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100 | 200
| Core | 300 | Upper
Level | Microeconomics | Political
| Quantitative | Other
ECON120 Contemporary Issues
in Economics
Introduction to economics through the
application of different analytical tools and
perspectives to a variety of contemporary policy
issues, such as inflation, unemployment, the
environment, regulation, urban problems,
economic development, and the role of women
and minority groups in the economy. (Offered
annually)
ECON122 The Economics of Caring
There is more to
economics than the wealth of nations. A good
society is more than its wealth; it has the
capacity and is willing to care for those who
cannot completely provide for themselves. In
this course students explore, analyze, and assess
how our society cares for those who cannot
provide all of the necessities of life for themselves;
including children, the infirm, and the
elderly. They examine public policies and
debates concerning poverty, health care,
education, child protection, and adoption.
(Waller, offered annually)
Typical readings: current articles on public
policy; political and philosophical writing on
community and caring; and economic analyses of
particular policies
ECON135 The Latin American Economies
This
course looks at the Latin American economies,
their troubled history, their boom-and-bust
tendencies, the economic policies that have been
tried, and the painful consequences in terms of
poverty, inflation, and debt. (S. McKinney, Fall,
offered annually)
ECON146 The Russian Economy:
From Plan to Market?
With the formal dissolution of the
Soviet Union in December 1991, many people
hailed the triumph of capitalism and democracy
over central planning and single-party control.
With the perspective provided by a few more
years, one can see that Russia’s economic and
social problems were not solved by the decision to make this transition. In fact, many in Russia
would argue that these problems have intensified
dramatically and that the country should reverse
course before it is too late. This course explores
the strengths and weaknesses of these two kinds
of economic systems, the difficulties of making
the transition from one system to the other, and
the prospects for the future. (J. McKinney, Fall,
offered alternate years)
Introductory Theory Courses
ECON160 Principles of Economics
This course is a
general introduction to economics.
Microeconomic topics include supply and
demand, comparative advantage, consumer
choice, the theory of the firm under competition
and monopolies, and market failure. Macroeconomic
topics include national income accounting,
the determinants of national income, employment
and inflation, the monetary system and the Fed,
and fiscal policy. This course is required for all
majors and minors in economics. (Offered each
semester)
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200-Level Electives
ECON200Accounting I
This course explores the
theory and application of accounting principles
in recording and interpreting the financial facts
of business enterprise. The course covers such
topics as the measurement of income, capital
evaluation, and the determination of financial
position. (Fall, offered annually)
ECON201 Accounting
II
This course covers the
following specialized areas: partners, corporations,
cost accounting, budgeting, income taxes,
management reporting, and financial analysis.
The main objective is to introduce the student to
these topics, providing an opportunity to deal
with some of the accounting concepts associated
with these topics. Prerequisite: ECON 200.
(Spring, offered annually)
ECON203 Collective Bargaining
In this course,
students examine the labor movement in the
U.S. and other countries and learn about labormanagement
disputes and their resolutions. The
goal of the course is to inform students about the
economic and non-economic issues involved in
labor agreements. Students learn about the art of
negotiation and arbitration. Topics covered
include: the labor movement in the U.S., labor
and employment law, unions and collective
bargaining, grievance procedures, arbitration and
techniques of dispute resolution, unions in the
public sector, and an international comparison of
labor relations. Prerequisite: ECON 160. (Offered
alternate years)
ECON204 Business Law
This course is the study of the
basic law of contracts with emphasis on agency,
negotiable instruments, property, etc. The system
of courts is also studied. (Fall, offered annually)
ECON206 Community Development Economics and
Finance
Resources for development are generally
scarce in poor urban and rural areas. This course
investigates how new economic and financial
resources can be generated for and attracted to
these areas, and how they can interact with
human, organizational, and technical resources to
encourage development. The spatial focus ranges
from neighborhoods to regions. The course
provides an introduction to financial instruments,
institutions, and analysis across public,
private, and third (non-profit) sectors. Prerequisite:
ECON 120 or 160. (Gunn, offered alternate
years)
ECON212 Environmental
Economics
The primary goal
of this course is to apply basic micro-economic
principles to understanding environmental issues
and possible solutions. The course is structured
around four basic questions: How much pollution
is too much? Is government up to the job? How
can we do better? How do we resolve global issues?
Throughout the course, students move back and
forth between theory and practice, learning how
basic principles from economic theory can be
applied to environmental questions and then
looking at how these principles have been used to
implement policy nationally and internationally.
Prerequisite: ECON 120, ECON 160, or
permission of instructor. (Drennen, offered
annually)
ECON213 Urban
Economics
As an introduction to the
basic problems of urban areas in the United States
at the present time, the course analyzes the
hierarchy of cities in the U.S., market areas, and
location. It then examines the economic issues
concerned with urban housing, poverty,
transportation, and finances. It has a policy
orientation and concludes with a discussion of urban planning. Prerequisite: ECON 160, or
permission of instructor. (McGuire, offered
annually)
ECON218 Introduction to Investments
This
introductory course in investments is designed to
provide students with a broad introduction to,
and working knowledge of, U.S. financial
markets. It focuses on the basic financial
instruments (e.g., equities, bonds, options,
forwards and futures) available to investors, how
they might be used, and how they are valued,
priced and traded. This requires close study of
how economic and financial theory relates to
these investments and markets. This course
examines modern portfolio theory, the efficient
markets hypothesis, stock selection strategies,
and various risk measures. Much of this theory is
highly quantitative and extremely abstract.
While ECON 160 is the only formal course
prerequisite, be aware this course will require
substantial “number crunching” and the ability
to grasp abstract reasoning. However, the focus
of this cours is on understanding and applying
financial theory. Prerequisite: ECON 160.
(Offered annually)
Typical readings: Nofsinger, The Psychology
of Investing; Bodie, Kane and Marcus, Essentials
of Investment
ECON221 Population and Society
This course looks
at population in a broad and systematic way,
starting with basic concepts of fertility and
mortality; moving on to issues of age structure,
family demography, and the projection of future
population; and concluding with policy issues
involving immigration, the environment,
famines, and population policy. Prerequisite:
ECON 160. (Gilbert, Fall, offered annually)
ECON232 The U.S. Economy: A Critical Analysis
This course investigates the U.S. economy while
developing an introduction to radical political
economy. Changing patterns of growth and
stagnation in economic activity are analyzed using
the concept of social structures of accumulation:
the combination of economic, political, and social
factors that serve to hasten or retard capital
accumulation. Macroeconomic and social changes
are explored, as is their impact on the lives of
workers, women, and people of color. The power of
capital, workers, and other groups to effect change
in different periods is an important theme of the
course. Prerequisite: ECON 120 or 160. (Gunn,
offered alternate years)
ECON233 Comparative
Economic Systems
This course explores
the ways in which different contemporary
economies are organized, and their primary
institutions. Their regulation of markets, their
incentive systems, their performance, and their political and social settings are investigated. More
and less industrialized countries are studied,
including the recent successes and problems of
several Pacific Rim economies. Prerequisite:
ECON 120 or 160. (Khan, offered alternate years)
ECON236 Introduction to Radical Political
Economy
This course provides an introduction to the
economic thought of Karl Marx, to contemporary
radical political economy, and to current debates
in radical political economy. Topics include the
theory of value, surplus value and exploitation,
capital and its accumulation, and capital and
crisis. Recent debates in socialist-feminist thought,
the political economy of race, and ecofeminism
are addressed. (Gunn, Fall, offered alternate years)
ECON240 International Trade
This course provides an
introduction to the theory of gains from trade,
comparative advantage and international
monetary relations. It uses this theory to examine
such issues as protectionism, economic integration
(e.g., NAFTA and the European Community),
and international investment, with an emphasis
on how economic and financial relations among
countries have very different consequences for
different groups of people. Prerequisite: ECON
160. (J. McKinney, Spring, offered annually)
ECON248 Poverty and Welfare
Poverty amidst wealth
is a troubling feature of the American economy.
Economists and other social scientists have
offered various explanations for it. This course
looks into the nature and extent of poverty,
theories of its causes, and the range of public
policies aimed at easing or ending poverty.
(Gilbert, offered annually)
Typical readings: Schiller, Economics of Poverty
and Discrimination; Edin and Lein, Making Ends
Meet: How Single Mothers Survive Welfare and
Low-Wage Work; Jencks, Rethinking Social Policy
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Core Courses
ECON202 Statistics
This course offers an introduction
to the methods of descriptive and inferential
statistics that are most important in the study of
economics. The intent of the course is to help
students understand these tools and when they
can usefully be applied to data. The course
includes basic descriptive statistics, probability
distributions, sampling distributions, statistical
estimation, hypothesis testing, correlation
analysis, and regression analysis. Students
construct surveys and use the data collected via
the surveys as the basis for their semester project.
The project gives students a chance to demonstrate
basic competency in the application of the
tools taught in the course, their ability to use
computer programs to analyze data, and their
ability to explain the statistical results in plain
English. Prerequisite: ECON 160 or 220. (Offered
each semester)
ECON300 Macroeconomic Theory
and Policy
This
course examines in detail the major elements of
aggregate economic analysis. The major focus is
on the development of theoretical economic
models that examine the interrelationships
within the economic system. Once these models
have been developed, they are used extensively
to examine the current macroeconomic problems
in the economic system, e.g., inflation,
unemployment, economic growth, international
balance of payments, the business cycle, and
others. Prerequisite: ECON 160, and two 100- or
200-level electives. (Offered each semester)
ECON301 Microeconomic Theory and Policy
A study
of pricing and resource-allocating processes in the
private economy, this course examines the
theories of demand and production, and the
determination of prices for commodities and
factors of production in competitive and non-competitive markets. The concept of
economic efficiency is central to the course.
Prerequisites: ECON 160 and two 100- or
200-level electives. (Offered each semester)
ECON304 Econometrics
The subject of this course,
broadly speaking, is regression analysis. After a
brief review of the simple linear model presented
in ECON 202, the course develops the
theoretical framework for the multivariate linear
model. Various special topics are studied while
students complete individual research projects.
Prerequisites: ECON 202 and ECON 300 or
ECON 301. (Offered each semester)
ECON305 Political Economy
This course analyzes
alternative ways of understanding economics and
political economy. It investigates debates on
economic theory and discourse within a broad
context of critical issues in the foundations and
development of the social sciences. Theoretical
foundations of major schools of economic thought
(e.g., neoclassical, Keynesian, Marxist) are
explored, as well as questions of ideology and
method in economic thought. Feminist economics
is introduced. Prerequisites: ECON 300 and
ECON 301, or permission of the instructor.
(Offered each semester)
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Upper
Level Electives (By Fields)
Macroeconomics
ECON324 Money and Financial Markets
This is a basic
money-and-banking course that integrates
macroeconomic theory and monetary theory.
Special emphasis is placed on the changing structure
and function of financial markets, the changing role
of the Federal Reserve System, and the new
relationships between the domestic monetary system
and the international monetary system. Prerequisites:
ECON 300. (Offered annually)
ECON344 Economic Development and Planning
This
course examines both the theory and practice of
Third World countries in their attempts to
modernize and industrialize. Some topics that are discussed include: the roles of agricultural and
industrial development, investment, urbanization,
infrastructure, foreign trade, foreign aid and debt,
and government planning. The course evaluates
the importance of the distribution of income,
education, the transfer of technology, population
control, and neo-colonialism. Countries from
Africa, Asia, and Latin America are used frequently
and extensively as examples. Prerequisite: ECON
300. (Fall, offered annually)
ECON372 Keynes, Keynesians, and Post-Keynesians
This course considers the economic writings of
John Maynard Keynes and the interpretations that
have been offered of both his theories of the
macroeconomy and the importance of his
contributions. The course includes examination of
Keynes’ early writings as well as a careful reading
of The General Theory, his most important work.
Following these discussions, students examine the
evolution of Keynesian theory within the
orthodox economic tradition, considering both
what was added to Keynes, and what was taken
away. They also address the “revolutionary” nature
of Keynes’s contributions. Finally, they explore
the development of Keynes’s ideas by the
post-Keynesian economists in the U.S. and Great
Britain to see how this interpretation of Keynes
differs from the standard approach to his work.
Prerequisites: ECON 300 and ECON 305.
(McGuire, offered alternate years)
ECON425 Seminar: Public Macroeconomics
This
course looks at the role government plays in
stabilizing and destabilizing the macroeconomy by
means of its expenditures and taxes, its monetary
policy, and its exchange rate policy. The course
focuses on the experience of Latin America,
where mismanagement, heterodox policy, shock
treatment, and the ‘’Chicago Boys’’ have brought
the consequences of government policy into sharp relief. Prerequisites: ECON 202 and ECON 300.
(S. McKinney, offered alternate years)
ECON480 Seminar: Current Issues in Macroeconomics
In this seminar, students read a variety of current
books and articles dealing with the macroeconomy.
Examples of issues that arise include: the federal
budget, deficit and debt, the Fed and monetary
policy, future prospects of the U.S. economy, and
the economic position of the U.S. in the world
economy. Students are expected to be active
participants, write a substantial paper, and make a
presentation to the seminar. (McGuire, offered
alternate years)
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Microeconomics
ECON306 Industrial Organization
The course is
intended to demonstrate how microeconomic
theory applies to industrial markets. An
examination and evaluation of the theoretical
predictions of price theory is considered in a real
world context, with surveys of recent empirical
evidence. Such areas as theories of motivation of
the firm, identification and measurement of
monopoly power, economies of firm size,
concentration (definition, measurement, and
effects), and oligopolistic behavior are examined.
Prerequisite: ECON 301. (Waller, offered
alternate years)
ECON309 Portfolio Analysis
This course addresses
the principles and practice of managing personal
financial wealth. It presumes a basic understanding
of the main forms of personal monetary
wealth and the markets for financial investments.
Each student is required to manage a mock
portfolio with specific predetermined objectives in mind. The exercises of inside-information,
gaming, and competition are used to stimulate
the analysis. Prerequisites: ECON 218 and
ECON 301. (Offered alternate years)
ECON316 Labor Market Analysis
This course focuses on
the application of microeconomics, macroeconomics,
and Marxist theories to the study of labor
markets, income distribution, occupational structure,
returns to education, etc. It also examines the impact
of unions on wages, labor’s share, inflation,
discrimination, and other labor economics questions.
Prerequisite: ECON 301. (ECON 300 and ECON
305 are also recommended). (Mertens, offered
alternate years)
ECON317 Economics of Sports
Sports has
become a multi-billion dollar industry in the
U.S., worthy of its own economic analysis. This
course applies the techniques of microeconomic
theory to the sports industry and examines the
following issues: the financing of sports teams
and sports facilities; the effects of sports
franchises on local economic development; racial
and gender discrimination in sports and the
effects of Title IX; the role of labor unions in
professional sports; and how colleges and
professional sports teams profit from the
“amateur” athlete. Prerequisite: ECON 301.
(Mertens, offered alternate years)
Typical readings: Hamilton, Barton H.,
“Racial Discrimination and Professional
Basketball Salaries in the 1990s,” Applied
Economics; Leeds, Michael and Peter von
Allmen, The Economics of Sports
ECON319 Forensic Economics
This course introduces one
of the newest areas in the field of economics. The
principal focus is on the methodology employed by
economists to determine the economic losses suffered
in cases involving death and disability. It also
addresses conventional and unconventional
approaches to an evaluation of personal income and
wealth in cases involving dissolution of marriage and
business contracts. Special attention is devoted to the
evaluation of household production and other
income that does not typically go through a market.
In addition, the way that an economist or other professional is currently used as an “expert witness” is
explored, with at least one field trip to view an
actual courtroom appearance. (McGowan, offered
alternate years)
ECON326 Public Finance
This course uses
microeconomic analysis to study the major
public sector issues. The course begins with a
discussion of various economic theories of the
government’s place in a market economy;
considers the evaluation and impacts of
government programs such as Social Security;
studies the theory of taxation and of tax
legislation, such as, the U.S. tax reform of 1986;
and, finally, takes a look at state and local
government issues, such as how best to provide
education. Prerequisite: ECON 301. (Mertens,
offered alternate years)
ECON348 Natural Resource and Energy Economics
Designing winning solutions to the complicated
issues affecting the environment requires a strong
interdisciplinary approach. The course covers the
basic theoretical models of natural resource use as
well as the implications of these models for policy
decisions. Topics include opposing views of
natural resource use and depletion; basic criteria
and methods for decision analysis; property rights
and externalities; the linkage between population
growth, resource use, and environmental
degradation; energy options; successes and
limitations of recycling; resource scarcity;
economic growth and resource use; and sustainable
development. Students construct simple
simulation models to explore the basic relationships
discussed in this course. Prerequisite: ECON
301. (Drennen, offered alternate years)
ECON461 Seminar: Environmental Economics
This
seminar focuses on one or two key environmental
issues. Readings are from both economic and
environmental literature. Past class topics have
included international energy strategies, Western
water issues, negotiation of major international
environmental agreements (climate change, ozone
depletion, and biodiversity), and free trade and
the environment. Students are expected to
complete a major term paper and class presentation.
(Drennen, offered occasionally)
ECON466 Seminar: Population Issues
This course
examines in depth the political economy of
population issues. It explores the origins of
population theory, the history of world
population, demographic projections for the 21st
century, social and environmental impacts, and
population policy. A substantial research paper is
required. (It may serve as the “policy brief”
course required of Public Policy majors and
minors.) Prerequisite: ECON 305. (Gilbert,
offered annually)
Typical readings: Malthus, Essays on the
Principle of Population; Livi-Bacci, A Concise
History of World Population; Ross, The Malthus
Factor: Poverty, Politics and Population in Capitalist
Development; and Worldwatch Institute, After
Malthus: Nineteen Dimensions of the Population
Challenge
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Political Economy
ECON310 Economics and Gender
This course focuses on
attempts to integrate gender into economic analysis.
The course includes discussion of the economics of
the family, household production and the
allocation of time, gender and the labor supply, and
gender differences in occupation and earnings. A
discussion of gender in economic methodology and
the history of economic thought provides the
context for these issues. Prerequisite: ECON 301 or
ECON 305. (Waller, offered alternate years)
Typical reading: Humphries, Economics and
Gender
ECON316 Labor Market Analysis
This course focuses on
the application of microeconomics, macroeconomics,
and Marxist theories to the study of labor
markets, income distribution, occupational structure,
returns to education, etc. It also examines the impact
of unions on wages, labor’s share, inflation,
discrimination, and other labor economics questions.
Prerequisite: ECON 301. (ECON 300 and ECON
305 are also recommended). (Mertens, offered
alternate years)
ECON331 Institutional Economics
This course directs
its attention to the contributions to economic
thought by the movement referred to as American
Institutionalism. The course introduces the
interdisciplinary approach employed by institutional
economists in their analysis of economic
processes. The course also focuses on the
institutionalists’ critique of neoclassical economic
theory. In order to understand these criticisms, the
student needs a good understanding of intermediate
economic theory. Prerequisite: ECON 305 or
permission of instructor. (Waller, offered annually)
ECON336 Political Economy of Cooperative
Production
In recent decades the workers' cooperative (or self-managed or labor-managed
firm) has shown itself to be an alternative to both capitalist and
state-controlled units of production. This course investigates the
history, economic theory, and political and social rationale of
this form of production. It also explores the uses and abuses of
various forms of workers' participation in management, and worker
ownership. Cases from the U.S., and several other countries are
analyzed. Prerequisites: Econ 301 and 305 or permission of instructor.
(Gunn, offered alternate years)
ECON338 Third Sector Economics
This course
investigates economic institutions that are given
little attention in the normal approaches to
microeconomics and macroeconomics, but that are
significant to the economy of the U.S. Not-for-profit
organizations such as colleges and universities,
hospitals, and philanthropic organizations;
cooperatives and collectives; and public/private
partnerships are investigated. Their role in the U.S.
economy is assessed, as are the wide variety of
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in other
economies of the world. Prerequisites: ECON 300,
ECON 301 or permission of instructor. (Gunn,
Fall, offered alternate years)
ECON343 Political Economy of Race
This course investigates the nature of racial domination and conflict
in the United States within the context of economic, political,
and social institutions. Fundamental to this is the proposition
that analysis of race relations is central to understanding the
dynamics of a socio-political economic system and that an examination
of race relations is incomplete if it is not connected to the broader
political economic system. This course focuses primarily on the
experience of African-American men and women. (Offered alternate
years)
ECON435 Political Economy of Latin America
This
course studies the interaction of domestic
economic structure, political processes, and
international pressures in Latin America by
means of case studies of specific periods in
Mexico, Central America, the Andean region,
and Brazil. Prerequisite: ECON 135 or ECON
305. (S. McKinney, offered alternate years)
Typical readings: Paige, Coffee & Power;
Haber, Industry and Underdevelopment; Evans,
Embedded Autonomy
ECON467 Seminar: British Classical Economics
Topics vary from year to year, but there is generally a focus on
a particular major classical economist - for example, Adam Smith,
David Ricardo or Thomas Malthus. The course involves substantial
reading and discussion of original texts; secondary sources help
provide interpretive frameworks. The approach is broad enough to
view each thinker as both an economist and a social scientist. Methodological
and policy issues are addressed in the course. Prerequisite: Econ
305. (Gilbert, offered annually)
ECON468 Seminar: Veblen
This seminar focuses its
attention on the contributions of Thorstein
Veblen to economic thought. In particular,
Veblen’s contributions in the areas of economic
methodology, consumption theory, production
theory, and economic development are examined.
In addition, Veblen’s critique of the accepted
economic theory of his day and his critique of
Marxian economics are examined. Prerequisites:
ECON 301 and ECON 305, or permission of
instructor. (Waller, offered alternate years)
ECON474 Seminar: Issues in Political Economy
This course focuses on different topics
each year, such as the changing nature of work,
and globalization. Prerequisite: ECON 305, or
permission of instructor. (Gunn, Fall, offered
alternate years)
ECON493 Seminar: The Political Economy of
the Right
This seminar explores emerging schools of political economy of a
conservative variety, specifically the Austrian school and the New
Institutionalism (encompassing the literatures of public choice
property rights, rent-seeking, and law and economics). Are these
alternatives to the prevailing orthodoxy of neoclassical economics
likely to supplant or supplement orthodoxy or simply remain fringe
elements within the discipline? The course also explores both why
the label "political economy" is appropriate for these
schools of thought and why they have chosen to consciously (re-)appropriate
it. (Waller, Spring, offered annually) Typical readings: Oliver
E. Williamson, Market and Hierarchies; Ludwig von Mises, Human Action;
F. A. Hayek, New Studies in Philosophy, Politics, Economics and
the History of Ideas
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Quantitative Methods
ECON307 Mathematical Economics
This course has two
objectives. First, to acquaint the student with the
various mathematical tools widely used in theoretical
economics today. These tools include simple linear
algebra, matrix algebra, and differential calculus.
Second, to utilize these tools to demonstrate and
examine the fundamental concepts underlying
microeconomic and macroeconomic theory.
Prerequisites: ECON 300 and ECON 301.
(Frishman, offered alternate years)
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Other Departmental Offerings
ECON450 Independent Study
Upper-level elective by arrangement with faculty members. Requires
presentation of results to department if the course is used to replace
the senior seminar requirement. ECON495 Honors The Honors program
(see description above) usually consists of one course per term
for two or three terms. These courses can be used by student majors
to fulfill an upper-level core requirement and the department's
senior seminar requirement.
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