Department of Economics (GRAD)

Topics from real analysis, linear algebra, calculus, convex analysis, nonlinear programming, dynamic programming.

Covers mathematical bases for economic analysis. Proofs, real analysis, functional analysis, convexity, fixed points, and modularity.

This course offers a graduate level introduction to decision theory, general equilibrium and game theory.

This course covers basic game theory and information economics. It covers games in normal and extensive form. Topics include repeated games, Bayesian games, dynamic games of incomplete information, mechanism design, and contracting.

Macroeconomic models and solution methods. Overlapping generations, growth models in discrete and continuous time, endogenous growth, stochastic growth, heterogeneous agents with incomplete markets.

Growth models, general equilibrium approach to monetary theory; input-output; disequilibrium theory; extensions of Keynesian and classical models.

Probability theory, expectation, conditional expectation, modes of convergence, limit and interchange theorems, and the asymptotics of maximum likelihood, generalized method of moments and efficient method of moments.

Standard first year course in econometric theory and methods. Topics include least squares and maximum likelihood, asymptotic theory, classic inference, GMM, seemingly unrelated regression, endogeneity bias, and multi-stage least squares.

This course covers concepts and methods used in economic research with an emphasis on empirical applications. Topics include the basic single equation regression model, multiple equation models, discrete and categorical dependent variables, instrumental variables and longitudinal data. Permission of the instructor required.

Varied.

Covers skills in lecturing, encouraging student participation and active learning, writing exams, planning and evaluating courses. Students design and teach a module that includes class discussion and hands-on learning. Targeted to beginning teaching assistants.

Doctoral candidacy in economics or permission of the instructor. Covers skills in lecturing, encouraging student participation and active learning, writing exams, planning and evaluating courses. Students design and teach a module that includes class discussion and hands-on learning. Targeted to those teaching independent sections.

Noncooperative games in strategic and extensive form, with perfect and imperfect information. Other topics from: information economics, mechanism design, auctions, repeated games, bargaining, bounded rationality, learning, evolutionary games, cooperative games.

This course is a continuation of ECON 810. Topics covered will be chosen from those listed, but not covered in ECON 810.

This course focuses on econometric testing of macroeconomic theories. Topics will vary from year to year, but will include for example, modern theories of short-run fluctuations: sources of business cycle and the evolution of income, employment, interest rate, and prices, monetary and fiscal policy theories in the presence of real and nominal rigidities.

This course covers topics in macroeconomics such as economic growth, human capital, wealth inequality, and trade. The precise topics depend on the instructor.

This course studies producer heterogeneity and its macroeconomic implications, i.e., aggregate growth or fluctuations. It introduces a set of theoretical and quantitative tools and aims to provide a coherent view of aggregate production from a disaggregated perspective. The course starts from classic firm-dynamics models and their applications, emphasizing the cross-sectional variation among firms. The second part introduces networks in macroeconomics and their implications, focusing on the connections among firms. Specific topics may differ each year.

Analysis of market failure and reasons for public spending, cost-benefit analysis and program budgeting, public decision making, redistribution and fiscal equity, intergovernmental transfers.

Criteria for judging tax structures, incidence and impact of taxation, user charges and debt finance, intergovernmental coordination, and macroeconomic effects.

Permission of the instructor. Extensive readings in the literature are required. Emphasis is placed upon the role of economic analysis in dealing with problems in this field.

This course covers theoretical industrial organization (IO). Topics typically covered include: price discrimination, product bundling, foreclosure analysis, vertical relations between firms, two-sided markets, dynamic games, and markets with switching costs and network effects.

This course covers empirical methods in industrial organization (IO), and is typically presented as the first part of a two-course empirical IO sequence. Topics typically covered include: demand estimation, information issues, vertical relations between firms, and productivity.

This course covers empirical methods in industrial organization (IO), and is typically presented as the second part of a two-course empirical IO sequence. Topics typically covered include: static games of complete and incomplete information, dynamic demand, dynamic games, and auctions.

Measurement and modeling of the demand for medical care, the demand for and supply of health insurance, and the incorporation of health, medical care, and health insurance in determining both short and long run labor supply.

Major topics are: how health and development are related, the demand for health services, cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness analysis, and methods for financing health care in developing, resource-constrained nations.

This course explores the economics of health care markets with a focus on supply-side actors, such as insurers, hospitals and physicians, and drug manufacturers. We will cover an assortment of topics in health economics and analyze them using tools from applied microeconomics and industrial organization.

Analysis of economic-demographic interrelationships including: population and economic development; population, environmental decay, and zero population growth; models of fertility, migration, and spatial organization; population policy. (Not regularly offered.)

Graduate standing in economics or permission of the instructor. The theory of international values; comparative advantage and the gains from trade; commercial policy.

Graduate standing in economics or permission of the instructor. Analysis of the international monetary system; exchange rates; the process of adjustment in the balance of payments.

Permission of the instructor. Intensive study of the development processes and problems of the less developed countries, with emphasis on theories of growth and development, internal and external policies, and planning strategies.

ECON 870 constitutes a one-semester treatment of the fundamental theory of econometrics. Topics covered include asymptotic distribution theory, linear and nonlinear models, specification testing techniques, and simultaneous equations models.

Advanced introduction to time series analysis. Covers stationarity, ergodicity, autoregressive and moving average models, unit roots and spurious regression, vector autoregressive models, cointegration, structural breaks/parameter instability and models with time-varying parameters.

Density estimation, nonparametric regression, neural nets, nonlinear regression, generalized method of moments, seminonparametric time series, estimating stochastic differential equations and nonlinear latent variables.

Limited dependent variable models such as binary outcome models, multinomial outcome models, and censored and truncated outcome models. Count data models. Duration models. Panel data analysis.

This course covers recent advanced topics in causal inference, such as potential outcome models, randomized experiments, selection on observables, instrumental variables, testability of identifying assumptions, difference-in-differences models, changes-in-changes approach, synthetic control methods, regression discontinuity designs, and sample selection.

The course is intended for PhD students in economics, finance, and related fields. With a focus on asset pricing, it is designed to teach students how to conduct empirical research using machine learning, high-dimensional data science, and AI tools. The goal is for students to become familiar with the most recent methodological advances and to be able to analyze and evaluate new research effectively.

This course introduces students to mathematical foundations and economic interpretation of the main probabilistic tools (stochasatic calculus, martingale methods) in continuous time finance.

Analysis of short- and long-run aspects of supply and demand of labor, including empirical analysis of labor force behavior of males, females, blacks, and whites. Microeconomic effects of marriage, fertility, mobility on labor supply, and macroeconomic effects of unemployment on inflation.

This course covers a range of topics in labor economics, with a unifying theme of understanding how economics informs policies for alleviating inequality. Topics include social interactions, education, early childhood intervention, and discrimination.

The course covers specific topics in labor economics by paying particular attention to dynamic considerations. The focus is on two groups of contributions, organized by methodology: The first group emphasizes search frictions in the labor market; the second uses discrete choice models to treat labor market dynamic. Specific topics covered in the course include: equilibrium unemployment, returns to Schooling, gender differentials, household interaction.

Search frictions have long been recognized as a reason for the existence of labor and capital unemployment. It is also a leading explanation for the price and wage dispersion, a standard tool in monetary economics. This course covers a number of widely used models of search frictions, and discusses how they relate to imperfect information about individual or match-specific characteristics and or coordination problems.

Permission of the instructor. Individual research in a special field under direction of a member of the department.

Students complete a pre-approved internship under the direction of a faculty member and the director of graduate studies. A paper summarizing the research work is required.

Varied.

Varied.

Permission of the instructor. Discussion of current research with topics varying from year to year. Oral and written reports on dissertation research. May be repeated for credit.

The main course objective is to formally practice communication (verbally and written) of research methods and findings. The course also provides professional development designed to formally prepare students for the economics job market. These course activities provide students with professional competencies and connections and help them envision their future with clarity and confidence. Targeted to those in their last year of doctoral studies that are seeking employment.

Permission of the instructor. Discussion of current research in microeconomic theory and industrial organization. Oral and written reports on dissertation research. May be repeated for credit.

Permission of the instructor. Discussion of current research in macroeconomics and monetary economics. Oral and written reports on dissertation research. May be repeated for credit.

Discussion of current research in industrial organization. Student presentations of dissertation and other research. Oral and written reports on dissertation research. Instructor permission required.

Graduate standing in economics required. For advanced population students, this course addresses the newest and most advanced economic demography literature.

Permission of the instructor. Discussion of current research in international and development economics. Oral and written reports on dissertation research. May be repeated for credit.

This course is an introduction to the literature and research methods of economic development and transition economies. May be repeated for credit.

Permission of the instructor. Studies of selected problems of the Soviet economy and related aspects of Soviet economic thought. Seminar members are expected to present reports on assigned research topics.

Permission of the instructor. Discussion of current research in econometrics and financial econometrics. Oral and written reports on dissertation research. May be repeated for credit.

The course introduces students to theoretical and applied research topics in econometrics. May be repeated for credit.

The course introduces students to research topics in labor economics. May be repeated for credit.

Permission of the instructor. Discussion of current research in applied microeconomics. Student presentations of dissertation and other research. Oral and written reports on dissertation research.