Fall 2022
Principles of Economics
Rand Ghayad PhD, Economic Advisor
The course deals with basic economic principles that help us understand the process of decision making by individuals and societies. We analyze the fundamental economic activities of production, distribution, exchange, and consumption at both the micro and macro level. Besides developing an understanding of the functioning of a free market system, we also critically examine the controversies that surround the use of public policies for the greater common good. Students may not take both ECON E-10a and ECON E-1000 for degree or certificate credit.
Prerequisites: A working knowledge of elementary algebra and geometry is required. Students registering in this course for graduate credit are also required to have some basic knowledge of calculus, preferably a college-level course in calculus.
Spring 2023
Principles of Economics
Stacey Gelsheimer PhD, Lecturer on Economics, Boston University
This course provides an introduction to current economic issues and to basic economic principles and methods. The economist John Maynard Keynes wrote that, "the ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood." Economics is not primarily a set of answers, but rather a method of reasoning. By the end of the semester, students are able to use the analysis practiced in the course to form their own judgments about many of the major economic problems faced by the United States and other countries. In the first part of the semester, we focus on microeconomics, which is the study of the interaction of people and firms in markets. Since we live in a market economy, this study helps students to understand how American society organizes its economic affairs. We examine how the forces of supply and demand operate in the markets for goods and services. Students learn powerful tools that enable them to understand a great deal about the economy and how it works. Using these tools, we develop a framework to evaluate social policies. Trade always a controversial subject is analyzed, along with measures, such as tariffs, designed to restrict trade. Theories concerning firm behavior are then examined how companies decide how much to produce, and the profits which result. During the second half of the semester, we focus on macroeconomics, the study of the economy as a whole. We study economic growth and development, business cycles, and the impact of both monetary and fiscal policy on inflation, unemployment, interest rates, investment, the exchange rate, and international trade. Students may not take both ECON E-10a and ECON E-1000 for degree or certificate credit.
Prerequisites: A working knowledge of elementary algebra and geometry is required.
Spring 2023
Essentials of Economics
Bruce D. Watson MA, Master Lecturer on Economics, Boston University and Lecturer in Extension, Harvard University
This course provides an analytic and applied overview of both microeconomics and macroeconomics. In the microeconomic portion of the course, we examine exactly how prices are determined in competitive markets and what can distort that determination. Market structure is analyzed, including the fundamentals of firm pricing and production decisions. Using examples from various industries, we analyze what happens when market conditions change. Furthermore, we examine how these changes affect overall social welfare. Issues concerning trade are addressed, for example, when should countries, or even individuals, trade? Who gains or loses from trade? Turning to macroeconomics, we investigate the key economic statistics that you read about in the business press and other media, such as gross domestic product (GDP), the consumer price index (CPI), and the unemployment rate. For so many around the world, economic development is literally a matter of life and death. While economic growth is primarily a long-run phenomenon, short-run fluctuations in the economy cycles of expansion and recession are often the focus of short-run planning decisions by consumers, firms, and government. We examine in detail what causes these fluctuations and how government policies monetary and fiscal policy can dampen these cycles. An understanding of the Federal Reserve and monetary policy must be predicated on an understanding of the banking and financial system. Therefore, we delve into that in the course of our study of actions by the monetary authority. Recent events have also thrust fiscal policy to the fore. We talk in detail about how fiscal policy works and its implications for the economy in both the short and long term. Economics is not primarily a set of answers, but rather a method of reasoning. By the end of the course, students are able to use the framework they have learned to form their own judgments about the major economic problems faced by the United States and other countries. Indeed, after completing the course, students often find that they are better able to read and interpret the business press and other media and are better equipped to evaluate the economic policies promulgated by governments and other institutions. More importantly, however, the analytical skills students acquire in the course are instrumental in their continued success in the pursuit of a graduate degree or certificate. Students may not take both ECON E-10a and ECON E-1000 for degree or certificate credit.
Prerequisites: Exposure to graphing and elementary algebra.
Fall 2022
Essentials of Economics
Bruce D. Watson MA, Master Lecturer on Economics, Boston University and Lecturer in Extension, Harvard University
This course provides an analytic and applied overview of both microeconomics and macroeconomics. In the microeconomic portion of the course, we examine exactly how prices are determined in competitive markets and what can distort that determination. Market structure is analyzed, including the fundamentals of firm pricing and production decisions. Using examples from various industries, we analyze what happens when market conditions change. Furthermore, we examine how these changes affect overall social welfare. Issues concerning trade are addressed, for example, when should countries, or even individuals, trade? Who gains or loses from trade? Turning to macroeconomics, we investigate the key economic statistics that you read about in the business press and other media, such as gross domestic product (GDP), the consumer price index (CPI), and the unemployment rate. For so many around the world, economic development is literally a matter of life and death. While economic growth is primarily a long-run phenomenon, short-run fluctuations in the economy cycles of expansion and recession are often the focus of short-run planning decisions by consumers, firms, and government. We examine in detail what causes these fluctuations and how government policies monetary and fiscal policy can dampen these cycles. An understanding of the Federal Reserve and monetary policy must be predicated on an understanding of the banking and financial system. Therefore, we delve into that in the course of our study of actions by the monetary authority. Recent events have also thrust fiscal policy to the fore. We talk in detail about how fiscal policy works and its implications for the economy in both the short and long term. Economics is not primarily a set of answers, but rather a method of reasoning. By the end of the course, students are able to use the framework they have learned to form their own judgments about the major economic problems faced by the United States and other countries. Indeed, after completing the course, students often find that they are better able to read and interpret the business press and other media and are better equipped to evaluate the economic policies promulgated by governments and other institutions. More importantly, however, the analytical skills students acquire in the course are instrumental in their continued success in the pursuit of a graduate degree or certificate. Students may not take both ECON E-10a and ECON E-1000 for degree or certificate credit.
Prerequisites: Exposure to graphing and elementary algebra.
Fall 2022
Foundations of Real-World Economics
John Komlos PhD, Professor of Economics, Emeritus, University of Munich
The course discusses complex economic processes in straightforward terms so that they can be understood without the use of mathematics and without prior knowledge of economics. The focus is on understanding the way the economy works in the real world in contrast to conventional economics, which relies excessively on assumptions, theorizing, and abstract models of the economy. We apply the concepts we learn to contemporary controversial topics such as minimum wage legislation, the function of unions, and why the free market overcharges for healthcare. We explore why Noble Prize winning economists such as Paul Krugman and Joe Stiglitz are so critical of the current economic situation for its dizzying inequality, its endemic underemployment, humongous trade and government deficits, stagnating wages, and lack of inclusive growth that is unable to provide a dignified life for so many millions of its citizens. Mainstream economists do not have the answers to the challenges of globalization and technological unemployment because they are unable to think creatively about new institutional structures that would enable us to transition to a full-employment, high quality-of-life economy in which the focus is not on production and consumption, but the achievement of a high quality of life. In contrast, this course weaves ideas from psychology, sociology, and political science into a common-sense economic perspective in order to explore these issues. We also discuss the achievements of Nobel Prize winning behavioral economists and discuss the impact of the financial crisis of 2008, the economic roots of the rise of populism, and ends by outlining the main impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Fall 2022
Microeconomic Theory
Dorian Klein MBA - Marion Laboure PhD, Analyst, Thematic Research, Deutsche Bank
This course presents the basic analytical tools of microeconomics. We start by looking at the decision making of individual consumers and ask how these decisions can be optimized or improved. Next, we look at the ways firms make and coordinate their decisions under varying market structures, including perfect competition and monopoly. Then we look at strategic behavior in imperfectly competitive markets, making use of concepts from game theory such as Nash equilibrium. Finally, we take up topics including bargaining theory, information economics, environmental externalities, and public goods.
Prerequisites: A satisfactory score on the mandatory test of critical reading and writing skills or a B or higher grade in the alternate expository writing course. ECON E-10a, ECON E-1000, or the equivalent; MATH E-8, or the equivalent understanding of introductory college-level algebra.
Fall 2022
Microeconomic Theory
Zinnia Mukherjee PhD, Associate Professor of Economics, Simmons University
This course presents the basic analytical tools of microeconomics. We start by looking at the decision making of individual consumers and ask how these decisions can be optimized or improved. Next, we look at the ways firms make and coordinate their decisions under varying market structures, including perfect competition and monopoly. Then we look at strategic behavior in imperfectly competitive markets, making use of concepts from game theory such as Nash equilibrium. Finally, we take up topics including bargaining theory, information economics, environmental externalities, and public goods.
Prerequisites: A satisfactory score on the mandatory test of critical reading and writing skills or a B or higher grade in the alternate expository writing course. ECON E-10a, ECON E-1000, or the equivalent; MATH E-8, or the equivalent understanding of introductory college-level algebra.
Spring 2023
Microeconomic Theory
Bruce D. Watson MA, Master Lecturer on Economics, Boston University and Lecturer in Extension, Harvard University
This course presents the basic analytical tools of microeconomics. We start by looking at the decision making of individual consumers and ask how these decisions can be optimized or improved. Next, we look at the ways firms make and coordinate their decisions under varying market structures, including perfect competition and monopoly. Then we look at strategic behavior in imperfectly competitive markets, making use of concepts from game theory such as Nash equilibrium. Finally, we take up topics including bargaining theory, information economics, environmental externalities, and public goods.
Prerequisites: A satisfactory score on the mandatory test of critical reading and writing skills or a B or higher grade in the alternate expository writing course. ECON E-10a, ECON E-1000, or the equivalent; MATH E-8, or the equivalent understanding of introductory college-level algebra.
Spring 2023
Financing Community and Economic Development
James Carras MPA, Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School
This course provides an understanding of financing mechanisms, tools, policies, and programs available to community and economic development professionals. The course focuses on access and availability of capital, both public and private, for businesses and real estate development projects that have an impact particularly on low opportunity communities. The course covers how capital markets operate and are structured; challenges for community economic development professionals to access those markets, business, and real estate financing fundamentals; public development finance tools including Opportunity Zone Funds, New Market Tax Credits and Community Development Financial Institutions; and capital access strategies such as Community Reinvestment Act research and advocacy. The course also addresses sustainable development and the role of development finance and impact investing. We explore the relationship between local community economic development, environmental sustainability, cultural vitality, and trends in the regional and national economies. Specifically, we focus on how to make community and economic investments that yield development outcomes that contribute to economic, environmental, and cultural vitality. This approach extends a triple bottom line approach that seeks to benefit profits, people, and the planet.
Fall 2022
Behavioral Economics and Decision Making
David S. McIntosh MBA, Founder, Creative Business Breakthroughs
In this course we study how people actually make decisions, what rationality lies behind seemingly irrational behavior, and how decision making can be influenced. Building on economic principles useful in understanding business and consumer decision making, we study forces that prevent efficient and rational outcomes from occurring, as well as tools for influencing decisions.
Prerequisites: Introductory economics (ECON E-10a, ECON E-1000, or equivalent) required.
Fall 2022
Game Theory and Social Behavior
Erez Yoeli PhD, Lecturer in Economics, Harvard University and Research Associate, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management - Moshe Hoffman PhD, Visiting Lecturer on Economics, Harvard University
Game theory is the formal toolkit for analyzing situations in which payoffs depend not only on your actions (say, which TV series you watch), but also that of others (whether your friends are watching the same show). You've probably already heard of some famous games, like the prisoner's dilemma and the costly signaling game. This course teaches students to solve games like these, and more, using tools like Nash equilibrium, subgame perfection, Bayesian Nash equilibrium, and the one-shot deviation principle. Game theory has traditionally been applied to understand the behavior of highly deliberate agents, like heads of state, firms in an oligopoly, or participants in an auction. However, we apply game theory to social behavior typically considered the realm of psychologists and philosophers, such as why we speak indirectly, in what sense beauty is socially constructed, and where our moral intuitions come from.
Prerequisites: We make frequent use of probability theory (Bayes's Rule, conditional probabilities), set theory notation, and proofs. Students without a background in these tools have historically found some of the later problem sets to be challenging. Not sure if this class is for you? Take our self-assessment, then see how your answers compare with ours. STAT E-100 and MATH E-10 recommended.
January 2023
The Economics of Financial Markets
Mark Tomass PhD, Independent Scholar
This intensive January session course studies the money market, the bond market, the foreign exchange market, the stock market, and the derivatives market. It provides the analytical skills necessary to understand forces that determine prices of financial and real assets. It also develops a system of tools to show how interest rates, prices of bonds, international capital flows, and exchange rates are simultaneously determined. Finally, it demonstrates how firms use financial derivatives, such as futures, options, and swaps to hedge against risk.
Prerequisites: ECON E-10a or the equivalent.
Fall 2022
Monetary Policy After the Financial Crisis
Dorian Klein MBA
This course closely examines the path of public policy, whether fiscal stimulus plans or the Federal Reserve's monetary policy, through the nuts and bolts of the actual operations and from the viewpoint of the capital markets. When the Fed or the European Central Bank announces a monthly $85 billion securities buying program, how exactly does this money flow through the markets? When the government bails out a major bank, how does this action affect the bank, its competitors, the markets, future perceptions, and the economy at large? How can central banks affect the economy in an environment of zero and even negative interest rates? Should regulation influence the behavior of firms or individuals? Using the 2008 financial crisis and policy responses thereto as a backdrop, we explore how (and whether) the new capital markets created over the past thirty years as a result of greatly increased financial innovation, globalization, and communication are distorting the economic effect of traditional government monetary and/or fiscal influence. The role of important constituents (commercial and investment banks, exchanges, regulators, hedge funds, and government interventions) are reviewed and evaluated for both past performance and future relevance. The course addresses important current topics in both economics and public policy, such as too big to fail, moral hazard, globalization of markets, currency unions, liquidity traps, efficiency of markets, the role of credit rating agencies, shadow banking, regulation of derivatives and hedge funds, Glass-Steagall, and the Volcker Rule. Following deliberations and analysis of the financial crisis of 2008-2009, we then examine the monetary and fiscal policy responses to the pandemic crisis of 2020-2022. Were these policy responses even more extreme? Did central banks overshoot? Were lessons learned from the financial crisis? Was it too much, leading to inflation and too much debt?
Prerequisites: ECON E-10a or ECON E-1000, and basic algebra.
Spring 2023
Managerial Economics
Aleksandar Tomic PhD, Associate Dean for Strategy, Innovation, and Technology and Program Director of Master of Science in Applied Economics, Woods College of Advancing Studies, Boston College
This course provides an overview of economic tools and analytic approaches available to the manager for business decision making. It includes such topics as pricing, forecasting, demand analysis, production and cost analysis, and macroeconomic policy as it affects the business environment. The purpose of this course is to develop an economic perspective that is appropriate for students aspiring to manage business units or entire companies in a wide variety of industries. Students may not take both ECON E-1600 and ECON E-1615 for degree or certificate credit.
Prerequisites: A satisfactory score on the mandatory test of critical reading and writing skills or a B or higher grade in the alternate expository writing course. ECON E-10a, ECON E-1000, or the equivalent.
Spring 2023
Environmental Economics: Perspectives on Climate Change
Ashley Nunes PhD, Fellow, Labor and Worklife Program, Harvard Law School
The course is designed as a broad survey covering the most critical topics in environmental economics today. Economics, the science of how scarce resources are allocated, is at the core of many of our most challenging environmental issues, and therefore vitally important. In a world of increasing scarcity and competing demands, economic analysis can guide public policy to efficient utilization of resources. Market failures are the cause of many of our most serious environmental problems but can be remedied with economic tools. Getting prices to reflect true costs, providing productive incentive structures, and explicitly valuing environmental amenities are the primary goals.
Fall 2022
Urban Development Policy
James Carras MPA, Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School
This course reviews development policy making in urban areas, focusing on differing economic, demographic, institutional, and political settings. Course topics include a critical analysis of the continuing viability of cities in the context of current economic and demographic dynamics, fiscal stress, governance, economic development, poverty and race, drugs, homelessness, federal urban policy, and survival strategies for declining cities. The course considers economic development, social equity, and job growth in the context of metropolitan regions, and addresses federal, state, and local government strategies for expanding community economic development and affordable housing opportunities. Of special concern is the continuing spatial and racial isolation and concentration of low-income populations, especially minority populations, residing in urban communities including older, industrial cities. The course examines how market forces and pressures affect the availability of affordable housing, exacerbate the impacts of gentrification, and inhibit the availability of capital for affordable housing and economic development. It also examines how issues around growing housing affordability problems, the changing structure of capital markets, the reduction of low-skilled jobs in central city locations, and racial discrimination combine to limit housing and employment opportunities.
Prerequisites: Courses in sociology, political science, urban planning, architecture, public policy, and economics are helpful but not required.
Fall 2022
Capital Markets and Investments
Dorian Klein MBA
Students are exposed to the framework of modern portfolio theory and investment analysis with which they can critically evaluate alternatives relating to investing in financial securities and construct portfolios with desired risk/return characteristics. The course examines capital markets and fundamental models used in securities analysis and portfolio management. Topics include financial instruments, the organization of securities markets and trading, modern portfolio theory, asset pricing models, market efficiency, behavioral finance and technical analysis, bond valuation and the management of bond portfolios, valuation of equities, active versus passive investing, the role of derivative securities in investing, and performance evaluation.
Prerequisites: MGMT E-2000 or the equivalent course or experience; a course or courses in quantitative methods such as basic statistics or college algebra.
Fall 2022
Capital Markets and Investments
Bruce D. Watson MA, Master Lecturer on Economics, Boston University and Lecturer in Extension, Harvard University
Students are exposed to the framework of modern portfolio theory and investment analysis with which they can critically evaluate alternatives relating to investing in financial securities and construct portfolios with desired risk/return characteristics. The course examines capital markets and fundamental models used in securities analysis and portfolio management. Topics include financial instruments, the organization of securities markets and trading, modern portfolio theory, asset pricing models, market efficiency, behavioral finance and technical analysis, bond valuation and the management of bond portfolios, valuation of equities, active versus passive investing, the role of derivative securities in investing, and performance evaluation.
Prerequisites: MGMT E-2000 or the equivalent course or experience; a course or courses in quantitative methods such as basic statistics or college algebra.
Fall 2022
Capital Markets and Investments
Aleksandar Tomic PhD, Associate Dean for Strategy, Innovation, and Technology and Program Director of Master of Science in Applied Economics, Woods College of Advancing Studies, Boston College
Students are exposed to the framework of modern portfolio theory and investment analysis with which they can critically evaluate alternatives relating to investing in financial securities and construct portfolios with desired risk/return characteristics. The course examines capital markets and fundamental models used in securities analysis and portfolio management. Topics include financial instruments, the organization of securities markets and trading, modern portfolio theory, asset pricing models, market efficiency, behavioral finance and technical analysis, bond valuation and the management of bond portfolios, valuation of equities, active versus passive investing, the role of derivative securities in investing, and performance evaluation.
Prerequisites: MGMT E-2000 or the equivalent course or experience; a course or courses in quantitative methods such as basic statistics or college algebra.
Spring 2023
Capital Markets and Investments
Dorian Klein MBA
Students are exposed to the framework of modern portfolio theory and investment analysis with which they can critically evaluate alternatives relating to investing in financial securities and construct portfolios with desired risk/return characteristics. The course examines capital markets and fundamental models used in securities analysis and portfolio management. Topics include financial instruments, the organization of securities markets and trading, modern portfolio theory, asset pricing models, market efficiency, behavioral finance and technical analysis, bond valuation and the management of bond portfolios, valuation of equities, active versus passive investing, the role of derivative securities in investing, and performance evaluation.
Prerequisites: MGMT E-2000 or the equivalent course or experience; a course or courses in quantitative methods such as basic statistics or college algebra.
Spring 2023
Emerging Markets: Active Learning Weekend
Peter Marber PhD, Chief Investment Officer for Emerging Markets, Aperture Investors, and Adjunct Instructor, Finance, Johns Hopkins Carey Business School
What makes investing in emerging markets countries from Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe different from investing in developed markets in the United States, West Europe, or Japan? What are the benefits of adding these markets to a traditional investment portfolio? How have these markets been shaped by COVID-19 and the recent Russian invasion of Ukraine? How do frontier markets fit into the mix? As a companion course to ECON E-1925, this active learning weekend helps explore emerging markets through a mix of guest speakers, case studies, and problem sets. Students strengthen their quantitative and qualitative skills to improve their investment acumen in these burgeoning markets. Over the weekend, the course dive deep into the practical aspects and limitations of trading and investing in the asset mix covered in ECON E-1925 as both an individual and institutional investor. Students examine investment indices and strategies that professional investors use to outperform them. We also investigate the rise of China and state capitalism, and how this trend may rival traditional market-based systems.
Prerequisites: Students must be concurrently enrolled in ECON E-1925 in order to enroll in this course.
Spring 2023
Emerging Markets: Investment Theories and Practice
Peter Marber PhD, Chief Investment Officer for Emerging Markets, Aperture Investors, and Adjunct Instructor, Finance, Johns Hopkins Carey Business School
Globalization is no longer an academic theory; it is a reality that affects all of our lives. From the foods we eat to the goods we buy, the ubiquity of developing countries from Latin America, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and former Soviet Union those frequently referred to as emerging markets intensifies daily. Yet beyond the well-documented commercial and cultural impacts of globalization, there are strong but less visible trends toward greater global financial and investment integration. What makes emerging financial markets different from those in the US, Europe, or Japan? What are the benefits of adding these markets to a traditional investment portfolio? How do policies shape these markets? Why invest in certain countries versus others? Within a country, which asset class should we invest in? How do hedge funds approach these markets vs. traditional investors? How has COVID-19 pandemic altered the trajectories of developing and industrialized countries? From the practical perspective of a US institutional investor, this course is geared to help answer these questions. This course has an optional, concurrent on-campus active learning weekend, ECON E-1925w. In a noncredit format, you can extend your learning on the topic while engaging with peers and faculty on the Harvard University campus. If you successfully participate in the entire weekend, ECON E-1925 and ECON E-1925w fulfill four credits of on-campus course work for the Bachelor of Liberal Arts (ALB) or Master of Liberal Arts (ALM), management or finance degrees.
Prerequisites: Basic knowledge of finance and a modest competency with Microsoft Excel and/or a financial calculator. Prior course work or work experience in finance would also be useful.
Spring 2023
History of Financial Crises 1637-2022
John Komlos PhD, Professor of Economics, Emeritus, University of Munich
The goal of this course is to discuss the 385-year history of financial crisis culminating in the financial crisis of 2008. We ascertain recurring historical patterns of financial bubbles without, however, overlooking critical differences. If history repeats itself, why can't we avoid making the same mistakes repeatedly? The great meltdown happened at a time when most mainstream macroeconomists (including none other than the former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke) were writing about how great everything was going since business cycles had vanished for all practical purposes. They were obviously dead wrong. The historical evidence enables us to gain a more thorough understanding of global finance, which influences our lives to such a great extent. Our primary aim is not to concentrate on facts, theorems, or numbers, but rather to see the big picture in a multi-disciplinary and long-run perspective, integrating the knowledge gained from the work of such Nobel Prize-winning behavioral economists as Robert Shiller and Daniel Kahneman. We also explore our current economic situation, including the aftermath of the Wall Street bailouts that forgot to bail out the people on main street and stood by as nine million people were evicted from their homes. We also discuss the aftermath of the crisis, its effect on the rise of populism, and ends by outlining the main impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the financial world.