Global Arc

An economic analysis of the structure of markets and of corporate behavior. The development and interpretation of public policies, including antitrust legislation and direct regulation related to market structure, corporate mergers, restrictive and discriminatory practices, advertising, and research and development. Two lectures, one class. Prerequisites: 300 or 310, and MAT 175 or equivalent.

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.

This course considers firms, markets and competition. We will study the theory of industrial organization, focusing on models of the way firms make decisions and compete and the impact of those decisions on market outcomes such as prices, quantities, the type of products offered and social welfare. This is a more math-focused version of ECO 321. For most topics considered, we will write down and solve a model of firm behavior, before considering real-world examples of the phenomenon the model seeks to analyze. We will use the examples to assess the model's ability to capture real-world outcomes.

This course will use economic concepts to analyze the relationship between education and economic performance, at both the individual and aggregate level. It will also use economic and statistical tools to evaluate various education policy options. These range from long-standing debates about class size to the controversy surrounding the No Child Left Behind legislation. To that end, the course will familiarize students with contemporary education institutions, enable students to apply economic and statistical tools to questions arising from these institutions, and enable students to evaluate education policy options.

Applies microeconomic analysis to the demand for labor, labor supply, and the determination of wages. Examines investments in human capital, unemployment, discrimination, unions, government intervention in the labor market. Empirical findings as well as theoretical models are studied. Prerequisites: 100, 302, and MAT 175 or equivalent. Two lectures, one precept.

This course will provide an opportunity to apply the concepts and methods studied in economics core courses to analyze selected topics in health economics. Topics will change from year to year. Prerequisites depend on topic. Two 90-minute lectures and one precept.

Survey of the Russian economic experience from 1860 through 1998. Emphasis will be on Soviet and Russian growth and development and the importance of critical systemic and policy changes; the administrative command era and the contemporary transition experience of the 1990's.