suitable for applications. Applications will focus on fiscal and monetary policies, exchange rate regimes, international capital flows, and economic growth. The lectures are designed so that students will understand the basic ideas, while a set of homework assignments has been prepared to allow the students to dig deeper into the material, as well as providing hands-on experience in estimating time series models.

This course discusses several ways in which market outcomes fail to be efficient. It introduces alternative notions of efficiency that are adapted to different environments. A first part of the course discusses externalities and public goods, also discussed in introductory classes. However, policy remedies are addressed in more depth. A second part of the course discusses missing markets and property rights. A third part of the course discusses informational asymmetric, going from search frictions to adverse selection and moral hazard.

An introduction to the economics of law. Application of price theory and welfare analysis to problems and actual cases in the common law -- property, contracts, torts -- and to criminal and constitutional law. Topics include the Coase Theorem, intellectual property, product liability, deterring crime, incarceration as punishment, and social choice. Prerequisite: ECO 100. Two 90-minute lectures.

This class studies how to solve problems of economic resource allocation via markets. The first half will focus on matching markets. We will study how to assign students to schools, kidneys to patients, workers to jobs and so forth. In the second half we will study auctions. We will discuss how they can be used to discover price in various environments and their use to allocate goods such as advertising, financial assets or radio spectrum. Throughout the course we will discuss the issues underlying the design of successful marketplaces. The course will emphasize applications and connections between the different problems.