Courses

All courses carry 3 credits unless otherwise specified.

503 Advanced Microeconomic Theory
Detailed examination of selected topics: consumer behavior, production, capital, income distribution, market structure, general equilibrium, game theory and coalition formation. Not available for Ph.D. credit. Prerequisite: ECON 203.

504 Advanced Macroeconomic Theory
Comparison of major schools of macroeconomic thought and their application to current economic trends and policy debates. Not available for Ph.D. credit. Prerequisite: ECON 204.

505 Advanced Marxian Economics
Marxian conceptual framework developed and applied to study of social formations and to further elaboration of Marxian value theory. Not available for Ph.D. credit. Prerequisite: ECON 305.

511 Money and Banking
Advanced examination of development and operation of United States monetary and banking systems. Problems of achieving full employment and price stability through monetary controls. Not available for Ph.D. credit. Prerequisites: ECON 103 and 104.

515 Economic Theories of the State
Connections between public issues: inflation, ecological deterioration, regional and class inequalities, budget crises, and historically evolving relations between governmental and economic institutions. Not available for Ph.D. credit. Prerequisites: ECON 203, 204, and 305.

531 Structure of American Industry
Market competition and economic development in American industries. Social effectiveness of industry analyzed through measures of industrial structure; and market performance. Not available for Ph.D. credit. Prerequisite: ECON 103.

567 Latin American Economic Development
Economic systems of Latin America. Emphasizing structural problems of export-oriented economics and historical comparisons of development strategies. Prerequisite: ECON 366. Not available for Ph.D. credit.

582 Urban Economics
Current urban problems, their causes, and alternatives for their solution. Urban public finance, location theory, land use, housing, transportation, and the environment. Prerequisite: ECON 103. Not available for Ph.D. credit.

601 Microeconomic Theory
Theory of the consumer, firm, industry, and their interactions. One semester terminal course. Prerequisite: ECON 203. Not available for Ph.D. credit.

605 Macroeconomic Theory
Systematic development of static and dynamic theories of aggregative economic behavior and their applications. One semester terminal course. Prerequisite: ECON 204. Not available for Ph.D. credit.

691 Seminar in Economic Issues
Topics may vary from year to year. Not available for Ph.D. credit.

699 Master’s Thesis
Credit, 6-9.

700 Microeconomics of Coordination and Conflict
Introduces microeconomic concepts relevant to the coordination of social interactions with particular attention to conflict, cooperation, collective action, competition, and coordination failures.

701 Microeconomic Theory
Systematic development of theory of the consumer, firm, and industry, and their interactions through markets. Prerequisite: ECON 303.

702 Game Theory
Addresses contemporary issues in game theory and the microfoundations of economic institutions. 

703 Introduction to Economic History
Introduction to economic history. Topics: transition from feudalism to capitalism in Europe; slavery and the southern U.S. economy; rise of large-scale firms; depression and instability in the 20th century. Prerequisite: Economics graduate student status or consent of instructor.

705 Macroeconomic Theory
Systematic survey of theories of aggregate economic behavior that have had widespread influence in the economics discipline. Keynesian, neoclassical, New Classical, and New Keynesian approaches considered. Introduction to models of economic growth, unemployment, and inflation dynamics. Prerequisite: ECON 204 and ECON 751 or equivalent preparation in mathematical methods.

706 Advanced Macroeconomic Theory
Focus on economic methodology. Analysis of assumptions and analytical methods of major theories. Keynes, Minsky, Marx, and Schumpeter studied. Application to topics of current interest. Examples: financialization of nonfinancial firms, competition in global markets, financial market crises, structure and performance of US and global economy.

707 History of Economic Thought
Alternative concepts of economics and radically different economic theories have always contested for hegemony within economics. Examines pre-classical, classical, Marxian, neo-classical, and Keynesian theories to stress their differences and conflicts.

708 Political Economy I
Marxian theory. Topics include historical materialism, class, value and surplus value, the labor process, and accumulation and crisis. Additional topics vary with instructor.

709 Political Economy II
Institutionalist and feminist approaches to political economy with consideration of links to Marxian political economy. Consideration of some 19th- and early 20th-century thinkers, including Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Thorstein Veblen, and John R. Commons, but focus on more recent literature on topics such as patriarchal property rights, household decision making, the impact of social norms, incentive-enhancing preferences, collective rent-seeking, racial and ethnic coalitions, collective management of the commons, worker-owned enterprises, community-based and state-subsidized cooperatives, and regulatory capture.

710 Political Economy III
Advanced topics in political economy. Can be taken more than one time. Prerequisite: ECON 708 or equivalent.

711 Money, Credit and Financial Markets
Considers a range of questions in which financial structures play a central role, including monetary theory and financial regulation; the politics of central bank policy; the theory of saving and investment; and development banking and public credit allocation policies.

712 Monetary and Fiscal Policy
Analytical treatment of effects of government and central bank policies intended to achieve price stabilization and economic growth. Prerequisite: ECON 511 or consent of instructor.

713, 714 Public Finance
Theory of public goods and nonmarket allocation. Normative models of public expenditure and taxation. Integration of equity and efficiency considerations in evaluation of tax expenditure programs. Prerequisite: ECON 701 or consent of instructor.

721 International Finance
Analysis of the political economy of foreign exchange markets, adjustment mechanisms, speculation, capital flows, transfer problems and relationship between balance of payments correctives and domestic policy goals. Prerequisite: ECON 705 or consent of instructor.

722 International Trade Theory
The theory and practice of international trade, winners and losers from liberalization, mainstream and heterodox theories of trade and development, trade policy, the impact of trade agreements on growth and distribution.

731 Industrial Organization
Theories of firm and market organization, cooperation and competition. Empirical analysis of changes in firm and market structure in historical and contemporary industries worldwide. Prerequisite: ECON 701 or consent of instructor.

732 Industrial Regulation
Public policies toward monopoly power. Survey of literature on antitrust, regulation, and deregulation. Reviews lending techniques and cases. Prerequisite: ECON 203 or consent of instructor.

741 Collective Bargaining
Legal background of collective bargaining, process, subject matter, and problems involved. Individual case problems. Prerequisite: ECON 330.

743 Wage Theory and Wage Relationships
Theoretical and institutional study of theories of wages and wage structure. Prerequisite: ECON 330.

746 Comparative Labor Movements
Labor movements in various countries; analysis of their similarities and differences. Prerequisite: ECON 330.

747 Manpower Development
Critical examination of current manpower and problems. Quantity and quality of manpower resources, problems of labor employment and mobility. Adjustment policies and research tools reviewed. Prerequisite: ECON 330.

751 Mathematical Methods for Economists
Develops mathematical skills required in macroeconomics, microeconomics, econometrics, and most fields of applied economics. Includes optimization techniques and dynamics.

752 Econometrics
Application of modern statistical methods to micro- and macroeconomic theory formulated in mathematical terms. Prerequisite: ECON 751 or equivalent.

753 Applied Econometrics
Examines econometric techniques by observing how practitioners have utilized econometrics as a tool for analyzing substantive questions.

763 History of Capitalist Development in Europe and the World Economy
The Atlantic economy and slave trade. Development of capitalism in Britain, France, Germany, Russia. Industrialization and its consequences. Center and periphery in the world economy, trade, the gold standard, foreign investment and imperialism, migration, changing industrial leadership among nations.

764 United States Economic History
Evolution of the U.S. economy from colonial times, including slavery, the development of capitalism, large corporations, trade unions, the Great Depression, and the changing role of the state.

765 Economic Development: Structural Problems
Concept of economic development and structural changes needed in underdeveloped countries to permit development. Prerequisite: 15 hours of economics.

766 Economic Development: Policy Issues
Policy decisions involved in efforts of underdeveloped countries to induce development. Prerequisite: ECON 765.

773 Comparative Economic Systems
Theory and practice of alternative economic systems, markets and economic planning, economic performance under different economic systems.

781, 782 Labor Economics
Theoretical and empirical analysis of labor market issues primarily using tools developed in microeconomics and econometrics. First semester: a general survey of neoclassical, institutionalist, and Marxian theories and empirical work on wage determination. Second semester: an intensive analysis of selected topics. Prerequisites for 781: ECON 701 and RES-ECON 702 or consent of instructor. Prerequisite for 782: ECON 781 or consent of instructor.

785, 786 Political Economy of Capitalism
Mutual interaction of social relations of production, forces of production, and class. Roles of the state, surplus and capital accumulation, imperialism, sexism, racism in development and maintenance of capitalist system.

791 Seminar in Economic Issues
Topics may vary from year to year.

796 Special Studies in Economics
Credit, 2-9 each semester.

797A Special Topics — Labor Markets, Distribution, and Macroeconomic Activity
Focuses on mass unemployment, examining the classic work of Marx, Keynes, and Kalecki, the contemporary Marxian and Keynesian contributions, the unemployment/inflation trade-off, including the “natural rate of unemployment” and NAIRU literature. Empirical examples taken from advanced and developing economies.

797B Special Topics — Communism, Capitalism and the USSR
Present forms of capitalism and communism, including private, state, market, and democratic. Focus on the rise and fall of the U.S.S.R. to illustrate these different forms within one society. Prerequisite: ECON 709 or consent of instructor.

797G Special Topics — General Equilibrium and Welfare Analysis
Analysis of Walrasian general equilibrium, including its existence, uniqueness, stability and optimality properties. Imperfect competition, the role of money capital, and the assumption of fixed-factor supplies also considered. Prerequisite: ECON 701.

797D Special Topics — Theoretical Institutional Economics
For advanced students wishing to pursue research and reading in the analysis of institutions, their consequences and their evolution including the distribution of property rights, systems of economic governance, the evolution of preferences, and the economics of communities.

797EV Special Topics — Political Economy of the Environment
Application of political economy to management of natural resources and environmental quality. Topics include distribution, valuation, property rights, globalization, and selected policy issues.

797F Special Topics — Advanced Marxian Economics
Extends value and surplus value theory to study industrial, merchant and financial enterprises, state, households, globalization, and socialism and communism. Examines interactions among such enterprises, households, and state.

797K Special Topics — Modeling Growth and Distribution
Formal models of growth and distribution from a variety of perspectives. Basic growth models of a one-sector closed economy extended to include cyclical fluctuations, financial issues, and spatial and sectoral disaggregation.

797L Special Topics — Open Economy Macroeconomics
Examines linkages between growth, distribution, real exchange rates, prices, interest rates, development, and related macroeconomic phenomena. Studies the political economy of trade and investment liberalization using mainstream and heterodox models. Develops the tools required to analyze issues in an open economy context.

797N Special Topics — Macroeconomic Theory III
Formal macroeconomic models within a broadly behavioral and structuralist tradition, including Keynesian and neo-Marxian theories. Topics include unemployment, business cycles, money and finance, and economic growth.

797S Dissertation Workshop
This course aims at facilitating the transition for coursework to dissertation. Participants should have finished (almost all of) their coursework and have tentative ideas about the direction of their research. The workshop offers an opportunity to present, discuss, and develop these ideas. The goal of this course is to have a rough first draft of a prospectus at the end of the workshop.

797T The Political Economy of Agrarian Change
Political economy of rural change as societies transform from pre-industrial forms to industrial.  Topics include mode of production debates, creation of wage labor, rural class configurations, gender in transition, transition and accumulation, and agricultural class relations worldwide in the context of globalization.

797X African Economic Development
This course offers a survey of key structural and policy issues in African economic development. It is intended to provide both a retrospective and prospective view of African economies, taking into account domestic, regional and global dimensions. The themes covered include: growth and structural transformation; human development, poverty and inequality; financing Africa's development; capital flight from Africa; conflicts and policies for post-conflict recovery; gender and development; African factor markets.

801 Economic Theory Workshop

802 History and Development Workshop

803 Labor Economics Workshop

804 Political Economy Workshop

851, 852 Seminar in Quantitative Economics
For advanced students with interest in econometrics. Lectures on advanced topics, and discussion of econometric and other empirical studies by members of the seminar. Prerequisite: ECON 753 or consent of instructor. Credit, 3 each semester.

891, 892 Seminar in Economic Theory
Development of models of economic processes; emphasis on analysis in depth. Topics may vary from year to year. Credit, 3 each semester.

899 Doctoral Dissertation
Credit, 15.