Faculty of Arts & Sciences

Introduction to economic issues and basic principles and methods of microeconomics: how markets work, market efficiency and market failure, firm and consumer behavior, policy issues such as taxation, international trade, the environment, and the distribution of income.

Economic growth, inflation, unemployment, the business cycle, the financial system, international capital flows and trade imbalances, and the impact of monetary and fiscal policy. The Department of Economics strongly encourages students considering a concentration in economics to take both Ec10a and Ec10b in their freshman year. These courses are required for all economics concentrators and are prerequisites for higher level courses in economics. These courses, when both are taken for a letter grade, meet the General Education requirement for either Empirical and Mathematical Reasoning or United States in the World, but not both.

Supervised reading--by an economics faculty member--leading to a long term paper on a topic or topics not covered by regular courses.

A series of seminars taught in small sections focusing on applications of economic theory to real problems.

A thorough review of intermediate microeconomics.

A thorough review of intermediate macroeconomics.

An exploration of the role of education in the economy using historical, comparative, and current policy perspectives. Topics include the theory of human capital, role of education in economic growth and distribution, the educational production function, vouchers, charter schools, class size, standards, school equalization, for-profit educational institutions, and the gender gap in college completion. A serious research paper is required, as are several short critical essays of the literature.

The seminar will focus on theoretical and experimental issues in behavioral economics. We will study the relationships between the mathematical models of individual behavior (both utility maximization and psychologically motivated models) and the kinds of behavior we can observe in the lab. We will design experiments to test various theories and also study the types of behavior for which we don't have good models yet and try to understand what a good model would look like.

This course focuses on rationales for and methods of government interventions in private markets. We cover various rationales, such as environmental externalities, fiscal externalities, and asymmetric information. And, we focus on various methods of intervention, such as taxes, regulation, direct government provision, mandates. We motivate our discussions using a combination of classic economics papers and more recent work focused on topical issues such as health insurance regulation and climate change.

Provides a discussion of the economic impacts of international trade policies and the political economy of trade policy formation. The course will focus on analytical methods and therefore requires knowledge of calculus.

This class offers a chance for students to see how social science insights (economics, finance and psychology) can be used to design policies and products that solve important problems. This class offers a chance for students use insights from behavioral economics to design solutions to important and/or interesting problems. Each student will be asked to pick one concrete problem and craft a solution. Some students may focus on designing behaviorally informed policy solutions to problems such as unemployment insurance. Others may focus on designing new products for everything from personal finance to healthy eating; products might be apps, financial vehicles or something more exotic. Others may focus on problems closer to home such as devising a way to keep students (themselves) from cramming. The emphasis in all these cases will be on (i) use of behavioral insights and (ii) practical implementability of the solution. Students will take the problem as far as the implementation cycle as the class and their design will allow.

Middle Eastern countries enjoyed world economic leadership during the Middle Ages, and continue to play an important role in the world economy. This course will explore the historical development of Middle Eastern economies. Topics include the effects of colonialism, natural resource endowments and religion on economic growth. The course will emphasize how these and other historical factors continue to influence development prospects in the region today.

There has been a resurgence of large-scale international migration in the past few decades. This course explores the economic determinants and consequences of these population flows. Specific topics include the study of how immigrants are non-randomly selected from the population of the countries of origin, the measurement and implications of economic assimilation in the receiving country, the impact of the flows on the labor markets of both receiving and sending countries, and the calculation of the economic benefits from immigration.

The seminar will focus on policy issues in two areas; health economics, and environmental economics. We will read papers on an assortment of policy options and formulate frameworks for analyzing their likely impacts on outcomes of interest. Examples from health care include the analysis of mergers in hospital markets and the choice of capitation vs fee for service contracts. Examples from environmental economics include the choice between tradeable pollution permits and pollution taxes. Where possible we will use data and do the analysis quantitatively. Some knowledge of microeconomic and statistical tools, particularly those related to industrial organization, will be assumed.

How are the most personal choices and life transitions decided? When and whom do you marry, how many children do you have, how much education should you obtain, and which careers or jobs will you pursue? Much will be explored in terms of change over time, particularly concerning the economic emergence of women and the growing role of government. Readings draw on economic theory, empirical analyses, history, and literature from the 19th century to the present.

This course critically examines China's remarkable economic performance since 1980 and places this performance in comparative context. Topics covered include China's economic structure, institutions, inequality, trade, population, and public policy.

This seminar will expose students to a wide range of questions in tax and budget policy. Each student will be expected to develop a research-based position on one such issue. Examples from which students can choose might include: How can future budget deficits be reduced?, How should the student loan program be reformed?, Should the post office be privatized?, Should the government mortgage programs (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) be phased out?, Should the tax deduction for state tax payments be eliminated?

Workshop for seniors writing theses. Especially for topics in macroeconomics, finance, or theses involving theoretical models, but open to all fields. Emphasis on choice of research topics, methodology, and data sources. Course requires written and oral presentations of work in progress leading toward completion of a major research paper or senior honors thesis.

Workshop for seniors writing theses. Especially for topics in development or health economics, but open to all fields. Emphasis on choice of research topics, methodology, and data sources. Course requires written and oral presentations of work in progress leading toward completion of a major research paper or senior honors thesis.

Workshop for seniors writing theses. Especially for topics in international trade, education, or public economics, but open to all fields. Emphasis on choice of research topics, methodology, and data sources. Course requires written and oral presentations of work in progress leading toward completion of a major research paper or senior honors thesis.

Workshop for seniors writing theses. Especially for applied work in microeconomics, labor, or gender issues, but open to all fields. Emphasis on choice of research topics, methodology, and data sources. Course requires written and oral presentations of work in progress leading toward completion of a major research paper or senior honors thesis.

Workshop for seniors writing theses. Especially for topics in macroeconomics or international economics, but open to all fields. Emphasis on choice of research topics, methodology, and data sources. Written and oral presentations of work in progress leading toward completion of a major research paper or senior honors thesis are required.

Workshop for seniors writing theses. Especially for topics in finance, behavioral economics, or experimental economics, but open to all fields. Emphasis on choice of research topics, methodology, and data sources. Course requires written and oral presentations of work in progress leading toward completion of a major research paper or senior honors thesis.

Workshop for seniors writing theses. Especially for applied work in microeconomics, environmental, or natural resource economics, but open to all fields. Emphasis on choice of research topics, methodology, and data sources. Course requires written and oral presentations of work in progress leading toward completion of a major research paper or senior honors thesis.

For students writing a senior thesis out of sequence.

An economist and a humanist, together with professors from the natural sciences, analyze familiar conceptual and policy-relevant issues from viewpoints of their respective disciplines. For example, how do we measure inequality, and at what point does it become problematic (and how do we know)? How then should it be addressed (e.g., tax code, minimum wage)? What are the best policies to confront job losses from technology? What does sustainable growth mean? The goal is not merely to examine four intertwined issues "growth, technology, inequality, and evolution" but also to understand the distinct concerns and methods of the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences.

An economist and a humanist, together with professors from the natural sciences, analyze familiar conceptual and policy-relevant issues from viewpoints of their respective disciplines. For example, how do we measure inequality, and at what point does it become problematic (and how do we know)? How then should it be addressed (e.g., tax code, minimum wage)? What are the best policies to confront job losses from technology? What does sustainable growth mean? The goal is not merely to examine four intertwined issues "growth, technology, inequality, and evolution" but also to understand the distinct concerns and methods of the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences.

Focuses on the optimizing behavior of individual consumers and firms and coordination of individual decisions through markets, including the evaluation of market outcomes.

Theories and evidence on economic growth and fluctuations. Determination of gross domestic product, investment, consumption, employment, and unemployment. Analysis of interest rates, wage rates, and inflation. Roles of fiscal and monetary policies.

Economics 1011a is similar to Economics 1010a, but more mathematical and covers more material. The course teaches the basic tools of economics and to apply them to a wide range of human behavior.

The same topics as in 1010b, but with a more mathematical approach.

Analyses the libertarian perspective on economic and social policy. This perspective differs from both liberal and conservative views, arguing for minimal government in most arenas. Policies addressed include drug prohibition, gun control, and public education.

Explores the importance of culture on economic outcomes, focusing on how heterogeneity of preferences affects economic choices and where those differences come from. Theoretical topics include group identity, social interactions and networks, evolutionary selection

Psychological concepts include social preferences, impulsivity, bounded rationality, loss-aversion, over-confidence, self-serving biases, hedonics, and neuroscience. Economic concepts include arbitrage, equilibrium, rational choice, utility maximization, Bayesian beliefs, game theory. Integrates these psychological and economic concepts to understand behavioral phenomena such as portfolio choice, saving, procrastination, addiction, asset pricing, auction bidding, labor supply, cooperation, persuasion.

Why do highly successful people have a rush of energy and get things done at the last minute? Why didn't they have that rush earlier? Why does poverty persist around the world? Why is obesity rampant? This course argues that all these questions can be understood by understanding the behavioral economics of scarcity. The lectures will span concepts from mathematics of computation, psychology, evolutionary biology to numerous economic applications.

This lecture/discussion course builds on basic price theory to look at how and when free market fails tomaximize surplus and government regulation can help. It pay s particular attention to "governmentfailure": situations where appropriate regulation could increase surplus but actual regulation wouldreduce it because of the incentives of voters, politicians, and civil servants. The course aims to teach howto see the diagrams, game trees, and background motivations behind the lines of news clipping.Its major theme is "cui bono?"

Presents an introduction to the modern game theory, focusing on its use in economics. Main ideas of game theory are introduced and illustrated using examples from industrial organization, labor economics, and macroeconomics.

Introduction to game theory and its economic applications with more rigor than in Economics 1051. Topics include extensive-form and strategic-form games, Nash equilibrium, subgame-perfect equilibrium, Bayesian equilibrium, and applications to long-term cooperation, auctions, bargaining, and mechanism design.

This course studies the design of organized markets, focusing on efficient organization and the incentives created by market rules. Applications include online auction markets, government auctions of natural resources, procurement auctions, matching markets (students to classes or schools, medical residents to hospitals, kidneys to recipients). The analysis relies on a mix of documenting the rules of real-world markets, game theoretic analysis, empirical analysis, and experimental work. A research paper is optional with advance permission of instructor.

An introduction to formal models of decision making in economics, including both classical and psychologically-motivated approaches. Topics include risk, uncertainty, ambiguity, and temptation.

Explores theoretical and empirical work on incentive problems within and between firms (with more emphasis on the theory). Topics include agency problems arising from moral hazard and asymmetric information, executive compensation; boundaries of the firm; the financial structure of public companies; venture capital contracts; financial distress and bankruptcy; non-standard forms of organization.

Voting theory, social choice, mechanism design, bargaining theory, cooperative game theory, equitable cost allocation, fair division, welfare analysis of taxation, public expenditures and risk bearing. This course offers a rigorous approach to normative economics. Students should have an interest and ability to work with abstract mathematics and axiomatic reasoning.

An introduction to multiple regression techniques with focus on economic applications. Discusses extensions to discrete response, panel data, and time series models, as well as issues such as omitted variables, missing data, sample selection, randomized and quasi-experiments, and instrumental variables. Also develops the ability to apply econometric and statistical methods using computer packages.

Topics include elements of statistical decision theory and related experimental evidence; some game theory and related experimental evidence; maximum likelihood; logit, normal, probit, and ordered probit regression models; panel data models with random effects

Many classes teach students valuable statistical tools. But students often do not develop the analytical skills and know-how needed to use these skills in business, government or other professional settings. This hands-on data analytics class fills this gap. Students will work semester-long in teams of two or three on a single project. The projects will largely come from real problems sourced from private companies, non-profits, governments, technology firms and so on. This class will not teach new statistical tools. Students are expected to have technical mastery of these tools coming in as well as the capacity and desire to learn new statistics as needed. At the minimum students should have (i) a working knowledge of basic econometric concepts such as linear regression, omitted variable bias, and the problems missing data can create (ii) working facility with some statistical package. The semester-long work will culminate in a presentation and report to the client that posed the problem.

This course critically examines China's remarkable economic performance in the post-Mao era and places this performance in historical and comparative context. Topics covered include China's economic structure, institutions, inequality, trade, population, and public policy.

This course provides an overview of world economic history since the Neolithic revolution. It analyzes the main theories which have been proposed to explain these facts. Questions discussed are: why did the Neolithic revolution

Middle Eastern countries enjoyed world economic leadership during the Middle Ages, and continue to play an important role in the world economy. This course will explore the historical development of Middle Eastern economies. Topics include the effects of colonialism, natural resource endowments and religion on economic growth. The course will emphasize how these and other historical factors continue to influence development prospects in the region today.

How are the most personal choices and life transitions decided? When and whom do you marry, how many children do you have, how much education should you obtain, and which careers or jobs will you pursue? Much will be explored in terms of change over time, particularly concerning the economic emergence of women and the growing role of government. Readings draw on economic theory, empirical analyses, history, and literature from the 19th century to the present.

An exploration of research in economic history, focusing on economic growth and development. Topics include: institutions and property rights; technological change and industrialization; migration and labor markets; local economic stimulus; and adaptation to the environment. The course emphasizes students learning to generate and implement ideas for new research.

This course will analyze the role of media in political and economic development. Topics covered are the history of the relationship between media and the state, media and democracy today, laws governing the media and its practice, legal and political pressures on the media, media as an economic object, ownership of media and its effects, media coverage on elections and in developing countries, competition and truth in the market for news, the current mainstream media, and journalistic ethics.

This course examines health issues in developing countries from the standpoint of applied microeconomic research. Specific topics include: identifying the effect of health on growth and development and identifying the causal relationships between income, poverty, and health. We will also discuss health care delivery and human resource issues, the challenges of healthcare financing and health insurance, and the tension between equity and efficiency in the allocation of health resources.

We will consider a number of important questions in the field of development economics: Why are some countries so rich and others so poor? What factors have determined which countries prosper? Which are the root causes and which are the proximate causes of economic underdevelopment? Can these factors be changed with specific economic policies? If so, what are they and how are they best implemented? Are there country-specific characteristics that determine economic fate? Or, is prosperity just the result of luck? Does the enjoyment of the rich somehow depend on the continuing suffering of the poor? We will consider these questions and more. The course is intended to not only provide a general overview of the dominant views about economic development and policy, but to also provide students a sense of the most recent research in the field. For this reason, the course will go beyond the usual textbook summary of the field. Students will also examine recent journal articles that have made important contributions to the field of development economics. In the course, a particular effort is made to link the theories and empirical evidence to the real world.

What is the right balance between national sovereignty and international integration? Is the US equipped to sustain its role as a global leader? Should we regulate multi-national companies who move their factories to countries with lower labor standards? How should the IMF respond to financial crises in Europe and the developing world? How will the rise of China affect global inequality? These are all questions posed by globalization. This course uses basic economic logic to illuminate the choices faced by businesses, governments, international institutions and citizens as the global economy evolves. Policy issues are debated in class by the professors and students play the role of public and private actors in simulation exercises in order to experience the importance of the decisions made by individual actors for the evolution of the global system.

This course analyzes what role the government should play in a market economy. It covers topics such as tax and welfare policy, unemployment insurance, environmental protection, education policy, social security

This course develops abilities in using analytic frameworks in the formulation and assessment of public policies. It considers a variety of analytic techniques, particularly those directed toward uncertainty and interactive decision problems. It emphasizes the application of techniques to policy analysis, not formal derivations. Students encounter case studies, methodological readings, modeling of current events, the computer, a final exam, and challenging problem sets.

Analyzes major issues in American economic policy including taxation, Social Security, health care reform, budget policy, monetary and fiscal policy, and exchange rate management. Current economic issues and policy options discussed

Discusses several research areas in political economy, including the origins of the state, comparative political systems, theories of economic reform, fiscal problems in democracies, rule of law, privatization, and regulation.

Topics include the political economy of economic growth, including the roles of democracy and legal institutions; inflation, monetary policy, and fiscal policy; interplay between religion and political economy; and analyses of economic and monetary unions.

The aim of the course is to give students familiarity with a broad range of European policy issues: integration of markets (for goods, services, and labor), monetary union (ECB) and its consequences for fiscal policy, financial sector regulation as well as supervision. It is offered for students who would like to employ the tools they have learned in principles of economics and introductory micro and macro courses on real world cases. This implies to write and present a paper (mandatory writing requirement).

Examines fiscal policy, monetary policy, exchange rate policy, and financial regulation. Emphasizes both short-term stabilization goals and longer-term policy objectives. Considerable attention to recent policy.

Recent research on religion has stressed social-science approaches. Parts of the work assess effects of economic and other forces on religious participation and beliefs. This topic includes models of secularization and of competition among alternative forms of religion, including analyses of the Reformation. Religious conversion and the club model of religious participation will be considered. Other aspects of the research analyze effects of religiosity on microeconomic variables, including work effort, thrift, education, health, and violence. Parts consider the impact of religion on macroeconomic outcomes, including economic growth. Additional work considers the interplay between religion and political institutions, including the role of state religion and interactions with Communism and democracy.

Policy issues related to the following: the demand for medical care services, especially as a function of insurance; the demand for insurance and issues of selection; reimbursement policies of Medicare and other payers toward health plans, hospitals, and physicians; effects of health maintenance organizations and managed care; and malpractice and tort reform. Focus on federal policy, although state and local perspectives will receive some attention.

This course assesses the future of the tri-polar world economy - Asia, Europe, and North America. The course analyzes the resurgence of the US economic growth, the emergence of asset pricing bubbles, and the ensuing financial and economic crisis. We will discuss the sources of Asian growth miracles and the convergence and subsequent divergence of Europe and North America. What growth rate is sustainable and who will lead? What are the forces that threaten long-term prosperity?

This is an intermediate level international finance and macroeconomics course that uses a mix of theoretical, empirical and policy frameworks to analyze topical problems in international finance. The topics include exchange rate determination, currency interventions, monetary policy coordination, capital flows and currency crises.

This course examines the macroeconomics of open economies. It covers models appropriate to major industrialized countries. Topics include the foreign exchange market, devaluation, and import and export elasticities; simultaneous determination of the trade balance, national income, balance of payments, money flows, and price levels; capital flows and our increasingly integrated financial markets; monetary and fiscal policy in open economies; international macroeconomic interdependence; supply relationships and monetary policy targets; exchange rate determination; and international portfolio diversification.

Analyzes the causes and consequences of international trade and investment. Focuses on the interplay of economic theory and empirical descriptions of foreign trade and direct investment patterns.

Covers advanced topics in international economics with a special emphasis on an analytical approach to the recent process of globalization. Topics include the role of multinational firms in the global economy, the effect of international outsourcing on wages, and trade and industrial development.

Provides a discussion of the economic impacts of international trade policies and the political economy of trade policy formation. The course will focus on analytical methods and therefore requires knowledge of calculus.

This is an intermediate level international finance and macroeconomics course that uses a mix of theoretical, empirical, and policy frameworks to analyze topical problems in international finance. The core objective of the course is to develop simple macroeconomic models of open economies that can be usefully applied to international economic phenomena. We will examine the balance of payments, the determination of exchange rates, the effect of fiscal and monetary policies under fixed and floating exchange rate regimes, balance of payment crisis, international macroeconomic dependence, financial globalization, and the challenges facing developing economies. Recent issues such as the crisis in the Euro area and the sustainability of the Euro, the global transmission of the financial crisis, global imbalances, China's exchange rate policy, among others, will receive attention. Note: May not be taken for credit with Economics 1530 or 1435.

Advanced theoretical and empirical analysis of contemporary international macroeconomic policy issues in both industrialized and developing economies. Topics include exchange rates, international capital flows, debt crises, growth, and policy coordination.

Provides a systematic economic and historical framework for evaluating industrial policies such as agricultural crop price supports, international dumping and subsidy rules, energy policy, technology policy, competition policy (antitrust), public regulation, and corporate bailouts. It proceeds through a series of 10 industry case studies, in order: agriculture, crude petroleum, petroleum refining, steel, integrated circuits, computers, the Internet, automobiles, pharmaceuticals (domestic and international), and beer. Grading will be on the basis of two short policy papers and a final examination. A longer industry study can be substituted for the final exam.

Theoretical and empirical analysis of contemporary topics in industrial organization. Uses economic theory to analyze important issues facing firms, and examines the practical challenges of empirical applications of theory.

Theory and modern empirical techniques in industrial organization. Topics may include static analysis and estimation of market equilibrium; dynamic models of entry and investment; price discrimination, collusion, mergers and vertical control, with applications to antitrust policy; and issues in auctions and market design.

Provides a survey, from the perspective of economics, of environmental and natural resource policy. Combines lectures on conceptual and methodological topics with examinations of public policy issues.

Survey of foundations and applications of the modern theory of environmental and natural-resource economics. What are the basic models and what are they suggesting about policy? Externalities, public goods, common property, strategies for controlling pollution. Dynamics of renewable resources (fisheries, forestry) and dynamics of non-renewable resources (minerals like oil). Discounting, uncertainty, cost-benefit analysis, investment criteria for environmental projects, green accounting, sustainability. Basic economic analysis of climate change as prototype example.

An introduction to the economic analysis of investment decisions and financial markets. Concepts include time discounting, market efficiency, risk, and arbitrage. These concepts are applied to fixed-income securities, equities, and derivative securities.

The economic system prevailing in most of the world today differs greatly from the idealist version of free markets generally taught in economic classes. This course analyzes the role played by corporate governance, wealth inequality, the media, regulation, and the political process in general in producing these deviations. It will explain why crony capitalism prevails in most of the world and why it is becoming more entrenched also in the United States of America.

Introduction to corporate finance, including asset valuation, capital structure, theory of managerial incentives, banking and short-term debt, topics on financial crises.

This course analyzes the modern financial system. Topics include: (i) the behavior of various types of intermediaries (e.g., banks, broker-dealers, mutual funds, hedge funds); (ii) key elements of the system's plumbing and infrastructure; (iii) sources of systemic risk; and (iv) the multiple roles of the central bank as monetary policymaker, lender of last resort, and regulator.

Theory and evidence on mispricing in financial markets due to investor psychology or institutional constraints. Broad themes are the practical limits of arbitrage, models of psychological behavior, and predictability of security returns. Specific topics may include market bubbles and crashes, closed end funds, value vs. growth, momentum, the money management industry, and short sale constraints.

Examines the influence of religious thinking on the intellectual revolution, associated with Adam Smith and others, that created economics as we know it as an independent discipline; also examines how the lasting resonances from these early religious influences continue to shape discussion of economic issues and debates about economic policy down to our own day.

Examines selected social and economic problems of the US and evaluates market and governmental solutions. Topics include discrimination, income and wage inequality, welfare reform, antipoverty strategy (including education and training programs), homelessness, crime, and charitable behavior.

Examines the causes and consequences of racial inequality in America and evaluates the efficacy of various market and non-market solutions. Topics include: the racial achievement gap in education, the impact of crack cocaine on inner cities, racial differences in health, crime and punishment, labor market discrimination, social interactions and the effects of peer groups, affirmative action, and more.

Explores discontinuous changes in the economic position of groups and countries and presents mathematical and computer simulation models designed to illuminate these changes. Examples include growth/decline of trade unions, segregation of groups, development of linkages on the internet, changes in corporate work culture, growth of social pathologies in neighborhoods, and Malthusian concerns about the environment. Models include nonlinear simulations, neural networks, finite automata, evolutionary stable strategies, causal conjunctures, agent-based simulations, and genetic algorithms.

Introduces students to the methods and the research frontier in the economics of education. The first quarter of the course will cover common statistical methods in applied microeconomics, including instrumental variable models, regression discontinuities, difference-in-differences, and randomized inference. With these tools in hand, the course will critically survey the economics of education literature, placing particular emphasis on policies and practices designed to raise achievement among vulnerable populations. Topics will include achievement gaps, the role of incentives, the rise of charter schools, school turnaround efforts, and education's role in determining economic outcomes.

This course explores the birth, death, and resurrection of The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money from the Great Depression (1929-1939) to the Great Recession (2008-?). A major goal is to lay out a coherent argument that, for all its theoretical innovation, The General Theory did not deliver: the argument why a market system, even an idealized system with all of the warts removed, may fail to provide jobs for willing workers. In the process we will examine the orthodoxy that Keynes attacked and that resurfaced in the 1960s and 70s; the key concepts underlying the models implicit in The General Theory; and the attempts of the Keynesian mainstream to make peace with both Keynes and orthodoxy. We will also explore the applicability of The General Theory to the long run. A final section will view the present economic difficulties through a Keynesian lens.

Presents current research in Theory, Behavioral Economics, and Experimental Economics

Participants discuss recent research in contracts and organizations and present their own work in progress. Open to doctoral students in economics.

Covers the theory of individual and group behavior. Topics include consumer theory, producer theory, behavior under uncertainty, externalities, monopolistic distortions, game theory, oligopolistic behavior, and asymmetric information.

Topics include social choice theory, signaling, mechanism design, general equilibrium, the core, externalities, and public goods.

Topics include discrete-time and continuous-time dynamic programming, consumption, investment, economic growth, and business cycles.

A basic course in graduate macroeconomics, including models of business fluctuations, analyses of monetary and fiscal policy, and introduction to open economy macroeconomic issues.

A comprehensive course in economic theory designed for doctoral students in all parts of the university. Topics include consumption, production, behavior toward risk, markets, and general equilibrium theory. Also looks at applications to policy analysis, business decisions, industrial organization, finance, and the legal system. Undergraduates with appropriate background are welcome, subject to the instructor's approval.

A continuation of Economics 2020a. Topics include game theory, economics of information, incentive theory, and welfare economics.

Explores economic and psychological models of human behavior. Topics include bounded rationality, intertemporal choice, decision making under uncertainty, inference, choice heuristics, and social preferences. Economic applications include asset pricing, corporate finance, macroeconomics, labor, development, and industrial organization.

This course explores ways that psychological research indicating systematic departures from classical economic assumptions can be translated into formal models that can be incorporated into economics. Topics include ways utility theory can be improved--such as incorporating reference dependence, news utility, social preferences, self image, and other belief-based tastes--and ways we can relax assumptions of perfect rationality--such as incorporating focusing effects, limited attention, biased prediction of future tastes, present-biased preferences, biases in probabilistic judgment, and errors in social inference. The course will emphasize (a) careful interpretation and production of new evidence on relevant departures,(b) formalizing this evidence into models that can, with discipline and rigor, generate sharp predictions using traditional economic approaches, and (c) exploring economic implications of those models presented. Although we will primarily emphasize (b), the course is meant to be useful to students whose interests lie anywhere in this spectrum, under the premise that all such research will be improved by a greater appreciation of the full spectrum. The course is intended for PhD students in the Business Economics and Economics programs and others who have a solid background in microeconomic theory at the level of introductory PhD courses in these programs. While obviously appropriate to those wishing to specialize in "behavioral economics", the course is also designed for those interested in doing research in particular fields of economics. And while the course centers on theoretical models (learning and evaluation will center around solving formal problem sets), the theory is focused towards its empirical implementability and economic relevance, so that the course is also designed for those interested in theory-influenced empirical research.

This course discusses techniques of experimental economics and illustrates design and methodological issues in discussing recent topics in behavioral economics. At the end of the course students should be able to design their own experiments. For students who are familiar with experiments and who are already running experiments I will offer an opportunity to discuss their design ideas and to receive detailed feedback. The suggested topics include (1) an introduction to lab experiments, potential objections against lab evidence, generalizability and experimental methods, (2) classic experimental designs (markets, bargaining, public goods), (3) morality, (4) sorting, (5) formation of preferences and personality, (6) psychology of incentives (7) preferences for consistency, (8) reference dependent preferences and labor supply, and (9) non-binding default rules. Students' task for the course is to prepare a proposal for an experiment.

Students will design and run field experiments as a research methodology. Students will refine their own experimental designs and be able to run them by the end of the course, leading to an academic paper.

This seminar will explore a series of issues at the intersection of behavioral economics and public policy. Potential questions will involve climate change; energy efficiency; health care; and basic rights. There will be some discussion of paternalism and the implications of neuroscience as well.

Equilibrium analysis and its applications. Topics vary, but typically include equilibrium refinements (sequential equilibrium), the equilibria of various classes of games (repeated games, auctions, signaling games) and the definition and application of common knowledge.

Explores the theory and practice of market design, with prominent examples drawn from auctions, labor markets, prediction markets and kidney exchange. In this year's version of the course, we'll emphasize online markets, including online advertising, Internet infrastructure, and collecting and analyzing data from the web. The prerequisite is Game Theory.

Studies topics in market design, focusing on auctions, auction-based marketplaces and platform markets. Covers methods and results from theory, empirical work, econometrics and experiments, highlighting practical issues in real-world design.

The course involves critical examination of alternative approaches to rationality, which is a central concept in economics, politics and the other social sciences, moral and political philosophy, and legal theory, including law and economics.

Provides a rigorous theoretical introduction into network models. Discusses the emerging empirical literature on economic and social networks. Topics include the role of networks in technological progress, buyer-supplier networks, and social capital.

The course focuses on classical models of choice in abstract settings, as well as uncertain and intertemporal environments. We will also study recent models that incorporate insights from psychology, such as temptation and self-control.

Recent developments in contract theory. Includes hidden action and hidden information models, dynamic agency issues, incomplete contracts, and applications of contract theory to theories of the firm and corporate financial structure.

The goal is to identify, for each decision problem in a class of interest, the "most desirable" rules. Included are standard exchange economies, classical problems of fair division, public good production, cost allocation ("airport" problems, minimal cost spanning tree problems), rationing, bankruptcy, object allocation, priority-augmented object allocation ("school choice"), matching, one-to-one and several-to-one, time division, and cake division. The principles are punctual fairness principles, intra- and inter-personal (including lower and upper bounds on welfare, as well as requirements of robustness under permutations, or other operations, performed on assignments), and relational fairness principles, having to do with possible changes in the resources available, population, and preferences. The strategic branch of the literature will also be covered, criteria of robustness under misrepresentation of preferences or manipulation of resources being included.

This course offers a rigorous approach to normative economics. Voting, bargaining, cooperative game theory, social choice, mechanism design, equitable cost allocation, fair division, welfare analysis of taxation, and more. Students should have an interest and ability to work with abstract mathematics and axiomatic reasoning.

Offers graduate students in relevant disciplines the chance to study the historical origins of central ideas in modern economics and to discuss their philosophical character.

A basic course in social choice theory and its analytical foundations. The subject matter will include possibility theorems in voting and in welfare economics. Attention will be paid to implementation theory, the theory of justice, and the analysis of liberties and rights.

A general course on the evaluation and axiomatic measurement of inequality and poverty, and on the analysis of contemporary economic problems in that light.

The class will read and discuss current research in economics with a focus on game theory and decision theory. Students will be expected to make a verbal presentation.

Covers the history and philosophy of economic thought from the classics to the present. Some readings explore the relationship to other social sciences, to mathematics, biology, and physics. Others examine the way in which historical events have affected the evolution of economics.

A continuation of Economics 2091.

This course studies the design of mechanisms to mediate the interaction of strategic individuals so that desirable outcomes are attained. A central theme will be the tradeoff between optimality of an objective such as revenue or welfare and other desirable properties such as simplicity, robustness, computational tractability, and practicality. This tradeoff will be quantified by a theory of approximation which measures the loss of performance of a simple, robust, and practical approximation mechanism in comparison to the complicated and delicate optimal mechanism. The class focuses on techniques for performing this analysis, economic conclusions, and consequences for practice. The class will follow the textbook manuscript at: http://jasonhartline.com/MDnA/

(1) Review of probability theory, (2) causality and identification, (3) statistical decision theory, and (4) asymptotic frequentist inference. Empirical applications from labor economics, economics of education, and public finance. Some assignments using Matlab.

Introduction to methods employed in applied econometrics, including linear regression, instrumental variables, panel data techniques, generalized method of moments, and maximum likelihood.

Econometric methods for cross-section and panel data. Topics include generalized method of moments, empirical likelihood, instrumental variables, bootstrapping, clustering, treatment effects, selection bias, difference-in-differences, qualitative choice, quantile regression, nonparametric methods, and semiparametric methods.

A survey of modern time series econometrics. Topics include univariate models, vector autoregressions, linear and nonlinear filtering, frequency domain methods, unit roots, structural breaks, empirical process theory asymptotics, forecasting, and applications to macroeconomics and finance.

An introduction to the theory and application of recently developed econometric techniques used in advanced applied work. Simulation techniques, estimation subject to inequality restrictions, as well as semiparametric and nonparametric tools will be studied in a variety of empirical contexts.

A lecture course in financial econometrics. The topics covered will be: continuous time methods, Bayesian computation, sequential learning, stochastic volatility, understanding specialist regression type methods (e.g. Fama-MacBeth, event studies), Market microstructure econometrics, options.

This course will cover several topics in micro-econometrics; the selection depends on student interest. Topics that might be covered include: Debates about "structural" and "reduced form" methods. "What can we get" - nonparametric identification using instrumental variables, panel data, and regression discontinuity designs. "What do we want" - optimal policy and parameters of interest. Estimation of policy effects on outcome distributions and economic inequality. Bayesian decision theory and nonparametric Bayesian methods. Experiments and experimental design.

Graduate introduction to computational approaches for solving economic models. Formulate economic problems in computationally tractable form and use techniques from numerical analysis to solve them. Computational techniques in the current economics literature will be examined. Topics include solving dynamic optimization problems, computing equilibria of games and estimating structural models.

Innovations in machine learning ('big data') have created many engineering breakthroughs from real time voice recognition to automatic categorization (and in some cases production) of news stories. Since these techniques are at their essence novel ways to work with data, they should also have implications for social science. This course explores the intersection of machine learning and social science and aims to answer a few questions about these new techniques: (i) How do they work and what kinds of statistical guarantees can be made about their performance? (ii) How can they be used to answer questions that interest social science researchers, such as testing theories or improving social policy; and (iii) How might they open up new research questions? We will cover standard machine learning techniques such as supervised and unsupervised learning, statistical learning theory and nonparametric and Bayesian approaches. The goal is to create a working understanding of when and how they can be profitably applied. Students will be required to apply some of these techniques themselves, but we will not cover the computational aspects of the underlying methods. The course is aimed at PhD students with a solid background in statistical techniques, such as comes from the equivalent of a first year economics PhD econometrics sequence.

Participants discuss recent research in econometrics and present their own work in progress. Open to doctoral students in economics.

The course examines the historical origins of differences in the economic and social development of societies. Participants discuss recent research in the field and present their own work in progress.

This course aims to study theories of economic (under)development and scrutinize empirical evidence in order to glean insights to design development policy. The course will identify key features of the development process across countries, and develop an analytical framework, grounded in economic theory, to better understand these patterns. We will then apply our frameworks combined with rigorous empirical evidence to identify when and how public policies can enable economic growth and development. Macro topics include economic growth and its proximate determinants; resource misallocation, learning and coordination and their impacts on productivity; the impact of historical forces on the evolution of (political) institutions and the development process; and the effect of external influences on development. Micro topics include the determinants of and returns to investments in (health and education) human capital; credit markets, savings behavior, and the returns to financial capital; gender; behavioral economics in development; and governance and corruption.

Overview and analysis of comparative economic development during the last half millennia. Examines the emergence of modern economic growth in Europe after 1500, and the forces that led to the great divergence in prosperity in the 19th century. Also considered: colonialism, communism, fascism, and revolution.

Explores a range of subjects concerning human capital, historically and comparatively. Topics include fertility, mortality, health, immigration, women's work, child labor, retirement, education, inequality, slavery, unionization, and governmental regulation of labor, all within the broader context of economic history.

Participants discuss recent research in economic development and present their own work in progress. Popularly known as the Development Tea.

Comparative economic history emphasizing sources of economic growth and development. Topics include technological change and industrialization, institutions, the Great Depression and financial regulation, migration and adjustment to economic shocks, public infrastructure, labor markets and wage inequality, and health. Each topic is motivated by a current concern and develops methods for historical analysis to inform modern economic questions.

This course examines the economic rise of the Western World through comparisons with the Islamic Middle East. In particular, we will examine the mechanisms through which feudalism and subsequent events led to the emergence of growth-friendly institutions and examine the extent to which variation in exposure to these historical developments can help explain development outcomes today. In addition, we will investigate the interaction between these institutional developments and Europe's differential rate of human capital formation from the late medieval period through the Enlightenment and their role in determining both the timing and the subsequent diffusion of the Industrial Revolution.

Participants discuss recent research in economic history and present their own work in progress.

This seminar provides a forum for faculty, graduate students, and research fellows in economics and other fields to present and discuss research and scholarship on the economic and social transformation of China. The seminar will give special attention to the environmental, technological, and social changes that are accompanying China's extraordinary economic development and to the links between Chinese and US economies.

Topics on the interplay between religion and the social sciences.

This course will cover macro-economic topics including aggregate and non-aggregate growth models, models of technology diffusion and choice; topics in finance including financial development and economic growth, consumer finance; small and medium enterprise finance; debt and equity markets; the role of management and corporate governance; the political economy of finance, and corruption; and a range of topics on the role of population, culture, ethnicity, leaders, corruption in economic development, and the efficacy of industrial policy and foreign aid.

Topics include agricultural issues such as peasant behavior, land tenancy, interlinked markets; credit and insurance market problems and institutions; health, nutrition, and productivity; gender bias; education; and technology adoption.

The first part will cover macro-economic topics including aggregative and non-aggregative growth models, growth and development accounting and models of technology diffusion and choice. The second part will evaluate the role of governance/institutional design in affecting development.

Participants discuss recent research in development economics and present their own work in progress. Open to doctoral students in economics who have passed their oral examinations.

Across the world, remarkable improvements in life expectancy have occurred over the past few decades. But global and regional disparities of health outcomes have also surged, and this widening "outcome gap" does not always move in parallel with economic progress, or even with the commonly identified social determinants. The causal influences on the differences are subject to critical examination, including the role that recent innovations in prevention and therapeutics, health-care systems and social safety nets, play or might play in promoting or retarding health and wellbeing. The seminar will explore case studies from India, China, Rwanda, Haiti, Thailand and elsewhere, including comparative perspectives on health systems across North America and Europe.

The course will explore topics in applied macroeconomics, with emphasis on the intersection of empirical analysis and theory. Topics may include monetary policy, fiscal policy, financial frictions, and labor markets. The course will present a variety of empirical methods, such as the narrative approach, VAR analysis, and the use of cross-sectional data in macroeconomics.

Investigates the effect of financial market imperfections on aggregate investment and asset prices. Topics include financial persistence and amplification mechanisms, fire sales and limits to arbitrage, leverage cycles, asset price bubbles, financial fragility and financial contagion.

Discusses several research areas in political economy, including the origins of the state, comparative political systems, theories of economic reform, fiscal problems in democracies, rule of law, privatization, regulation, and elections and the economy.

This class tries to familiarize students with the basics in formal political economy, and give a sense of the research frontier. Topics include models of collective choice, information aggregation in elections, legislative decision-making, and lobbying.

This new seminar will feature presentations on current macroeconomic policy issues by Economics Department faculty and invited outsider speakers. Specific topics will include (among others) Federal Reserve policy, increasing employment, raising the U.S. growth rate, Europe's economic problems, housing and the mortgage market. Graduate students taking the course for credit will be expected to write a research paper related to any one of the issues covered during the semester. Students not taking the course for credit are welcome to participate in each week's discussion.

Participants discuss recent research in macroeconomics and present their own work in progress. Open to doctoral students in economics who have passed their oral examinations.

A reading course that allows students to discuss and evaluate recent research in the analysis of monetary and fiscal policies. Students will be expected to participate in formally presenting, and critiquing, unpublished or newly published papers.

This course covers basic issues in the optimal design of tax and social insurance policies, with emphasis on combining theoretical models with empirical evidence. Topics include efficiency costs and incidence of taxation, income taxation, transfer and welfare programs, public goods and externalities, optimal social insurance, and welfare analysis in behavioral models.

This course covers theoretical and empirical applications of public economics to policy debates. Topics include education, local public finance, fiscal federalism, housing policy, corporate and international taxation, social security, and macroeconomic stabilization using fiscal policy.

Focuses on theory, econometric models, and public policy of health care. Frontier work in health economics presented and discussed by instructors and outside speakers.

This course surveys topics in health economics. It touches on public sector issues, the industrial organization of health care markets, interactions between health and labor markets, and health in developing countries. Theory and empirical work are presented.

Participants discuss recent research in public economics and fiscal policy and present their own work in progress. Open to doctoral students in economics who have passed their oral examinations.

Considers a range of issues relating to national security including terrorism, oil markets, intelligence, defense strategy, sanctions, cyber risks, China, Middle East, etc..

This seminar will explore an assortment of issues, ranging from environmental regulation (including climate change) to financial regulation to public health, at the intersection of theory and practice. Among other things, the seminar will discuss the role of cost-benefit analysis, legal limits on regulation, and both standard and behavioral economics.

Provides a broad overview of theory and evidence concerning international trade, direct foreign investment, and trade policy.

Financial aspects of growth and income determination in open economies. Topics include international business cycle, monetary and exchange rate regimes, capital flows, and current issues in international macroeconomic policy.

Covers advanced theoretical and empirical topics concerning the determinants of world trade patterns.

Participants discuss recent research in international economics and present their own work in progress. Open to doctoral students in economics who have passed their oral examinations.

Applied work in industrial organization. Static analysis (theory, estimation): demand systems, cost functions, and game theoretic concepts of equilibrium and their application. Dynamic analysis (theory, computation, estimation): single agent problems, dynamic games and their application.

Application of industrial organization to problems of public policy. Applied analysis of antitrust policy, network industries, vertical relationships, auctions, and other topics depending on interest.

Participants present their own research in progress in an informal setting. Open to doctoral students in economics who have passed their general examinations and are in the early stages of their dissertations.

Speakers present current research in the field in a seminar setting.

Theoretical and empirical work on organizations. Topics include agency problems inside organizations, boundaries of the firm, relational contracting, authority, hierarchies, delegation, decentralization, and nonstandard organizational arrangements (including joint ventures, venture capital, and public ownership).

Survey of foundations and applications of the modern theory of environmental and natural-resource economics. What are the basic models and what are they suggesting about policy? Externalities, public goods, common property, strategies for controlling pollution. Dynamics of renewable resources (fisheries, forestry) and dynamics of non-renewable resources (minerals like oil). Discounting, uncertainty, cost-benefit analysis, investment criteria for environmental projects, green accounting, sustainability. Basic economic analysis of climate change as prototype example.

Selected topics in environmental and resource economics. Emphasizes theoretical models, quantitative empirical analysis, and public policy applications. Includes invited outside speakers.

An introduction to financial economics emphasizing discrete-time models and empirical applications. Reviews basic asset pricing theory. Discusses empirical topics including predictability of stock and bond returns, the equity premium puzzle, and intertemporal equilibrium models.

Theory and empirical evidence on capital structure, dividends, investment policy, and managerial incentives. Topics include banking, corporate governance, and mergers.

Entrepreneurship is a complex phenomenon that has attracted little academic attention. This course explores the emerging work in this area. Students taking the course for credit will be expected to complete two referee reports and a paper.

Examines empirical research in corporate finance. Covers empirical research methodology, financial institutions, and financial policy. Major emphasis is on how to do well-executed and persuasive research in corporate finance.

Deals with theoretical and empirical approaches to the study of financial markets using psychological or behavioral ideas. Topics include limited arbitrage, predictability of security returns, and trading volume.

The economic system prevailing in most of the world today differs greatly from the idealist version of free markets generally taught in economic classes. This course analyzes the role played by corporate governance, wealth inequality, the media, regulation, and the political process in general in producing these deviations. It will explain why crony capitalism prevails in most of the world and why it is becoming more entrenched also in the United States of America.

Participants discuss recent research in financial economics and present their own work in progress. Open to doctoral students in economics who have passed their oral examinations.

Theoretical and empirical research on labor markets. Wage determination covers equalizing differences, human capital, job mobility, and incentive models. Labor supply covers life-cycle models. Labor demand includes minimum wage and union models.

Examines the operation of the labor market and evaluation of labor market policies. Topics: labor econometrics, theories of wage determination, changes in the wage structure, unemployment, labor market institutions, and globalization and the labor market.

Applies the tools of economics to explore social issues including crime, discrimination, racial and gender differences, poverty, family structure, urban problems, social interactions and peer effects, and intergenerational mobility.

Participants discuss recent research in labor economics and present their own work in progress. Open to doctoral students in economics who have passed their oral examinations.

Analyzes economic issues regarding the role of science and RD in the economy and in the deployment and productivity of scientists, engineers, and highly skilled technical workers. Topics include: wage levels/employment prospects; stipend policy, education/recruitment, student unionization/post-doc organization, career choices/trajectories, with reference to women; scientific competition/collaboration.

Focus on work force and career issues. Topics include: Effects of globalization on work force and innovation, growth of networks in work; impact of career incentives on productivity; university policies; mobility between academe and industry; link between ideas and outputs.

Intended to fulfill the Research Paper Requirement for the PhD degree in Economics.

Individual work or work in small groups (with a professor or lecturer in residence) in preparation for the general examination for the PhD degree, or work on special topics not included in course offerings.

For students with an interest in economic theory. Faculty presentations by Harvard and MIT economists and invited guests. The location alternates between Harvard and MIT.

For students with an interest in economic theory. Faculty presentations by Harvard and MIT economists and invited guests. The location alternates between Harvard and MIT.

Presentations of current research in the Applied Theory Field.

Outside speakers and faculty present current research topics in theory and applications of econometrics.

Intended for students writing dissertations related to economic history themes and/or methodology and for others with interests in economic history. Discusses research papers presented by scholars at Harvard and elsewhere.

Fall speakers cover issues in growth and development. Spring speakers alternate between "growth and institutions," focusing on the macro aspects of growth and development, and "labor and development," focusing on the micro aspects.

Seminar speakers present papers on macroeconomic topics, including issues relating to monetary and fiscal policies, economic growth, the role of institutions, and other research issues in the field.

Invited speakers present theoretical and empirical research on a broad range of topics related to the design of government policy.

Participants discuss recent research in health economics. Course may also include presentation of original research by participants. Open to doctoral students only.

Outside speakers and faculty present research papers in all aspects of international economics, including theory, econometrics, and policy.

Speakers present current research in the field in a seminar setting.

The presentation of work in progress in the field of law, economics, and organizations. Presentations by members of the various Harvard faculties, outside speakers, and graduate students.

Participants discuss recent research in environmental and natural resource economics and present their own work in progress.

Outside speakers present current research in the field in a seminar setting.

Outside speakers present research concerning the operation of labor markets.