The elective courses regularly offered by the Department of Economics are listed below. All courses are three credit hours, and generally meet twice per week.
EC 822 Microeconometrics
Prerequisite: EC 761 (or equivalent).
This course covers major advances in microeconometrics. The course will present developments in estimating models with limited dependent variables, random and fixed effects models and duration models.
Peter Gottschalk
EC 827 Econometric Theory I
This course provides an introduction to the basic tools and theory of econometrics. Relevant matrix algebra and multivariate distribution theory are developed and applied to the traditional linear regression model and its extensions. Autocorrelation, errors in variables and other single equation problems will be discussed in this context.
David Belsley
EC 828 Econometric Theory II
Prerequisite: EC 761.
Estimation and inference in non-linear econometric models. An emphasis will be placed on current theory and methods. Topics covered will include asymptotic theory, quasi-likelihood, least absolute deviations, generalized method of moments, two-step estimators, specification testing, and the bootstrap.
Bruce E. Hansen
EC 853 Industrial Organization I
This course is an introduction to modern industrial organization theory. Topics will include, as time permits, the game theoretic approach to oligopoly theory, theories of barriers to entry, predatory pricing, R&D competition and applications to trade theory.
Bentley MacLeod
EC 854 Industrial Organization II
This course includes an economic analysis of antitrust and regulatory policies: a review of modern antitrust policy including a study of major cases and the economics literature commenting on antitrust policy, analysis of the genesis of regulation, peak-load pricing, optimal departures from marginal cost pricing, automatic adjustment clauses, the empirical evidence regarding regulation-induced inefficiencies, and an investigation of the special problems of regulatory reform and deregulation in particular industries.
Frank M. Gollop
EC 861 Monetary Economics I
This course will examine the standard issues in advanced macroeconomics and monetary theory, placing particular emphasis on the role of inside money (credit) and the crucial role of information in the functioning of modern economies. Topics to be covered include the role of national debt and intergenerational allocation, inflation finance and optimal seignoirage, sunspot theory, and the effect of information partitions on economic efficiency.
Robert Murphy
EC 862 Monetary Economics II
This course considers various topics in monetary theory and policy with a particular emphasis on empirical applications. Included among the topics covered are money demand, the term structure of interest rates, asset pricing models, macroeconomic aspects of public finance, and models of unemployment and inflation.
Joe Peek/Fabio Schiantarelli
EC 865 Public Sector Economics I
This course covers most of the traditional topics in the subject: welfare economics, market failure and rationales for government intervention, the theory of tax policy and tax structure, the positive effects of taxation on labor supply, on intertemporal decisions, and on risk-taking, tax incidence, taxation and growth, and normative, second-best tax and public expenditure theory, including cost-benefit analysis and public enterprise pricing.
Richard Tresch
EC 866 Public Sector Economics II
This course emphasizes problems of collective decision-making under complete and incomplete information. Topics include Arrow's Impossibility Theorem, the "new" political economy, an introduction to mechanism design with special emphasis on demand-revealing mechanisms for public goods, voluntary provision of public goods, and the regulation of externalities.
Richard Arnott
EC 871 Theory of International Trade
Emphasis on the structure of general equilibrium, welfare and commercial policy propositions, and the foundations of comparative advantage. The course also covers imperfect competition and uncertainty.
James Anderson
EC 872 International Finance
Analysis of macroeconomic adjustment in open economies, with attention to foreign exchange markets, balance of payments, and the international monetary system.
Christopher Canavan
EC 875 Political Economy of Trade and Development
This course will consider economy-wide models of endogenous growth as well as the sector-specific issues which arise from missing markets and asymmetric information. The perspectives of neoclassical political economy will be emphasized.
James Anderson/Douglas Marcouiller, S.J.
EC 885 Analysis of Labor Markets
A comprehensive microeconomic approach to wage theory and the theory of labor markets focusing on labor supply, household production, marginal productivity, human capital, search discrimination, and dual labor market theories. Heavy emphasis on specification and estimation of empirical models.
Peter Gottschalk
EC 886 Current Topics in Labor Economics
This course covers topics of current interest in labor economics. Examples include analysis of life-cycle consumer behavior estimation techniques applied to survey microdata, minimum wage legislation, agency problems, informational economics and intergenerational transfers. Both theoretical and empirical issues are investigated.
Donald Cox
EC 893 Urban Economics I
This course covers basic urban economic theory-spatial economics, housing, transportation, and local public finance.
Richard Arnott
EC 894 Urban Economics II
This course covers a selection of more advanced topics in urban economic theory--agglomeration, systems of cities, non-monocentric cities, non-competitive models of housing, transportation and the theory of the second-best, and the economics of downtown parking.
Richard Arnott
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