Courses

Note: courses with light gray backgrounds are not offered this academic year.

ECON 105 SEM Gender in the Global Economy

Last offered Fall 2022

This course will present a feminist economic analysis of the global economy, and some of the urgent issues facing women in the Global South. The course will start by developing theoretical resources: these will include feminist critiques of economic theory, work on care labor and the shifting boundaries between markets, governments, households and the environment, and discussions of intersectionality and difference. Then we will discuss a series of interlinked issues which may include the contradictory effects of structural adjustment and its successors; the informal sector and global value chains; the economics of sex work and global sex trafficking; climate change; and migration. We will finish by looking at community-based activism, non-governmental organizations, and the possibilities for North/South alliances. [ more ]

ECON 107 SEM Inequality in a Classless Society: The Soviet Experiment and its Aftermath

Last offered Fall 2021

All societies have to come up with some way of distributing wealth and income. In turn, individuals and groups comprising these societies grapple with, justify, and at times contest their place in social and economic hierarchy. Complex as they are, such processes are all the more pressing in societies built on the explicit promise of economic equality, as was the case in the USSR and socialist Eastern Europe. Using the combined perspectives offered by economics, history, and sociology, this course will trace the practices and lived realities of social differentiation and income/wealth distribution brought about by the socialist experiment and intensifying after its demise. We will explore the life of class in these supposedly classless societies, and its reconfiguration after 1991, approaching class as, simultaneously, a matter of social classification, consumption differences, cultural identity, economic policy, and political power. We will study how the economic and political developments of late-socialism and the transition period generated class-based differences in all walks of life, and ask what these experiments have to teach us about inequalities and persistent social and economic divisions closer to home. [ more ]

ECON 110(F, S) LEC Principles of Microeconomics

This course is an introduction to the study of the forces of supply and demand that determine prices and the allocation of resources in markets for goods and services, markets for labor, and markets for natural resources. The focus is on how and why markets work, why they may fail to work, and the policy implications of both their successes and failures. The course focuses on developing the basic tools of microeconomic analysis and then applying those tools to topics of popular or policy interest such as minimum wage legislation, pollution control, competition policy, international trade policy, discrimination, tax policy, and the role of government in a market economy. [ more ]

ECON 111 LEC Introduction to Economics and Its Applications

Last offered Fall 2010

This course is intended for students who do not wish to major in economics but who would like to learn something about the discipline and to develop a greater understanding of the ways in which economics can be used to explain behavior and to inform policy. Our focus will be on providing some very basic tools of economic analysis and important institutional background regarding the US and international economies, and then using those tools and institutional knowledge to analyze current policy issues. [ more ]

ECON 120(F, S) LEC Principles of Macroeconomics

This course provides an introduction to the study of the aggregate national economy. It develops the basic theories of macroeconomics and applies them to topics of current interest. Issues to be explored include: the causes of inflation, unemployment, recessions, and depressions; the role of government fiscal and monetary policy in stabilizing the economy; the determinants of long-run economic growth; the long- and short-run effects of taxes, budget deficits, and other government policies on the national economy; the role of financial frictions in amplifying recessions; and the workings of exchange rates and international finance. [ more ]

ECON 133 SEM Plantation and the Plot: the Poetics of Caribbean Economic Thought and Struggle

Last offered Spring 2023

This introductory course to Caribbean Economic Thought contextualizes the poetics of economic ideas, struggle and knowledge alongside popular literary works connected to contemporary challenges of Caribbean Economic Development. Using the 'plantation' and the 'plot' as sites of continuing exploitation and struggle, this course delves into Caribbean postcolonial development thinking. We will explore the present-day relevance of these sites to racial justice and environmental crises and their historical roots in colonial surplus extraction. By examining literary and economic writings of Caribbeanists and Caribbean connected contributors side by side, we seek to uncover these links to how the Caribbean economy, its seascape and society are framed, conceptualized and traversed as transplanted spaces, economic zones, and extractive geographies today. Unorthodox perspectives on economic and social thought that emerged to explain the region's integral role in merchant and industrial capitalism, New World social formations and contemporary globalization will also be discussed. We will closely analyze critical texts of contributors to the New World Group that centers the Caribbean within global economic transformations. Some events this course covers are indigenous genocide, labor regimes, agrarian change, structural adjustment, economic and ecological crises, postcolonial debt, technology, current fragmentation of global neoliberalism. These events will help shape an appreciation for the material and socio-cultural understandings of economic phenomena starting from the plantation to the plot within cultural and literary works in pluralistic, productive, and powerful ways. [ more ]

Taught by: Keston Perry

Catalog details

ECON 203 LEC Gender and Economics

Last offered Spring 2021

This course uses economic analysis to explore how gender differences can lead to differences in economic outcomes, in both households and the labor market. Questions to be covered include: How does the family function as an economic unit? How do individuals allocate time between the labor market and the household? How have changes in family structure affected women's employment, and vice-versa? What are possible explanations for gender differences in labor force participation, occupational choice, and earnings? What is the role of government in addressing gender issues in the home and the workplace? How successful are government policies that primarily affect women (e.g., AFDC/TANF, parental leave, subsidization of child care)? The course will focus on the current experience of women in the United States, but will place these gender differences in a historical and cross-cultural context. [ more ]

Taught by: Lucie Schmidt

Catalog details

ECON 507 LEC Global Poverty and Economic Development

Last offered Spring 2023

Why are some nations rich while other nations are poor, and what can be done to end global poverty and promote shared prosperity? This course explores the historical determinants of global poverty and inequality, and analyzes the range of policy options available to promote economic development and equalize opportunities. Drawing on research in development economics, development studies, political science, and anthropology, we seek to understand the factors that shaped the global economy and contributed to the cross-country income disparities observed today. In addition, we'll use the tools of modern empirical microeconomics to assess the possibilities for eliminating global poverty and underdevelopment in the future. Undergraduate students will receive 200-level credit and should not register at the 500-level. [ more ]

ECON 205(F) SEM Public Economics

This course examines the role of the government in the economy. We consider three broad issues: When should governments intervene in the economy? What is the most effective form of intervention? What effects do government policies have on incentives and behavior? In addition to a theoretical perspective, we will discuss particular government spending programs in the United States, including Social Security, various types of publicly-provided insurance, spending on education, and public assistance for the poor. Finally, we will study how the government raises revenue through taxation. We will discuss the principles that guide tax design and consider the effects of the tax code on behavior. [ more ]

ECON 209 LEC Labor Economics and Policy

Last offered Spring 2018

Employment--finding it (or looking for but not finding it), its compensation, and the conditions under which it occurs--is a key concern for most residents of advanced economies throughout their adult lives. Work is the main source of income for the vast majority of working-age adults in these economies, and work-related issues and policies reliably top national policy agendas. Labor economics is the study of these issues--how the level and distribution of skills, wages, employment, and income are determined in the market for labor and how various policies affect this market and its outcomes. In this course we will apply the tools of microeconomics to analyze labor force participation, the allocation of time to market work, migration, labor demand, investment in human capital (education and on-the-job training), discrimination, unions and unemployment. We will also examine the impact of government programs and mandates such as employment-based tax credits, unemployment insurance, antipoverty programs, and minimum wages on the labor market. We will devote particular attention to topics of current U.S. policy interest, including immigration, income inequality, and education. [ more ]

ECON 212 SEM Markets And Morals

Last offered Fall 2018

What are the moral foundations necessary to support a free market economy? Does capitalism need a moral base--and if so, does the operation of a market economy erode the moral and ethical foundations on which it rests? We read Adam Smith, Mill, Keynes, Galbraith and other neoclassical philosophers writing about the social fabric that holds an atomistic free market political economy together, with particular emphasis on Smith's "other book"--Theory of Moral Sentiments--as an argument for limits to self-interested behavior inherent in human nature. (What is the sound of one Invisible Hand clapping?) We test our own articulated moral and political values against the existing political economy of Western democracies with help from more contemporary authors like Amartya Sen, Kenneth Boulding and Robert Kuttner. We will examine in depth the market for carbon offsets as a case study for the evaluation of the ethical validity of market-based solutions to climate problems. Students will write final papers on how well selected aspects of free market economies (organization of production, distribution of resources, mechanisms of inheritance, taxation) measure up to their own stated sense of justice--and how we might reform or perfect markets to align better with our morals. [ more ]

ECON 213(S) LEC Introduction to Environmental and Natural Resource Economics

We'll use economics to examine why we harm the environment and overuse natural resources, and what we can do about it. We'll study cost benefit analysis, pollution in general, climate change, environmental justice, natural resources (like fisheries, forests, and fossil fuels), and energy. We'll talk about how economists put a dollar value on nature and ecosystem services (as well as human health and life!), and the concerns involved in doing so. We will take an economic approach to global sustainability, and study the relationship between the environment and economic growth. Consideration of justice and equity will be woven throughout the whole semester. [ more ]

ECON 214 TUT The Economics and Ethics of CO2 Offsets

Last offered Fall 2022

Some electric utilities and other CO2 emission polluters are allowed to purchase carbon offsets to achieve a portion of their mandated emissions cuts, in effect, to pay others to reduce carbon emissions in their stead. Some individuals, college and universities, and for-profit and non-profit institutions have chosen voluntarily to purchase carbon offsets as a way of reducing their carbon footprint. But do offsets actually succeed in reducing carbon emissions? What separates a legitimate offset from one that is not? How should we measure the true impact of an offset? How do carbon offsets compare to other policies for reducing carbon emissions in terms of efficiency, equity, and justice? Is there something inherently wrong about "commodifying" the atmosphere? Is there something inherently wrong about selling or buying the right to pollute? Should colleges and universities be using the purchase of offsets to achieve "carbon neutrality?" [ more ]

Taught by: Ralph Bradburd

Catalog details

ECON 215(F) LEC Globalization

This course will examine the causes and consequences of globalization. This includes studying topics such as trade, immigration, foreign direct investment, and offshoring. The impact of these forms of globalization on welfare, wages, employment, and inequality will be a focal point. Throughout we will rely on economic principles, models, and empirical tools to explain and examine these contentious issues. [ more ]

ECON 216(S) TUT Global Crises and Socio-Economic Policies

Socio-economic policies (health, education, welfare, jobs) that respond to global crises have evolved over the past four decades. For most of the last century, macroeconomic priorities in developing countries constrained the potential of these policies during crisis periods when governments faced pressure to cut public spending, with adverse consequences for the most vulnerable. However, over the past two decades, developing country governments have increasingly integrated health, education, welfare and employment policies to counter shocks and build economic resilience. These more comprehensive responses proved vital during the COVID-19 crisis's cascading series of epidemiological, economic, social, and political shocks, as public health measures created severe livelihoods disasters for the most vulnerable. In this respect, COVID-19 serves as a harbinger of the future shocks that climate change threatens. This tutorial will focus on how developing country governments can build bridges across vital policy sectors--particularly health, education, welfare and employment--and link these to other economic interventions in order to better tackle future global crises. Building on a historical analysis, the course will examine the path-breaking examples of many developing countries' bold responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, the resulting fiscal challenges, and the lessons these offer for future crises including those resulting from climate change. The course will conclude with a forward-looking exercise, examining the role of integrated health, education, welfare and employment policies in better enabling developmental responses to both climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies. This will include an exploration of the emerging work across the global South on a Just Transition to green and sustainable development, which aims to optimally integrate climate, development and equity strategies. [ more ]

ECON 217 LEC The Economics of National Defense

Last offered Fall 2021

National defense is one of the largest components of the US Federal Budget (~15%) and remains a significant part of the nation's GDP (~3%). The study of defense economics in this course will apply principles of microeconomics and macroeconomics to analyze, within the context of national security strategy and policy, issues concerning resource allocation in wartime and peacetime, labor supply and demand, industrial organization and defense acquisition, and the formation and maintenance of alliances. While the focus of the course will be on economics, to provide context on what makes defense economics a special topic, we will also consider questions unique to the military such as how to deter conflict, how to fight wars, how to provide humanitarian assistance and protection to civilians in conflict or disaster areas, and how the national defense may adapt to issues like climate change. We will also consider historical examples from America's wars--e.g., the Civil War, World War 2, Vietnam, and the more recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. The plan is to use a variety of sources--academic materials, popular media such as news footage and films, and guest speakers--to provide a full-range of perspective on the course topics. [ more ]

ECON 218(F) SEM Capital and Coercion

Capital, tradable ownership shares in long-lived corporations, invented in the 17th century, has connected people of different races, religions, and geographies. There are huge profits from such economic interactions, but also risks: of being cheated, deceived, or coerced. This course uses insights from the economics of incentives (principal-agent models, contracts, mechanism design) to investigate the interplay between capital, coercion, and resistance. The role of prejudice will be central, as will the rise of middlemen as enforcers of coercion. Case studies span the 17th century to the 20th and include: the spice trade and conflict in the Indian Ocean, capital markets and fraud in Amsterdam and London, the Atlantic trade in enslaved people, the Dutch "cultivation system" in Java, the slow end of slavery in Brazil, and colonial control and independence in Kenya. Required readings for this class will include primary historical sources, and even excerpts from autobiographical novels! [ more ]

ECON 219 TUT Global Economic History

Last offered Fall 2016

Why did Western Europe--and not China, India, or the Middle East--first experience the Industrial Revolution? Why did Latin America fall behind in the 20th century, while Japan and eventually China boomed? What explains the historical success of the US economy? And why has African economic growth been relatively slow for so long? These and other questions will guide our exploration of global economic development over the past several millennia. We will draw on micro and macroeconomic theory to help explain and interpret the historical roots of the modern global economy. Our focus will be broadly comparative across space and time, with an emphasis on how institutions, resource endowments, culture, technology, and market developments help explain economic differences and change around the world. Throughout the course, we will draw on micro and macroeconomic theories and concepts to help explain and interpret the historical roots of modern global economy. [ more ]

ECON 220 LEC We Hold These Truths: Growth, Change, and Struggle in American Economic History

Last offered Fall 2022

This course examines the growth and development of the American economy from the colonial era to today. The emphasis will be on the use of economic theory and quantitative evidence to explore key questions and themes in U.S. history. While we will study the key drivers of longer-term American economic success, we will also concentrate on the experiences of those marginalized, coerced, or otherwise oppressed over this history. Topics may include some or all of the following: the development of colonial markets, the economics of the U.S. Constitution, Native Americans in the American economy, slavery and racial inequality, immigration, innovation, industrialization, government regulation and policymaking, the Great Depression, the changing roles of women in the U.S. economy, post-World War II growth, the construction of the social safety net, and the place of the United States in the modern global economy. Comparisons will be made to European and non-European experiences when appropriate. [ more ]

ECON 222 LEC Economics of the Arts and Culture

Last offered Spring 2015

What economic forces influence the creation, presentation, preservation and ownership of art and culture? Should support for the arts be provided through private patronage, private philanthropy, or public sector support? How does the mechanism of support for art affect the productivity and creativity of the artist? Does art make a good investment for an individual? How do art markets function and what determines the price of art? Why do some art museums and performing arts organizations require donations and public support and operate as non-profit enterprises, while other types of culture production and preservation operate as for-profit enterprise? What are the impacts on economic vitality and local economic development of cultural and arts organizations? When these impacts arise, how can (or should) they be used for public policy? This course will use the tools of economic analysis to present a framework for discussion and analysis of these and related questions. [ more ]

ECON 227(F) SEM Acquiring Art: Selecting and Purchasing Objects For WCMA

How do museums acquire art? Factors considered in selecting objects include: the museum's existing collection, its mission, the availability of suitable objects, evaluation of the art historical importance of potential purchases, and the available budget. How can objects be identified and obtained at the most reasonable cost? How do auctions work and what strategies are best for purchasing works at auction? Is it more economical to purchase art at auction or to work with dealers or (for contemporary works) directly with artists? Do museums consider value in the same way as private collectors? What role does an object's history and condition play in the evaluation process? In this course students will work as teams to identify and propose objects for addition to the collection of the Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA). A significant budget will be made available for the acquisition. We will discuss approaches for identification, acquisition and evaluation of objects. Student teams will be responsible for identifying a set of objects that would make appropriate additions to the WCMA collection, and a strategy for acquiring one or more of those objects. Working with the advice of WCMA curatorial staff, one or more of these objects will be acquired using the agreed strategy, and the object will become part of the WCMA permanent collection. Graduate students will participate in all aspects of the class but may be required to undertake different assignments. [ more ]

ECON 228 TUT Water as a Scarce Resource

Last offered Fall 2017

For a variety of reasons including environmental pollution, urbanization, changing agricultural techniques, resource mismanagement, and the consequences of climate change, water is becoming a scarce resource even in places where it was relatively plentiful in the past, and it is likely to become an increasingly scarce resource over the coming decades. In this course we will use basic economic models to consider policy issues relating to water: Is access to water a basic human right, and if so, what market and non-market mechanisms should play a role in water allocation? Does public ownership of water improve the way it is provided and used? Why do societies differ in their approaches to allocating water and are some systems better than others? What does it mean to have a property right to water? Could private property rights to water help address the water pollution problem? How can societies change their water-related property rights, regulations and social institutions when individuals have implicit or explicit rights to the institutional status quo? Who has the right to water that crosses international boundaries? How should societies allocate water across generations? [ more ]

ECON 229 LEC Law and Economics

Last offered Spring 2019

This course applies the tools of microeconomic analysis to private (i.e., civil) law. This analysis has both positive and normative aspects. The positive aspects deal with how individuals respond to the incentives created by the legal system. Examples include: how intellectual property law encourages the creation of knowledge while simultaneously restricting the dissemination of intellectual property; how tort law motivates doctors to avoid malpractice suits; and how contract law facilitates agreements. The normative aspects of the analysis ask whether legal rules enhance economic efficiency (or, more broadly, social welfare). Examples include: what legal rules are most appropriate for mitigating pollution, ensuring safe driving, and guaranteeing workplace safety? The course will also cover the economics of legal systems; for example, what are the incentives for plaintiffs to initiate lawsuits and what role do lawyers play in determining outcomes. The course will also consider potential reforms of the legal system. [ more ]

ECON 230(S) LEC The Economics of Health and Health Care

What is health? How do we improve it? Health is an essential component of individual well-being and a fundamental input to a productive economy, making its production a societal priority, as well as an individual one. This course examines the economics of the supply and demand for health through applied microeconomic analysis. The course focuses on three broad areas: the inputs to health and the demand for health care; the structure and functioning of health care markets and the roles of key institutions; and the role of public policy in furthering individual and population health. Special attention will be devoted to topics of current policy interest, including health disparities, problems of health care costs and cost containment, health insurance reform and the Affordable Care Act, the role of public health interventions, and drug development and regulation. [ more ]

ECON 231(S) LEC The Economics of Inequality

There are many outcomes in the United States that show profound levels of inequality: education, earnings, wealth, housing, environmental health, and life expectancy, just to name a few. This course examines the economic forces that drive and/or explain these inequalities in the U.S. The beginning of the course covers definitions and economic techniques used to measure income and wealth inequality, as well as differences between perceived and actual inequalities. We then move on to the theoretical underpinnings of the rise of domestic economic inequality, as well as models and theories of discrimination. Finally, we will explore how economic inequalities carry over into health, housing, and environmental quality through policies or social mechanisms. We will discuss and investigate the following questions and more: How are skill and education related to income? How do income and health interact, and which causes the other? How is the level of economic inequality in the country perceived? Which historic policies have led to specific inequalities, and was the inequality an intentional or inadvertent outcome? What have other countries done differently, and how does what the U.S. has done compare in terms of disparities? What exactly is discrimination, and what are the cumulative effects of it in the labor market and health outcomes? [ more ]

ECON 232(F) LEC Financial Markets, Institutions and Policies

The focus of the course will be on how firms, financial markets, and central banks interact in the economy. Key questions addressed in the course include: How do firms allocate their resources to enhance their value? How are firms evaluated by the financial markets? How are asset prices determined, and how are these prices related to interest rates? Are financial markets efficient, and what are the implications of their efficiency or lack thereof? How does the financial system help with the management of risks faced by society? We will also study the role of the central bank (the Federal Reserve in the US), monetary policy, and government regulation and their impacts on financial decision making. Key questions include: How do central banks set monetary policy and how do those policies affect the economy and the financial decision-making process? How does monetary policy change when interest rates are (virtually) zero? [ more ]

ECON 233(F) LEC Behavioral Economics and Public Policy

In many ways, the fields of psychology and economics both study the same phenomena: the motives that guide our decision-making across different contexts. This course provides a survey of the ways in which these two fields intersect, i.e., behavioral economics. Topics include how individual responses to economic incentives can be influenced by heuristics, framing, social norms, and other psychological motives; we will also study how these concepts are incorporated into microeconomics models. Concurrently, the course will review applications of these ideas to public policy and firm strategy. For instance, we will examine how behavioral economics has informed efforts to reduce poverty, increase environmental conservation, encourage long-term financial planning, and improve health and diet outcomes, among many other topics. The course will also discuss whether and how we ought to judge which behaviors are socially desirable and worth encouraging through policy. [ more ]

ECON 235 LEC Urban Centers and Urban Systems

Last offered Spring 2001

Cities, systems of cities, and the interactions between cities are the outcome of human decisions and reflect their social structure and desire for interaction. The form of these urban areas is determined by the choices made by the people who reside in, work in, and travel between cities. Economic forces influence and constrain these choices, and economic models of decision-making can help us to explain and predict the patterns that result. These models help us to comprehend the structure of urban areas. This course will introduce the ideas and some of the analytic tools that assist in understanding the economic foundations of urban centers and urban systems. Topics addressed in the course will include the determinants of land use, location of firms, choice of transportation mode, flows of capital investment into real estate, housing prices and housing availability and regulation of housing markets, movement of population from one city to another, and public policies designed to deal with urban problems. [ more ]

ECON 238 LEC Sustainable Economic Growth

Last offered Fall 2021

Is it possible to have infinite economic growth on a finite planet? This question has sparked a great deal of inquiry across the social sciences. Some argue that we need to slow or even end economic growth to prevent environmental catastrophe. Others argue that market forces, especially changing prices and improved technology, will ensure that growth can continue unabated without significant negative consequences. Still others argue that government intervention is necessary to limit negative consequences of economic progress, but that effective interventions are still compatible with sustained economic growth. In this class, we will explore the insights that economics has to offer on this important question. We will start by considering the importance of finite inputs used in production, including fossil fuels, minerals, and land, among others. Then, we will consider whether undesirable byproducts of economic growth will prevent sustained growth. This second part of class will place a lot of emphasis on climate change. Throughout the class, we will pay special attention to the role that government intervention can or cannot play in promoting sustainable economic growth. This class will reinforce important concepts taught in introductory microeconomics and introductory macroeconomics. [ more ]

ECON 240 TUT Colonialism and Underdevelopment in South Asia

Last offered Spring 2023

British colonial rule in South Asia shaped economy and society in fundamental ways. As resistance to colonial rule emerged in the late nineteenth century, "nationalist" writers developed a critique of its economic impact via taxation, fiscal policy, trade, and many other policies. In their turn, supporters of British rule, "apologists," argued that British rule had laid the foundations of economic growth by securing property rights, enforcing contracts, and developing infrastructure. The debate between "nationalists" and "apologists" has never quite ended, but after the recent growth of the Indian economy it has lost some of its emotional charge. We will use this opportunity to revisit the controversy. [ more ]

ECON 251(F, S) LEC Price and Allocation Theory

A study of the determination of relative prices and their importance in shaping the allocation of resources and the distribution of income. Subjects include: behavior of households in a variety of settings, such as buying goods and services, saving, and labor supply; behavior of firms in various kinds of markets; results of competitive and noncompetitive markets in goods, labor, land, and capital; market failure; government policies as sources of and responses to market failure; welfare criteria; limitations of mainstream analysis. [ more ]

ECON 252(F, S) LEC Macroeconomics

A study of aggregate economic activity: output, employment, inflation, and interest rates. The class will develop a theoretical framework for analyzing economic growth and business cycles. The theory will be used to evaluate policies designed to promote growth and stability, and to understand economic developments in the U.S. and abroad. Instructors may use elementary calculus in assigned readings, exams and lectures. [ more ]

ECON 255(F, S) LEC Econometrics

An introduction to the theory and practice of applied quantitative economic analysis. This course familiarizes students with the strengths and weaknesses of the basic empirical methods used by economists to evaluate economic theory against economic data. Emphasizes both the statistical foundations of regression techniques and the practical application of those techniques in empirical research, with a focus on understanding when a causal interpretation is warranted. Computer exercises will provide experience in using the empirical methods, but no previous computer experience is expected. Highly recommended for students considering graduate training in economics or public policy. [ more ]

ECON 257(S) LEC Economic Perspectives on Racial Inequality

This course will examine the causes and consequences of racial disparities in economic outcomes. Specific topics will include the determinants and consequences of racial differences in earnings and human capital; formal models of taste-based and statistical discrimination; racial segregation in neighborhoods and schools; the economic history of slavery, Reconstruction and the Civil Rights Movement; and the structure and efficacy of government anti-discrimination policies. Much of the course will focus on racial discrimination faced by African Americans specifically, but there will also be coverage of other racial and ethnic minority groups. The course will additionally focus almost exclusively on the US, although many of the theories and techniques we will develop are applicable to other contexts as well. The course will utilize basic microeconomic tools, such as straightforward extensions of the supply and demand model, and ECON 110 is a prerequisite. We will also make extensive use of descriptive statistics, and an introductory statistics course such as STAT 161 will be useful, but is not required. [ more ]

Taught by: TBA

Catalog details

ECON 297(F) IND Independent Study: Economics

Students are invited to apply to undertake independent study on subjects of their own choosing. Interested students should consult with a faculty member about designing an appropriate project well in advance of fall registration. [ more ]

ECON 298(S) IND Independent Study: Economics

Students are invited to apply to undertake independent study on subjects of their own choosing. Interested students should consult with a faculty member about designing an appropriate project well in advance of spring registration. [ more ]

ECON 299(F) SEM Economic Liberalism and Its Critics

Economic liberalism holds that society is better off if people enjoy economic freedom. Its critics point to what they believe this position ignores or what it wrongly assumes, and hence, how it would make bad policy. This course explores the relationship between politics and economics by surveying influential works of political economy. Its first part examines major thinkers in relation to the historical development of capitalism in Western Europe and the United States: the classical liberalism of Adam Smith, Karl Marx's revolutionary socialism, and the reformist ideas of John Maynard Keynes. The second part considers mid-20th-century writers who revise and critique economic liberalism from a variety of perspectives, including Joseph Schumpeter, Friedrich Hayek, Milton Friedman, Ronald Coase, Arthur Okun, and Albert O. Hirschman. The third part surveys significant topics relevant to the themes of the course, with applications to current public policy issues, such as: power relations and autonomy in the workplace; asymmetric information and social insurance; economic inequality and distributive justice; equality of opportunity; the economics of health care; positional goods and the moral foundations of capitalism; social media and addiction; economic nationalism; behavioral economics; climate change and intergenerational equity; finance and financial crises; and rent-seeking. The combination of the historical focus of the early part of the course with discussion of modern policy issues and debates in the latter part of the course permits you to appreciate the ongoing dialogue between classical and contemporary views of political economy. [ more ]

ECON 508(S) TUT Skills for a Modern Economy and How to Pay for Them

Skills are a major driver of economic growth. The skills gap between rich and poor countries explains many of their income differences. The skills gap is a determinant of structural change, the process by which economies grow certain sectors (like manufacturing and services) and shrink others (like agriculture) in the process of achieving high-income country status and reducing poverty. The skills gap both affects and is affected by every other aspect of the economy: agricultural productivity, health, poverty rates, and fiscal capacity. This course will examine the economic policies that are essential for nations to upgrade the skills of their workforce, including the fiscal policies to finance those investments. The course will also explore complementary economic policies--in areas from labor markets to agriculture to healthcare--that allow maximum returns to skills investments. [ more ]

Taught by: David Evans

Catalog details

ECON 545 SEM Growth Diagnostics

Last offered Spring 2023

Evidence from across the developing world suggests that the "binding constraints" to economic growth can be remarkably heterogeneous--i.e., the growth potential of stagnating or underperforming economies may be unlocked in a large variety of ways. For instance, pre-reform China had been constrained by poor supply incentives in agriculture, whereas Brazil has been held back by an inadequate supply of credit, South Africa by poor employment incentives in manufacturing, El Salvador by insufficient production incentives in tradables, Zimbabwe by bad governance, and so forth. How can developing-country policymakers determine country-specific constraints like these, thus enabling them to pragmatically pursue a selected set of growth-promoting policies rather than attempting to implement a "laundry list" of reforms that are naively based on "best practice" rules-of-thumb? This course will serve as a primer on "growth diagnostics," an empirically-driven analytical framework for identifying the most binding constraints to economic growth in a given country at a point in time, thereby allowing policymakers to develop well-targeted reforms for relaxing these constraints while being cognizant of the nation's prevailing economic, political, and social context. The course will first build on the basic theories and empirics of economic growth to elucidate the diagnostic framework and will then employ a wide range of country-specific case studies to demonstrate how the framework can be operationalized for policy making. Throughout the semester, students will be required to work in groups, each representing a given developing or emerging-market economy, in order to build a growth diagnostic for their group's assigned country by the end of the course. [ more ]

ECON 548 LEC Human Capital and Development

Last offered Spring 2023

Children around the world face unequal opportunities to attend school, and to learn. This course will introduce students to economic studies of education, focusing on pre-school through high school. The course will mainly cover research in low-income and middle-income countries, but will also discuss connections to policy debates in the United States and elsewhere. Topics will include the importance of early-life conditions and investments; the connections between health and education; the roles of information, incentives, inputs, and technology; research methods; and decisions between policy options. Students in this course will analyze data themselves, and will critically read published research. [ more ]

ECON 351 LEC Tax Policy

Last offered Fall 2009

The tax system is a major element of public policy. In addition to raising revenue for government expenditure programs, policymakers use the tax system to redistribute resources and to promote a variety of economic policies. For example, the United States tax system has specific rules to encourage savings, education, and investment. Inherently, many tax policy choices involve trade-offs between equity and efficiency. The purpose of this course is to clarify the goals and possibilities of tax policy, mainly through an examination of U.S. federal tax policy (though the search for possible reforms may lead us to examine policies from other countries). The course will examine the choice of the tax base (income or consumption), notations of fairness in taxation (e.g., the rate structure), the choice to tax corporate income separately from personal income, and a variety of specific tax policy issues (e.g., retirement saving, child care, the "marriage" tax, capital gains taxation, and the taxation of housing). [ more ]

ECON 510(S) LEC Financial Development and Regulation

This course focuses on the financial system in developing countries and its role in economic development and stability. From both theoretical and applied perspectives, we will investigate the implications of financial development on economic development & growth, income inequality, and short-term fluctuations. We will also explore the dynamics that shape the institutions of a society's financial structure and study the complexities of financial policy design. Throughout the course, a variety of tools of modern economics will be considered, such as theory-based quantitative structural methods, reduced form empirics, and field experiments, and we will study the consequences of finance on economic well-being. The first part of the course focuses on the functions of finance, how it contributes to growth and poverty alleviation, and what can be done to increase financial inclusion. What are the key parts of the infrastructure that are needed to improve access to financial services, including via 'fintech,' which is taking off in many developing countries? The second part of the course will build upon the first part and investigate how imperfections in financial development could make developing countries susceptible to short-term stability issues. A key focus of the second part will be how to prevent or minimize crises, and we will analyze the government's role as regulator, supervisor, standard setter, contract enforcer, and owner. [ more ]

ECON 353 LEC Mathematical Economics

Last offered Fall 2017

This course integrates economics at the intermediate level with the tools of mathematics. Topics such as univariate and multivariate calculus will be reviewed or introduced in the context of how these mathematical concepts enhance economic analysis. The combination of economic and mathematical analysis will provide a strong foundation for thesis writing and advanced study of economic theory. [ more ]

ECON 355 LEC Financial Crises, Credit Cycles, and Macroeconomic Policies

Last offered Fall 2022

This course examines macroprudential policies which aim to mitigate systemic risk to the financial system. We will discuss several instances of financial crises and the conditions leading up to these episodes. Particular focus will be placed on recent research into current macroprudential policies and their implications for financial stability. Topics to be covered include: the concept of cycles in macroeconomics, business and credit cycle measurement, co-movement between economic aggregates, domestic and international policies targeting financial stability, and the effect of these policies on financial markets and the real economy. [ more ]

Taught by: Andrew Hessler

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ECON 513 SEM Empirical Methods in Macroeconomics

Last offered Spring 2018

Macroeconomics and related fields in international finance and macro development have evolved specialized empirical techniques, known generally as macroeconometrics, which are designed to meet the practical challenges that the data and the empirical questions pose in these fields. The course will introduce the theory and application of these techniques, and students will learn how to implement these techniques using real world data to address practical questions drawn from the field of macro development The course is also available to undergraduates with permission of the instructor. However, in lieu of Econ 356, undergraduates with good quantitative skills are encouraged to take Econ 371, which will cover a broader range of topics in greater depth. [ more ]

ECON 357 TUT The Economics of Higher Education

Last offered Fall 2022

This tutorial will utilize economic theory and econometric methods to understand a variety of issues pertaining to the economics of colleges and universities. In particular, we'll discuss the logic of non-profit enterprises, the financial structure of a college or university, competition in the market for higher education, policies impacting tuition and financial aid, the individual and societal returns from investments in higher education, and the distinctive features of academic labor markets. Particular attention will be paid to selective liberal arts colleges. [ more ]

ECON 515(S) SEM Developing Country Macroeconomics II: Institutions and Policy Regimes

Developing countries must confront a number of macroeconomic challenges that industrialized countries do not have to contend with: exchange rate volatility, large capital flows and commodity price fluctuations, for example. Building on ECON 505, this course examines these issues from both theoretical and empirical standpoints. The focus will be on the design of monetary, fiscal and exchange rate policies and institutions to enhance macroeconomic stability, and create an environment conducive to growth. [ more ]

ECON 360(F) LEC Monetary Economics

This course covers a range of theoretical and applied issues bearing on monetary policy as conducted in the U.S. and abroad. Topics to be covered include: the causes of inflation, how central banks manage interest rates, the channels through which monetary policy affects the economy, and the costs and benefits of imposing rules on the conduct of policy. The class will also touch on a number of current issues facing central banks, such as unconventional monetary policy and cryptocurrencies. [ more ]

ECON 362 LEC Global Competitive Strategies

Last offered Spring 2022

Econ 362 acknowledges both the importance of large, diversified multinational firms in global economic activity, and the forms of strategic thinking that often displace, in practice, the optimization models of traditional economic analysis. In this course, we seek to describe competition in global markets by developing competence in decoding and critiquing (and even formulating) varieties of business and corporate strategies employed during the past forty years. While we treat a variety of theoretical models that seek or have sought to explain patterns of international economic activity, our priority is to ascertain their descriptive integrity and usefulness today. Our historical interest begins with mercantilism and covers Smith, comparative advantage, varieties of factor endowment theories, and much more, proceeding to strategic management perspectives and contributions of the 20th and early 21st century. We complete these efforts with a few original attempts to reconcile modern growth theory (e.g., Romer) with modern strategic practice (e.g., Porter). Further, substantial recent shifts in the nature of globalized economic activity, including the changing relative mobility and power of capital and labor, are examined. While the course is largely descriptive, it cannot fail to treat a few normative issues. We treat the efficacy of various government policies in promoting the competitiveness of home-based industries in regional and global markets. Finally, welfare propositions and policy ideas for addressing welfare impacts in a descriptively accurate context are advanced. [ more ]

Taught by: Michael Fortunato

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ECON 364(F) LEC Theory of Asset Pricing

What is the price of time? What is the price of risk? How do markets allocate resources across time and uncertain states of the world? This course theoretically studies how markets allocate scarce resource across time and when outcomes are risky. The "goods" in such markets are called "assets" and the prices of "assets" determine the cost of trading resources across time and across uncertain states of the world. We theoretically investigate how equilibrium determines the price of time, then asset price implications; then asset allocations and prices in the presence of risk; finally, implications for new assets. [ more ]

ECON 516(S) SEM International Trade and Development

This course will examine the causes and consequences of globalization and its implications for less-developed countries. We will study the classic models of international trade and discuss the empirical relevance of these theories. In addition, we will focus on other dimensions of globalization that are of particular importance to developing countries such as trade and education, emigration, brain drain, remittances, foreign direct investment, trade policies, infant industry protection, trade and growth, the resource course, and trade agreements. [ more ]

ECON 367(S) LEC The Political Economy of Social Insurance

The Great Society policies of the 1960s dramatically changed the ways people living in poverty interacted with the federal government, but the benefits associated with these policies seem to have stagnated. Since 1965, the annual poverty rate in the United States has hovered between 10% and 15%, though far more than 15% of Americans experience poverty at some point in their lives. In this course, we will study public policies that, explicitly or implicitly, have as a goal improving the well-being of the poor in the United States. These policies include social insurance programs such as Unemployment Insurance; safety net programs such as Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Medicaid, and housing assistance; education programs such as Head Start and public education; and parts of the tax code, including the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit. We will explore the design and function of these programs, with a particular focus on the context in which they were developed. What political incentives and constraints have strung up our social safety net? How do these factors affect the goals of policy, the trade-offs inherent to the policy's design, and why poverty has not sustained a downward trend in the United States? Through careful consideration, students will learn how to communicate a path forward for public policy which accounts for theoretical economic expectations and the reality of political constraints in policy design. [ more ]

ECON 368 LEC Public Economics and Fiscal Policies

Last offered Fall 2022

The public sector is an important part of the economy. Its objectives are to increase efficiency by correcting market failures, redistribute to achieve a more equal distribution, conduct fiscal policies to stabilize the economy, and, in a broader sense, set the rules of the game. This course discusses the role of the government in the economy, the different ways it acts to solve market failures and redistribute, and the consequences of government actions and government failures. We will draw on a political economy perspective to discuss how the nature of government decision-making impacts these outcomes. The course takes a comparative perspective in discussing differences in addressing market failures and redistribution in more market-oriented economies - like the US - and in economies where the government plays a more active role - like the Nordic countries. The course will also give considerable attention to the structure of fiscal policies and how they are employed to stabilize the economy. [ more ]

Taught by: Asa Hansson

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ECON 570 Data Science for Economic Analysis

Last offered NA

The goal of data science is to use empirical information from a broad range of sources to improve our understanding of the world around us. Economists increasingly rely on the tools of data science to access novel sources of data and information, characterize the economic environment, and conduct empirical analysis. This course provides hands-on introduction to data science tools most relevant for economic analysis including data visualization, exploratory data analysis, and statistical learning. The objective of the course is to help students: (i) formulate economic research questions that can be explored using data science tools, (ii) identify sources of data and prepare data for analysis, (iii) produce persuasive visualizations, and (iv) analyze data using both classical statistics and machine learning. [ more ]

Taught by: TBA

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ECON 371(F) SEM Time Series Econometrics and Empirical Methods for Macro

Econometric methods in many fields including macro and monetary economics, finance and international growth and development, as well as numerous fields beyond economics, have evolved a distinct set of techniques which are designed to meet the practical challenges posed by the typical empirical questions and available time series data of these fields. The course will begin with an introductory review of concepts of estimation and inference for large data samples in the context of the challenges of multivariate endogeneous systems, and will then focus on associated methods for analysis of short dynamics such as vector autoregressive techniques and methods for analysis of long run dynamics such as cointegration techniques. Students will be introduced to concepts and techniques analytically, but also by intuition, learning by doing, and by computer simulation and illustration. The course is particularly well suited for economics majors wishing to explore advanced empirical methods, or for statistics, mathematics or computer science majors wishing to learn more about the ways in which the subject of their majors interacts with the fields of economics. The method of evaluation will include a term paper. ECON 252 and either STATS 346 or ECON 255 are formal prerequisites, although for students with exceptionally strong math/stats backgrounds these can be waived subject to instructor permission. Credit may not be earned for both ECON 371 and ECON 356. [ more ]

ECON 373 LEC The Economics of Immigration

Last offered Fall 2021

This course will explore migration across national borders from an economic perspective, with a focus on migration to the United States. Who migrates, and why? What are the impacts on the economies of the origin country and the destination country, and on migrants themselves? What policies shape immigration and enforcement of immigration law, and what are their impacts? What is the role of immigrants in the broader society? We will emphasize empirical analysis as a data-driven way of understanding the economics of immigration. [ more ]

ECON 374 TUT Poverty and Public Policy

Last offered Fall 2021

Since 1965, the annual poverty rate in the United States has hovered between 10% and 15%, though far more than 15% of Americans experience poverty at some point in their lives. In this course, we will study public policies that, explicitly or implicitly, have as a goal improving the well-being of the poor in this country. These policies include social insurance programs such as Unemployment Insurance; safety net programs such as Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Medicaid, and housing assistance; education programs such as Head Start and public education; and parts of the tax code including the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit. We will explore the design and functioning of these programs, focusing on questions economists typically ask when evaluating public policy such as: What are the goals of the policy and does the policy achieve them? Does the design of the policy lead to unintended effects (either good or bad)? What are the trade-offs inherent in the policy's design? Could the policy be redesigned to achieve its goals more effectively? Through in-depth study of these programs, students will learn how economists bring theoretical models and empirical evidence to bear on important questions of public policy. [ more ]

ECON 532(S) TUT Inclusive Growth and Crisis Response: The Role of Social Protection Systems

Over the past three decades, developing countries have increasingly expanded social protection systems to tackle poverty and vulnerability while promoting inclusive social development and equitable economic growth. These systems provide pro-poor policy instruments that can balance trade and labor market reforms, fiscal adjustments (such as reduced general subsidies) and other economic policies aimed at enabling better market performance. In addition, social protection systems help vulnerable people to cope with shocks to their livelihoods, promoting resilience, human capital development and sometimes high-return risk-taking. In times of crisis, these systems are more important than ever. From March to June 2020, the World Bank identified 195 countries that have adapted and expanded their social protection systems to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. This tutorial offers the opportunity to explore how shock-responsive social protection systems can better enable developing countries to respond to global and local shocks in a manner that minimizes the medium- to long-term costs of the resulting crises. The tutorial examines how developing countries build social protection systems to tackle poverty, vulnerability and social exclusion that result from global and local shocks. Topics include how the design and implementation of effective interventions both respond to crises and strengthen long-term developmental outcomes. The tutorial focuses on country responses to the COVID-19 pandemic as both a relevant case study and an example of the kinds of global crises to which national social protection systems must be able to respond in the future. [ more ]

ECON 376 LEC The Economics of Global Inequality

Last offered Fall 2020

This course focuses on the proximate and ultimate causes of global economic inequality across nations. Motivated by several stylized facts from cross-country data, we will pose a series of questions: Why are some countries so rich while others remain so poor? What explains heterogeneity in the experience of economic growth across nations, with some growing at a moderate pace over long periods of time, others experiencing rapid growth over shorter intervals, and yet others stagnating persistently? Do all economies face comparable challenges to achieving sustained economic growth? Will poorer countries ever catch up to richer ones? To answer these and other related questions, we will explore the underlying mechanisms of economic growth. What role is played by savings and investment (i.e., the accumulation of physical capital)? What is the influence of population growth? How important are investments in human capital (i.e., education and population health)? What about technological differences across nations? How much significance should we ascribe to cross-country differences in geographical characteristics? How much should we ascribe to differences in the quality of institutions? For each question, we will explore both theoretical and empirical approaches, ranging from formal models to qualitative historical evidence to cross-country growth regressions. We will debate the usefulness of these different approaches for development policy and will discuss the reasons why so many questions about global economic inequality remain difficult to answer. [ more ]

ECON 377(S) LEC Inspiration/Perspiration: The Economics of Innovation

From the iron plow, to the steam engine, to modern biotechnology, innovation drives economic growth and raises living standards. Whether we are talking about great inventions or small tweaks, the tools of economics can help us understand how new ideas, technologies, and products emerge, spread, and become obsolete. In this course, we will examine the creation of new knowledge, the translation of ideas and scientific advances into practical applications, and the adoption of new technologies by producers and consumers. We will study the incentives that potential innovators face, how these are affected by patents and other forms of intellectual property rights, how entrepreneurs finance and market their innovations and how different market structures can influence the resulting trajectory of innovation and adoption. We will also discuss how government policies can foster the financing and development of innovation. Throughout the course, we will explore historical and contemporary case studies of the creation, exploitation, and consequences of innovation. [ more ]

ECON 378 LEC Long-Run Comparative Development

Last offered Fall 2022

The world today is marred by vast disparities in the standard of living, with about a 30-fold difference in real GDP per capita between the poorest and most affluent of nations. What are the causes of such differences in prosperity across countries? Are the origins of global inequality to be found in underlying differences among societies over the past few decades, the past few centuries, or the past few millennia? If contemporary differences in living standards have such "deep" historical roots, what scope exists for policies to reduce global inequality today? Can we expect inequality to be reduced through some natural process of macroeconomic development, or is it likely to persist unless acted upon by policy? This course will present a unified theory of economic growth for thinking about these and related questions. Examples of issues to be covered include: the Neoclassical growth model and its inefficacy for answering questions about development over long time horizons; Malthusian stagnation across societies during the pre-industrial stage of economic development; the importance of the so-called demographic transition and of human capital formation in the course of industrialization; the persistent influence of colonialism, slavery, and ethnic fragmentation in shaping the quality of contemporary politico-economic institutions; and the enduring effects of geography on comparative development, through its impact on the emergence of agriculture in early human societies and its influence in shaping the composition of traits in populations across the globe. [ more ]

ECON 523(S) SEM Program Evaluation for International Development

Development organizations face strict competition for scarce resources. Both public and private organizations are under increasing pressure to use rigorous program evaluation in order to justify funding for their programs and to design more effective programs. This course is an introduction to evaluation methodology and the tools available to development practitioners, drawing on examples from developing countries. It will cover a wide range of evaluation techniques and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each. The course is a mix of applied econometrics and practical applications covering implementation, analysis, and interpretation. You will learn to be a critical reader of evaluations, and to develop your own plan to evaluate an existing program of your choice. [ more ]

ECON 519 LEC Population Economics

Last offered Spring 2021

This course is an introduction to the economic analysis of demographic behavior and the economic consequences of demographic change. An important aim is to familiarize students with historical and contemporary trends in fertility, mortality, migration, and family composition, and the implications of these trends for the economy. The course demonstrates the application of microeconomic theory to demographic behavior, including fertility, marriage, and migration. Students are introduced to basic techniques of demographic measurement and mathematical demography. Selected topics include the economic consequences of population growth in developing countries, the economics of fertility and female labor force participation, the effects of an older age structure on the social security system, and the relationship between population growth and natural resources. [ more ]

Taught by: Lucie Schmidt

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ECON 571(S) LEC Global Health Policy Challenges

Poor health is both a cause and a consequence of poverty. It can trap individuals in poverty and reduce aggregate economic growth. This course will be structured around major global health challenges, including maternal health, infectious diseases (e.g. HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, COVID), neglected tropical diseases (e.g malaria, dengue, Ebola), nutritional deficiencies, and mental health. We will focus primarily, but not exclusively, on health in low-income countries in this course. Students will read papers and conducted empirical assignments related to the various topics, as well as develop their own research idea during the semester related to one of the topics covered. [ more ]

ECON 382(F) TUT Gentrification and Neighborhood Change

While the phenomenon we call "gentrification" was first noted in the 1960s, these changes in urban neighborhoods have recently drawn increasing scrutiny and concern. Coming at a time of growing income inequality, the movement of higher income households into neighborhoods previously occupied by lower-income households has raised concerns about displacement, housing affordability, access to employment and other problems that may be associated with a gentrifying city. These problems may be further exacerbated by residential segregation and reduced support for public housing and transportation. This course will provide an opportunity to study these issues in depth. What, exactly, is gentrification? What do we know about the economic causes and consequences of gentrification and neighborhood change? How are these causes and consequences affected by growing income inequality and continued segregation in housing? What policy options might be pursued that could improve the well-being of existing and potential residents of the neighborhoods in US cities? [ more ]

ECON 383 LEC Cities, Regions and the Economy

Last offered Spring 2021

Cities and urbanization can have significant impacts on the economy. In many developed economies, a process of regional decline is associated with older, industrial cities. In developing countries, the process of economic growth is generally associated with increasing urbanization. Urbanization, with its increasing concentration of population and production, puts particular pressure on markets to allocate resources for provision of land, housing, transportation, labor and public goods. Urbanization can alter the productivity of land, labor, and capital in ways that can improve the welfare of residents and the performance of the broader economy. In this course we will examine these conflicting economic forces and examine some recent research that contributes to our understanding of the difference between regional growth and decline, and the role that the urban structure plays in these processes. We will examine the function of land, housing, transportation, and labor markets in the urban context, and the scope for public policies to improve the performance of the regional economy. [ more ]

ECON 384(S) LEC Corporate Finance

This course analyzes the major financial decisions facing firms. While the course takes the perspective of a manager making decisions about both what investments to undertake and how to finance these projects, it will emphasize the underlying economic models that are relevant for these decisions.Topics include capital budgeting, links between real and financial investments, capital structure choices, dividend policy, and firm valuation. Additional topics may include issues in corporate risk management, corporate governance and corporate restructuring, such as mergers and acquisitions. [ more ]

ECON 385(F) LEC Games and Information

This course is a mathematical introduction to strategic thinking and its applications. Ideas from game theory, including Nash equilibrium and its refinements, commitment and credibility, repeated games, and information asymmetries, incentive contracts, and signaling, will be introduced. Applications will be drawn from economics, history, and politics around the globe, and include topics such as: trust between strangers, corruption and fraud, racial bias, violence and deterrence. And we will explore how to write and recognize game-theory models to help make sense of strategic interactions in the world around us. [ more ]

Taught by: TBA

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ECON 518 SEM Environmental and Natural Resource Policy

Last offered Spring 2016

People all over the world depend on the environment and natural resources in countless ways, but human activities can degrade these resources in ways that reduce our wellbeing and that of future generations. In this class, we will use economics to reflect on how this harm comes about and how policy can help. The focus will be international, including developed and developing countries, and applied, building from examples of actual problems and policies. Economics brings useful tools to these conversations because we think carefully about modeling incentives, tradeoffs, and the (sometimes unexpected) consequences of our actions, and because of the empirical analysis on which modern economics relies. This class will primarily use microeconomics to understand how individuals, firms, and governments make decisions that affect the environment and resources, though some topics, like sustainable use of resources across generations and "green growth" measures, will be more macroeconomic in nature. Topics include pollution, climate change, cost benefit analysis, different ways of regulating environmental damage, renewable resources (e.g., forests) and nonrenewable resources (e.g., oil, land), the "natural resource curse," energy, and the relationship between economic growth and environmental quality. Throughout, we will think not only about efficiency of policies, but also about equity and justice, and about their practical applicability in contexts including developing countries. [ more ]

ECON 522 LEC Economics of Climate Change

Last offered Spring 2023

This course introduces the economic view of climate change, including both theory and empirical evidence. Given the substantial changes implied by the current stock of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere, we will begin by looking at impacts on agriculture, health, income, and migration. We will consider the distribution of climate damages across poor and wealthy people, both within and across countries. Next we will study adaptation, including capital investments and behavioral changes. We will examine the sources of climate change, especially electricity generation and transportation, and think about optimal policies. Throughout the course we will discuss the limits of the economic approach, pointing out normative questions on which economic theory provides little guidance. [ more ]

ECON 517 LEC Urbanization and Development

Last offered Spring 2014

At current rates of growth, the combined population of urban areas in developing countries will double in the next 30 years. The land area devoted to urban use is expected to double even more quickly. The costs of providing housing and infrastructure to accommodate this growth are enormous, but the costs of failing to accommodate urban development may be even larger. The decisions made in response to these challenges will affect the economic performance of these countries and the health and welfare of the urban residents. By affecting global patterns of energy use, these decisions will have broader impacts on the entire planet. This course will focus on these challenges. What are the economic forces that drive the process of urbanization, and how does the level of urbanization affect economic development? How are policies towards housing, transportation, public finance and development affected by urbanization? What policy choices are available, and which are most likely to succeed in dealing with the challenges of urban growth? [ more ]

ECON 514(S) SEM Tax Policy in Global Perspective

Government policy is important for economic development. To finance their policies, governments must build the fiscal capacity to implement a tax system. In turn, fiscal capacity--the ability for the government to raise revenue--depends on economic development. This endogeneity between fiscal capacity and economic development creates challenges for tax policy in developing countries. Given these challenges, what types of taxes should countries use to raise revenues? How can governments build the fiscal capacity to generate revenue to finance critical services? This class explores tax policy from a global and comparative perspective. Because most students will be CDE fellows, we will emphasize tax policy issues, examples, and evidence that are pertinent to developing countries. However, many tax policy lessons are universal so we will also learn about tax policies in developed countries, especially issues relevant for transnational transactions. Topics addressed include: how economic principles can be applied to the efficiency and equity consequences of tax policies; how personal income taxes, corporate income taxes, and value-added taxes are designed and administered and how they influence the economy; ideas for fundamental tax reforms; the debate over progressive taxes versus "flat" taxes; how taxes affect incentives to save and invest; how market failures and administrative problems may influence the optimality of tax policy; the implications of global capital flows and corporate tax avoidance for tax policy; tax holidays and other special tax incentives for investment; empirical evidence on the influence of taxes on foreign direct investment, labor supply, and tax evasion; tax policy towards natural resources such as minerals and oil; case studies of efforts to reform tax administration and reduce tax evasion and corruption; taxes on land and property; taxes on imports and exports; presumptive taxation; and the informal economy and its implications for tax policy. [ more ]

ECON 536 TUT Financial Crises: Causes and Cures

Last offered Spring 2019

Financial crises have been with us for as long as banking has existed. Why are crises such a regular fixture of societies, and what can be done to prevent them, or at least reduce their cost? Topics examined include bubbles and swindles, especially when these spillover to the broader macroeconomy; the role of information in banking in normal times and in bank runs; boom-bust cycles in asset markets; international contagion; crisis resolution techniques; and the extensive history of attempts to improve regulation so as to reduce the frequency and cost of crises. Crises in developing and developed economies from the South Sea Bubble to the Euro Crisis will be examined, and the role of political economy factors in their run-up and resolution will be featured. [ more ]

ECON 391 TUT Economic Analysis of Housing Markets

Last offered Fall 2016

Housing is one of the most basic of human needs and the housing market is one of the largest, most important and most heavily regulated markets in national economies around the world. At various times economists, policy makers and the general public have regarded the housing market as irrational and malfunctioning in a variety of ways. Why? In this tutorial we will explore and analyze the workings of the housing market. In what ways do housing markets differ from other markets? Why (and how often) do house price "bubbles" occur? How do mortgage markets function and influence housing markets in countries around the world? In what ways can housing and housing conditions serve as an indicator of quality of life? How do housing markets affect the sustainability of cities? These and other questions will be the focus of reading and discussion for the course. [ more ]

ECON 394(F, S) LEC European Economic History

Economic history directly informs our understanding of the processes of economic development. With this in mind, this course will explore a series of questions related to the economic development of Europe from the pre-modern period until today. What was economic life like in the Roman Empire and Medieval Europe? Why did modern economic growth first occur in Europe, and not in China or the Middle East? Why did the Industrial Revolution occur in Britain and not France? What was the role of colonialism in the acceleration of European growth? What explains the rise and fall of the Soviet economy? What are the causes and consequences of European economic integration since World War II?To answer these and other questions, we will investigate how institutional changes, the evolution of technology, aspects of globalization, and various forms of government intervention have impacted economic growth and living standards in European history, and how those developments have affected the rest of the world. Drawing on a wide variety of empirical and theoretical readings, the course will focus on how economic historians marshal evidence and construct arguments in ways that borrow from and contribute to other fields of economics. [ more ]

ECON 397(F) IND Independent Study: Economics (Advanced)

Students are invited to apply to undertake independent study on subjects of their own choosing. Interested students should consult with a faculty member about designing an appropriate project well in advance of fall registration. [ more ]

ECON 398(S) IND Independent Study: Economics (Advanced)

Students are invited to apply to undertake independent study on subjects of their own choosing. Interested students should consult with a faculty member about designing an appropriate project well in advance of spring registration. [ more ]

ECON 539(, S) TUT Debt Sustainability

The stock of government debt has skyrocketed in many countries. At the same time, interest rates have risen as global central banks have sought to tame inflation, generating concerns about the sustainability of public debt, especially in many lower-income and emerging market economies. What does fiscal/debt sustainability mean, and what are the implications of high public debt for growth and stability? How do the IMF and other institutions assess a country's public debt sustainability? How does uncertainty factor into these assessments, and what special considerations are relevant for natural resource exporters? How have governments sought to bring down high levels of debt, or to prevent excessive debt levels from arising in the first place? Do these approaches need to be modified to account for the impact of COVID on debt stocks? How will demographic developments and climate change affect debt sustainability? By addressing these questions, the course will seek a nuanced understanding of the role of public debt in the economy and its benefits and risks. [ more ]

ECON 451 SEM Topics in Economic Growth

Last offered Fall 2021

In this seminar, we will discuss some of the 'big questions' in macroeconomics, with a particular focus on economic growth. For example: Why are some countries richer than others? How does government intervention affect economic growth? Is it possible to have continued economic growth while avoiding dangerous levels of climatic change? Does inequality help or harm growth? How will automation and artificial intelligence affect growth, inequality, and unemployment? In addition to class discussions, students will complete an independent research project on a topic related to economic growth. [ more ]

ECON 452(S) LEC Foundations of Money, Credit, Banking, and FinTech

This course aims to address fundamental questions at the core of monetary and financial macroeconomics: what is money, and why is it an essential means for transactions? What is monetary policy, when does it become effective, and what should optimal monetary policy arrangements look like? How do financial markets and institutions interact with monetary policy? Throughout the course we will develop and solve rigorous general equilibrium macro models that feature money, financial markets, and institutions to address these questions. We will also connect the implications of the models with real world evidence. In the first part of the course, we will study the monetary policy transmission mechanisms and familiarize ourselves with the implications of rational expectations for monetary policy. We will build familiarity with discrete-time dynamic optimization techniques, develop and solve workhorse monetary DSGE (dynamic-stochastic general equilibrium) models, and explore the interactions between nominal variables (such as inflation and nominal interest rates) and real economic variables (such as output and unemployment) - over the business cycle and in the long-run. The second part of the course will extend the monetary macro models developed in the first part by incorporating foundations for credit, banking, and fintech to understand why the needs for these financial arrangements arise and how they interact with money and monetary policy. [ more ]

ECON 453(S) SEM Research and Methods in Applied Microeconomics

The main goal of this course is to expose students to modern empirical economic research. The basic format for each class session will be to read and discuss in detail a single academic journal article. Students will additionally submit short written responses on each of the assigned articles, and replicate the findings of several of the articles in Stata. Finally, students will write an original empirical paper as a final project on a topic of their choosing. The papers we read will come from several fields of applied microeconomics, including labor economics, health economics, public economics, and the economics of education. Some of the specific topics we will cover include human capital development and the effectiveness of early childhood interventions, the returns to college, the effects of neighborhoods on long term outcomes, gaps in labor market outcomes by race and gender, and evaluations of a range of public policies including the minimum wage, abortion access, and Medicaid. In addition to being interested in the actual findings of research on these topics, the course will introduce students to the key research methodologies used in modern applied microeconomics. In particular, the assigned readings are sequenced to systematically introduce students to the use of fixed effects, differences-in-differences, instrumental variables, regression discontinuity designs, and randomized controlled trials. The course will be as much about these methodologies as about the specific findings of the assigned readings, and the hope is that seeing these methods used in actual research will reinforce and build on the topics covered in Econ 255 (Econometrics). [ more ]

ECON 454(S) SEM Macroeconomic Perspectives on Labor Markets

This seminar will cover aggregate trends in the labor market from a macroeconomic perspective, along with the tools that economists use to study them. Students will learn basic search and matching models, as well as related empirical methods. We will read papers that employ a variety of survey and administrative data, and we will discuss what types of research questions are best answered by each data source. Potential topics include occupational mismatch, skill-biased technological change, and monopsony. [ more ]

ECON 455 SEM Research in Economic History: Sources, Methods, and Applications

Last offered Fall 2022

Historical approaches towards understanding current economic issues are increasingly in vogue. This course will explore new developments in the field of economic history, focusing on how economic historians use qualitative and quantitative evidence and the conceptual tools of economics to address questions of historical and current relevance. Along the way, we will consider works from both sides of the history - economics boundary, focusing on the ways that the two disciplines can and should borrow from one another. We will range widely across space and time, but some possible topics to be investigated include technological innovation, labor coercion, migration, trade and capital flows, colonialism, corporate governance, and political economy. Students are expected to not only read and analyze recent scholarship in economic history, but to also produce and present their own original research over the semester. [ more ]

ECON 456 SEM Income Distribution

Last offered Fall 2022

This course examines the distribution of income in the United States. Questions to be addressed may include the following: How have wage inequality and the skill premium evolved over time? What factors explain a rising skill premium? How does income differ with race and gender? How is poverty measured, and what are the factors associated with living in poverty? How do government programs change the distribution of income? How much income mobility is there across generations? Students will become more critical readers of current economic literature, and will apply their skills in conducting empirical research. [ more ]

ECON 457 SEM Public Economics Research Seminar

Last offered Spring 2017

In this class, students will learn how to read, critically evaluate, and begin to produce empirical research on important and interesting public policy questions. Topics will be selected from across the spectrum of public economics issues and may vary from year to year. Examples of specific topics that may be covered include education, environmental policy, taxation, income inequality, anti-poverty policy, health care policy, the economics of crime and corruption, and the implications of behavioral economics and psychology for public policy (we will typically only cover a subset of these topics). Applications will be drawn mostly from the United States but we will also consider some issues and evidence from other industrialized and developing countries. The course will especially emphasize the critical analysis of empirical evidence on public policy questions. [ more ]

ECON 458(S) TUT Economics of Risk

Risk and uncertainty are pervasive features of economic decisions and outcomes. Individuals face risk about health status and future job prospects. For a firm, developing new products is risky; furthermore, once a product has been developed, the firm faces product liability risk if it turns out to be unsafe. Investment decisions--from managing a portfolio to starting a business--are also fraught with uncertainty. Some risks are environmental--both manmade problems and natural disasters; other risks include the possibility of terrorist attack and, more locally, issues of campus safety. This tutorial explores both the private market responses to risk (e.g., financial markets, insurance markets, private contracting, and precautionary investments and saving) and government policies towards risk (e.g., regulation, taxation, and the legal system). From a theoretical standpoint, the course will build on expected utility theory, diversification, options valuation, principal-agent models, contract theory, and cost-benefit analysis. We will apply these tools to a wide variety of economic issues such as the ones listed above. One goal of the course is to discover common themes across the disparate topics. Students will be expected to read and synthesize a variety of approaches to risk and uncertainty and apply them to various issues. [ more ]

ECON 459(F) SEM Institutions and Development

Why are some societies rich and others poor? While typical answers emphasize proximate causes like factor accumulation (i.e., growth in physical and human capital), technological progress, and demographic change, the institutional approach highlights the role of social, political, and cultural factors, broadly defined, as fundamental determinants of economic prosperity. The central idea is that the value-added of economic activities to society is primarily conditioned by the social arrangements within which these activities occur -- namely, arrangements that generate a structure of private incentives, which can either promote behavior that is conducive to economic development or lead to the pursuit of private gain at the expense of the common good. Thus, the key to economic development in this approach is the emergence of complementary institutions and structures of governance in society. This course will survey the recent literature on the topic of institutions and economic development, with an emphasis on empirical evidence in the context of both historical and contemporary societies. The purpose of the course will be to expose students to the core ideas and empirical tools employed at the frontier of research in this area. The readings will primarily comprise published journal articles and unpublished working papers, and students should expect to apply concepts from across all the core courses in economics. [ more ]

ECON 460 SEM Women, Work, and the World Economy from 5,000 BC to the Present

Last offered Fall 2022

Now and throughout history, views of the appropriate role for women in society have varied tremendously across cultures and communities: are women autonomous productive agents, are they men's property, or do they fall somewhere in between? In this course, we explore the causes and consequences of women's position in society for growth and economic development, analyzing women's economic roles in historical and cultural perspective. Students will become more critical readers of current economic literature, and will apply their skills in conducting empirical research. [ more ]

ECON 462 SEM Topics in African Development

Last offered Spring 2023

This course will examine a selection of current issues in development economics with a specific emphasis on how they relate to Sub-Saharan Africa. Core topics to be addressed include agriculture, labor markets with a specific emphasis on south-south migration, credit, and land markets. Some specific questions that may be addressed include: How has agricultural productivity changed over time? What are constraints to improving agricultural productivity? What drives south-south migration? What are the impacts of migration on destination and origin communities? Students will critically read published journal articles (or working papers) and actively participate in class discussions. Students will also complete original empirical analysis on a related topic. [ more ]

ECON 463(F) SEM Financial History

What can we learn from financial history to understand the successes and failures of finance today and in coming years? This course opens with a brief survey of some of the major characteristics, issues, and challenges of financial systems today, and then examines earlier experience with these phenomena. Topics to be examined include: the role of credit and more generally finance in economic development historically, including in the financial revolutions from Northern Italy, the Netherlands, Britain and the US; the evolution of money, from stones or cigarettes to digital currencies; the relationship between finance and government, and the extent to which it has changed over time; lessons from early asset bubbles and more recent crises (including that of 2008-09) for modern financial systems; the effect of institutions (laws, norms, and culture) and political systems in shaping the impact of finance, as illustrated by comparisons between Mexico and the U.S., among other cases; and lessons from U.S. financial history for policies today. The course also examines the tools that were developed in earlier eras to deal with different risks, evaluates their efficacy, and considers lessons for modern financial regulation, including how financial systems can be prepared, if possible, for the risks that are already unfolding -- such as those posed by technology change, electronic currencies, and climate risk. [ more ]

ECON 465 SEM Pollution and Labor Markets

Last offered Spring 2023

If your home town has polluted air, does that reduce your wage? Do you work less? Are you less likely to finish high school? These are specific instances of an important general question: how does pollution affect labor market outcomes? The answer matters for individual decisions (where to live) and government policies (air pollution regulations). This seminar begins from theories of optimizing worker behavior in the presence of pollution. Building on this foundation, we will critically evaluate new empirical research into the impacts of pollution on human capital, labor supply, and productivity. We will also study the impact of pollution regulations on wages and employment. Included papers will cover both developed and developing countries. [ more ]

ECON 468 SEM Your Money or Your Life: Health Disparities in the United States

Last offered Fall 2021

A 25-year-old man living in a high-income household can expect to live 10 years longer than his low-income counterpart. There are also stark differences in mortality and health by race, education, employment status, region, and gender. This course will explore many of the potential explanations for health disparities, including access to insurance and health care, health behaviors, stress, environmental exposure, trust in institutions, and intergenerational transmission of health. We will emphasize causal inference and focus on assessing the quality of evidence. We will also investigate how government policies contribute to or ameliorate health disparities in the U.S. [ more ]

ECON 470 SEM The Indian Economy: Development and Social Justice

Last offered Spring 2022

The Indian economy has (usually) grown rapidly in the last three decades, but poverty has declined relatively slowly, malnutrition remains high, and the sex ratio remains heavily biased against women. Is this the persistence of long-standing historical disadvantages such as those faced by Scheduled Castes and Tribes? Does this reflect failures in policy, in areas such as trade, credit, or labor law? Or is the quality of governance primarily to blame? We will use the theoretical and quantitative methods of an economist to consider these questions. [ more ]

ECON 471 SEM Topics in Advanced Econometrics

Last offered Spring 2023

The course uses both a practical and conceptual/theory based approach, with emphasis on methods of structural identification of dynamics in VARs and long run cointegration and nonlinear function estimation and analysis, both in conventional time series and especially panel time series which contain spatial dimensions. The course will also investigate methods of computer simulation related to these techniques. The course is well suited for students considering empirically oriented honors theses in fields that employ these techniques, such as macro, finance, growth, trade and development, as well as fields outside of economics that use time series data. It is also well suited for students majoring in economics, statistics, computer sciences or mathematics who wish to expand their econometrics training and understanding to a more advanced level. [ more ]

ECON 472(F) SEM Macroeconomic Instability and Financial Markets

This advanced course in macroeconomics and financial theory attempts to explain the role and the importance of the financial system in the global economy. The course will provide an understanding of why there is financial intermediation, how financial markets differ from other markets, and the equilibrium consequences of financial activities. Rather than separating off the financial world from the rest of the economy, we will study financial equilibrium as a critical element of economic equilibrium. An important topic in the course will be studying how financial market imperfections amplify and propagate shocks to the aggregate economy. The course may cover the following topics: the determination of asset prices in general equilibrium; consequences of limited asset markets for economic efficiency; theoretical foundations of financial contracts and justifications for the existence of financial intermediaries; the roles of financial frictions in magnifying aggregate fluctuations and creating persistence and instability; the role of leverage and financial innovation in fueling financial crises. [ more ]

ECON 524 SEM Advanced Methods for Causal Inference

Last offered Spring 2023

How do we estimate the causal effect of a policy on an outcome? Building on a basic understanding of econometrics and statistics, this methodology course will take students through several applied microeconometric techniques for answering this question. Students will be expected to use statistical software throughout, as we explore the inner workings of these methods and the assumptions required for them to deliver credible estimates. We will discuss the randomized trial and its variants, then cover difference-in-difference, regression discontinuity, and instrumental variables. We will discuss historical roots of modern methods, and will explore newer alternatives to the most commonly used kinds of statistical tests. [ more ]

ECON 475(S) LEC Advanced Economic Theory

This course studies advanced topics in micro and macro economic theory. A major focus is on the mathematical underpinnings of advanced modern economics, with a particular emphasis on proofs. Topics may include existence of Nash equilibria, games of incomplete information, equilibrium refinement and selection, global games, Bayesian persuasion, Mirrless taxation, dynamic programming, existence of general equilibrium, recursive equilibria, stochastic models in continuous time, and others. The focus of this class is primarily on mathematical formalism, rigor, and proofs. These tools are essential components of any graduate program in economics. Students who wish to see pure math theorems applied to other fields may also be interested. [ more ]

Taught by: TBA

Catalog details

ECON 476(F) SEM Behavioral Economics: Theory and Methods

Behavioral economics emphasizes that models in economics should account for the psychological plausibility of their assumptions and consequences. This course will cover how the field has incorporated insights from psychology into standard microeconomics models of decision-making. In the process, we will review the different methods that are used to empirically test the psychological foundations of these models, including laboratory experiments, field experiments, and quasi-experimental analysis. Assignments, lectures, and class discussions will focus on academic papers that use behavioral economics models to study a variety of topics, such as household finance, public policy, consumer marketing, and others. Throughout the semester, students will also work towards formulating and completing their own original research project. [ more ]

ECON 477 SEM Economics of Environmental Behavior

Last offered Fall 2022

A community maintains a fishery; a firm decides whether to get a green certification; you choose to fly home or stay here for spring break: behaviors of people and firms determine our impact on the environment. We'll use economics to model environmental behavior and to assess how policies can help or hurt the environment. Topics may study include: common pool resources, voluntary conservation, social norms and nudges, discrimination and justice, rationality, firm responses to mandatory and voluntary rules, voting and public opinion, and boycotts and divestment. We'll also build familiarity with the main methodologies of modern economic research: theoretical modeling, empirical analysis of observational data, and experiments. [ more ]

ECON 491(F) HON Honors Seminar: Economics

This course is required of candidates for honors in economics. Each candidate prepares an honors thesis under the supervision of an economics professor who serves as the thesis advisor and the faculty member serving as the Economics Department's Director of Research. Candidates will develop their projects independently, but will be guided by a common timeline and set of expectations. This is part of a one-semester thesis comprising this course as well as a Winter Study course. [ more ]

ECON 492(S) HON Honors Seminar: Economics

This course is required of candidates for honors in economics. Each candidate prepares an honors thesis under the supervision of an economics professor who serves as the thesis advisor and the faculty member serving as the Economics Department's Director of Research. Candidates will develop their projects independently, but will be guided by a common timeline and set of expectations. This is part of a one-semester thesis comprising this course as well as a Winter Study course. [ more ]

ECON 493(F) HON Honors Thesis: Economics

This course is required of candidates for honors in economics. Each candidate prepares an honors thesis under the supervision of an economics professor who serves as the thesis advisor and the faculty member serving as the Economics Department's Director of Research. Candidates will develop their projects independently, but will be guided by a common timeline and set of expectations. This is part of a full-year thesis comprising Econ 493 and 494 as well as a Winter Study course. [ more ]

ECON 494(S) HON Honors Thesis: Economics

This course is required of candidates for honors in economics. Each candidate prepares an honors thesis under the supervision of an economics professor who serves as the thesis advisor and the faculty member serving as the Economics Department's Director of Research. Candidates will develop their projects independently, but will be guided by a common timeline and set of expectations. This is part of a full-year thesis comprising Econ 493 and 494 as well as a Winter Study course. [ more ]

ECON 501(F) SEM Economic Growth and Development

This course focuses on the analysis of modern economic growth and comparative development across nations. Motivated by several stylized facts from cross-country data, we will pose a series of questions: Why are some countries so rich while others remain so poor? What explains heterogeneity in the experience of economic growth across nations, with some growing at a moderate pace over long periods of time, others experiencing rapid growth over shorter intervals, and yet others stagnating persistently? Do all economies face comparable challenges to achieving sustained economic growth? Will poorer countries ever catch up to richer ones? To answer these and other related questions, we will explore the underlying mechanisms of economic growth. What role is played by savings and investment (i.e., the accumulation of physical capital)? What is the influence of population growth? How important are investments in human capital (i.e., education and population health)? What about technological differences across nations? How much significance should we ascribe to cross-country differences in geographical characteristics? How much should we ascribe to differences in the quality of institutions? For each question, we will explore both theoretical and empirical approaches, ranging from formal models to qualitative historical evidence to cross-country growth regressions. We will debate the usefulness of these different approaches for development policy and will discuss the reasons why so many questions about economic growth remain difficult to answer. [ more ]

ECON 502(F) LEC Statistics/Econometrics

This course focuses on basic methods of bringing economic theory and data together to provide empirical guidance for policy formulation, including use of computers in econometric analysis. This course covers techniques of econometric analysis using a moderate level of mathematical exposition. [ more ]

ECON 503(F) SEM Statistics/Econometrics: Advanced Section

The course introduces students to the statistical methods used by economists, including those studying policy questions. The focus is on applications. Students will also work with Stata, a software widely used by economists. [ more ]

ECON 504(F) SEM Public Economics in Developing Countries

This class is about microeconomic and empirical analysis of government expenditure programs in developing and transitional countries. It provides tools for understanding the effects of government policies, as well as a useful conceptual framework for analyzing normative questions such as "what role should government play in the economy" and "what is a good policy?" The course begins by considering the efficiency of market economies, and rationales for government intervention in the market, such as public goods, externalities, information-based market failures, imperfect competition, and equity. We also consider ways that human behavior might deviate from perfect rationality, and what that might imply for policy. Along the way, we apply these concepts to various examples of policy issues, including, among other things, the environment, education, health, infrastructure, security, social insurance, and aid to the poor. We then turn to the general question of how to make the government work better, addressing questions such as the following. When is it better to have the government own and produce things, and when is it better to privatize? What are the incentives of politicians and government employees, and how does the design of political and budgetary institutions affect the degree to which they serve the public interest? How should responsibilities be divided up between the central government and local governments, and what are the advantages and disadvantages of "decentralization?" What can be done to improve the delivery of basic services? For example, how might one address problems of corruption and absenteeism? Throughout the course, we consider examples of empirical research, and to facilitate this, we will occasionally introduce econometric tools that are particularly useful for microeconomic policy evaluation. [ more ]

ECON 505(F) LEC Developing Country Macroeconomics I: Theory

The macroeconomic structures of developing countries tend to be very different from those in high-income countries, and their macroeconomic policy environments also differ in important ways from those in rich countries. This course is intended to introduce students to a set of models that is particularly suitable for analyzing macroeconomic performance in developing countries, as well as to develop some analytical tools that help us understand why such countries have often experienced a variety of macroeconomic crises, including sovereign debt, currency, and banking crises. [ more ]

ECON 506(F) LEC Fundamentals of Developing Country Macroeconomics

This is a practically oriented course in macroeconomic theory and policy. Macroeconomics is the study of the economy's aggregate behavior, covering such topics as the determinants of output, employment, inflation, and the current account balance. The state of the economy affects everyone. As a result, macroeconomic issues play a central role in national and international debates. In this course, we will build a simple closed economy macro model suitable for analyzing macroeconomic policy. It will be extended to the open economy and the course will include discussions of key issues related to monetary, fiscal and exchange rate policies with a particular focus on developing and emerging economies. [ more ]

ECON 521 SEM Incentives and Development Policy

Last offered Spring 2020

Why isn't the whole world developed? This course (and instructor) is of the opinion that the difficulty of getting incentives right is the key source of inefficiency. The course therefore studies how limited enforcement and asymmetric information constrain development, and about innovative development designs that attempt to overcome these constraints. The course readings will be a mix of field studies, empirical evidence and theoretical tools from game theory. Incentive and corruption problems in health, education, the regulation of banks and natural monopolies, privatization, budgeting, debt forgiveness, foreign aid, microfinance, climate treaties and ethnic violence will be studied using a unified framework. Note: this course was developed to address issues that arise in the countries represented at the CDE. [ more ]

ECON 534 TUT Long Term Fiscal Challenges

Last offered Spring 2022

This tutorial will address the conceptual and theoretical issues that confront policy makers when they face policy challenges that are likely to emerge only over the medium- to long-term and that have important budgetary implications. It will explore the strategies and approaches that a number of countries have attempted to develop to bring the long-term into their current policy and budgetary planning processes. Students will be exposed to different long-term challenges that have important budgetary implications, including aging populations, health care, climate change, energy and infrastructure, artificiail intelligence, and water. The course will consider the specific policy challenges that arise for each and the ways in which different countries are addressing them. [ more ]

Taught by: Peter Heller

Catalog details

ECON 535 TUT International Financial Institutions

Last offered Spring 2018

This tutorial will explore the role of official international financial institutions in the global economic and financial system, their relations with members, proposals for how they might be reformed, and issues that they face. The focus will be principally on the International Monetary Fund, and to a lesser extent the World Bank, the Bank for International Settlements and Financial Stability Board. Topics and readings will focus on such issues as: the roles and governance reform of the IMF and World Bank; lessons from their performance in international crises; initiatives of the Fund and Bank; the global adjustment process; financial system stability; governance reform; lending programs; the management of international reserves; and provision of advice to members. Participants will meet in pairs with the faculty member. Each week, one student will prepare a policy paper and submit the paper to the professor and to the other student in advance of the meeting. During the meeting, the student who has written the paper will present an argument, evidence, and conclusions. The other student will provide a critique of the paper based on concepts and evidence from the readings and his own research and experience. The professor will participate in the discussion after each participant has presented and ask questions that highlight or illustrate critical points. [ more ]

ECON 538(S) TUT Resilience and Macroeconomic Policy

Despite tremendous improvements in combating global hunger and child mortality, an increasing number of the world's population continue to live in fragile conditions, buffeted by climate change, conflict, forced migration, weak governance, and state inability to deliver basic services to its citizens. Setting macroeconomic policy is difficult in such countries. Not only are decisions affected by policymakers' distorted incentives and governments' internal conflicts, fragility also weakens policy transmission mechanisms and constrains policy spaces. This course aims at identifying the causes and consequences of fragility and at discussing how policies should be changed to enhance resilience in such countries. The course will, first, look into the definition and characteristics of fragility, its numerical representation, and its causes and main consequences. The course will also highlight how policy is made in states of fragility, in particular, fiscal policy, monetary policy, exchange rate policy, export promotion policy, etc.), as well as consider policy interactions. Finally, the course will focus on efforts to mitigate fragility and enhance resilience in such countries, including the role of structural policies and that of international financial institutions. [ more ]

ECON 540(F, S) IND Research Studies

In this course, each Fellow carries out an individual research study on a topic in which they have particular interest, usually related to one of the three seminars. The approach and results of the study are reported in a major paper. Research studies are analytical rather than descriptive and in nearly all cases include quantitative analyses. Often the topic is a specific policy problem in a Fellow's own country. [ more ]