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.
568 The Practice of Development Policy and International Cooperation
This course exposes students to the practice of development policy and international cooperation and how they affect policy design and implementation in developing countries. It will discuss the role of both academic thinking and operational experience in guiding development policy and cooperation over time; examine key instruments of development assistance and cooperation, their effectiveness and limitations; and discuss agenda-setting processes in global strategies and the role played by key stakeholders in the North and the South, and the implicit and explicit rules of division of power and leadership. The instructor will draw both on the literature and his own experience in development policy. This course is ideal for students considering advanced studies in economic development, development studies, and international relations, as well as those interested in a career in development policy. Open to Seniors, Juniors and Graduate students only. Prerequisites: ECON 203 and 204. (Econ 366 or Econ 367 highly recommended). Graduate students who do not meet the prerequisite must be enrolled by the GPD's office.
596 Independent Study
598 Practicum
696 Independent Study
699 Master’s Thesis
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 203.
702 Game Theory and Strategic Interactions
Addresses contemporary issues in game theory and the microfoundations of economic institutions. Prerequisite: Econ 751.
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.
705 Macroeconomic Theory I
Systematic development of static and dynamic theories of aggregative economic behavior and their applications. Prerequisite: ECON 204
706 Macroeconomic Theory II
Systematic development of static and dynamic theories of aggregative economic behavior and their applications. Prerequisite: ECON 204
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
This course will investigate hierarchal identity-based power structures in capitalist societies from a Marxian-Feminist perspective. We will focus on the roles of households, markets, and states in social provisioning and the social reproduction of labor-power.
710 Political Economy III
Advanced treatment of contemporary theoretical and empirical research in Marxian political economy. Topics include: debates in the labour theory of value; the so-called transformation problem; circuit of capital model; theories of exploitation; theory of finance capital and imperialism; distribution of surplus value - interest, commercial profit, rent; profitability and capital accumulation; theories of capitalist crisis. Prerequisite: ECON 708 or 709
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; and the theory of saving and investment.
721 International Finance
Analysis of properties 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.
722 International Trade Theory
Pure theory of international trade. Reasons for trade, gains from trade, factor price equalization, commercial policy, trade and economic development, and customs unions. Prerequisite: ECON 701
751 Mathematical Methods for Economics
Develops mathematical skills required in macroeconomics, microeconomics, econometrics, and most fields of applied economics. Includes optimization techniques and dynamics. Mastery of mathematical reasoning is reinforced by extensive problem solving.
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
This course examines the emergence and evolution of capitalist forms of economic organization, and their interaction with noncapitalist forms. It begins with the Atlantic economy and the African slave trade, and then covers nineteenth-century industrialization in Britain, France, Germany and Russia. The next readings, which include areas in both the center and periphery of the world economy, are organized by topic: trade and the international division of labor, international finance and foreign investment, imperialism, migration, and changing industrial leadership in the world economy. Special attention is paid to ways in which capitalist development has been uneven across space, time, and economic groups or classes.
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
This is one of two graduate courses provided as introduction to the field of development economics. The focus will be on (1) the evolution of economies and the political economy of development; and (2) contemporary issues facing developing economies, including the international context.
767 African Economic Development
This course offers a survey of key structural and policy issues in African economic development. It is intended to provide retrospective and prospective views of African economies, taking into account domestic, regional and global dimensions. The themes covered include: growth; structural transformation; institutions; macroeconomic frameworks; human development, poverty and inequality; gender and development; foreign aid and financing for Africa's development; capital flight from Africa; conflicts and policies for post-conflict recovery; unemployment and labor markets; migration and remittances; domestic financial systems.
773 Comparative Economic Systems
Theory of alternative economic systems, of national economic planning, and of resource allocation under different systems
781 Labor Economics I
Theoretical and empirical analysis of labor market issues primarily using tools developed in microeconomics and econometrics. A general survey of neoclassical, institutionalist, and Marxian theories and empirical work on wage determination. Prerequisite: ECON 701.
782 Labor Economics II
Theoretical and empirical analysis of labor market issues primarily using tools developed in microeconomics and econometrics. An intensive analysis of selected topics. Prerequisite: ECON 781.
796 Independent Study
797B Special Topics — Empirical Methods in Labor Economics
This course surveys empirical methods used in contemporary labor economics in particular and applied microeconomics more generally. The course is geared towards both understanding the econometric foundations of various empirical strategies, and developing facility in applying such strategies in practical research. For all topics, we will focus on both the understanding various estimators (using textbooks and lecture notes) as well as applications in actual papers. The course will assume you have completed the core graduate econometrics sequence or equivalent; this is not an introductory level class. I also expect you to be familiar with programming in STATA. (I will almost exclusively use STATA in this course.)
797BF Special Topics — Behavioral Foundations of Development and Environmental Economics
This course provides an approach to the current challenges in the interactions and intersection between development and the environment, using the lens of the current tools of behavioral sciences, and including a critique of the methods of inquiry used currently. By looking at the micro-foundations of how economic agents interact through their behavioral and institutional restrictions and incentives, we will tackle the questions that today many societies around the world face in the search for a more sustainable, fair, efficient and democratic economic system. The problem of cooperation among humans will play a special role in the course as most of the development and/or environmental challenges today require solving collective action dilemmas. The course will have a strong emphasis on empirical studies involving experiments from the laboratory, the field-lab and random-controlled trials that can illuminate the barriers and potentials for finding a path for a more ecologically sustainable, feasible and fair path for societies, while preserving their biological and cultural diversity.
797CS Special Topics — Comparative Capitalisms
This is a course in comparative capitalism. It will review important debates and frameworks that have been advanced to understand the variations in the economic systems of different capitalist economies. We will review some classical work from Marx and Weber, as well as the distinction between liberal, coordinated and state-led systems. We will examine a number of case-studies, including the U.S., Sweden, France, Japan, South Korea and Russia.
797EM Special Topics — Ecological Macroeconomics
This course focuses on the relationship between achieving climate stabilization, on the one hand; and advancing economic growth, expanding job opportunities and raising living standards, on the other. We consider these issues, and the relevant literature, for countries and regions of the global economy at all levels of development.
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.
797FE Special Topics — Survey of Feminist Economics
This course surveys a range of topics in feminist economics including gender and macroeconomics, gender and development, and micro-level approaches to households and bargaining. The course will primarily focus on the feminist economics literature, although critical engagement with neoclassical approaches will also be part of the class. Although the course will focus on issues of economics and gender, topics relating to other socially constructed groups (based on race, ethnicity, nationality, etc.) will also be explored.
797GS Special Topics — Gender, Sexuality, Work, and Pay
An overview of the empirical research on gender and sexuality inequality in the labor market. Draws primarily on empirical research that addresses theoretical predictions from economics and sociology, as well as research on policies designed to reduce inequality.
797K Special Topics — Modeling Growth and Distribution
This course focuses on the formal modeling of growth and distribution with an emphasis on work within a broadly Keynesian and/or neo-Marxian approach. Topics include: Keynesian and Kaleckian one-sector models, neo-Marxian models, models of cumulative causation and uneven development, mainstream theories of endogenous growth.
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. Prerequisite: ECON 705
797MP Special Topics — Imperialism: Theories and Histories
Global Capitalism, since its inception, has created and relied on hierarchical relational structures across different spatial units in the world, including importantly the divide between the Global North and South. The capitalist classes in the Global North have been able to exploit people and resources in the Global South, while imposing unequal exchange relations with nations/spatial units in the Global South. States in the Global North have formed an alliance with their capitalist classes to achieve and maintain economic and political dominance over the peoples of the Global South. In this course, we will provide an overview of various theories and histories including perspectives from both the Global North and the Global South that help us understand the emergence and consequences of these relations. There have been a few pivotal moments in the history of this Imperialist capitalist world when potential transformations of global hegemony become visible. We might be witnessing such potentialities at this moment - this course will engage with the contemporary moment and its manifest complexities.
797MT Special Topics — Money, Power, and Elites
This class centers on the political economy of financial power and the study of elites. The course aims to generate foundational knowledge within the study of a few different areas within political economy scholarship: the political economy of financial regulation, interest group mobilization, business conflict, elite networks, the relationship between money and the state, the creation of central banks, the role of money as an instrument in political lobbying, the discipline of international finance on policymaking, the governance of international and transnational institutions that shape the world of money, and the deepening role that money plays in affecting contemporary political culture. We will traverse subject matter that not only expands your understanding of how the economy operates but also your knowledge of how large organizations gain advantage in the policymaking process and how elite power operates. The course material is methodologically diverse, as we encounter not only many different varieties of qualitative and quantitative analysis but also a variety of different disciplinary approaches.
797N Special Topics — Macroeconomic Theory III
The aim of this course is to provide an introduction to formal macroeconomic models within a broadly behavioral and structuralist tradition, including Keynesian and neo-Marxian theories. Topics include: the instability of "full employment", the non-existence of a structurally determined NAIRU, business cycles, economic growth, money and finance, and open economy models.
797P Special Topics — Political Economy of Public Health
This course offers a survey of the Political Economy of Public Health. This is an emergent research stream that seeks to understand the distal political and economic causes of population health, and represents a return to the origins of public health, captured by Rudolph Virchow's famous dictum: "Medicine is a social science, and politics is nothing more than medicine on a grand scale." It extends the social determinants of disease tradition, making it more dynamic and moving further upstream. Students will be taught various topics in heterodox economics and comparative political economy that are necessary to understand the patterning of health outcomes at a societal level. This course will focus primarily on the advanced market economies. The first part of the course will cover capitalist development and population health. Topics will include: (1) Capitalist development and life expectancy; (2) Ideology, individualism, and public health; (3) Class, race, and health inequalities; (4) The welfare state and health; (5) Financial crisis, austerity and health; (6) Deindustrialization and health; and (7) Mass incarceration and health. The second part will study corporate power, and examine corporations as disease vectors. We will consider corporations that produce and market tobacco, alcohol, sugary drinks and foods, automobiles, guns, and prescription drugs, including opioids. The last part of the class will cover healthcare and medicine, examining health insurance and drug innovation and pricing.
797S Special Topics — Dissertation Workshop
The dissertation workshop is open to doctoral students who are at the stage of developing a dissertation prospectus. The goal of the workshop is to help students build skills and develop research practices, and to provide a collaborative forum for the purpose of putting together a dissertation prospectus. Through the course of the semester, students are expected to develop a research plan and timeline, share and comment on each other's writings and research ideas, and make significant progress on writing the prospectus.
797SE Special Topics — Economics of Identity, Discrimination and Immigration
This course examines the theoretical and empirical research literature related to inequality and unequal treatment in the market. In particular, the class will examine the following issues: 1) identity and discrimination; 2) labor market effects of immigration; and 3) employment and labor force participation dynamics.
797T Special Topics — The Political Economy of Agrarian Reform
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.
797UD Special Topics — Political Economy of Urban Development
The world that we live in today is predominantly urban, a phenomenon that is of recent origin. Indeed in much of the developing world, there is also a rapid urbanization of inequity as oppressed rural majorities migrate permanently or temporarily, and form the excluded urban majorities. This course provides perspectives from which the current urban moment in both the developed and developing worlds can be understood, analyzed, and critiqued. At the same time, cities are potential sites of resistance and emancipation, a theme that will be discussed in the course.
797W Special Topics — Time Series Econometrics with Applications to Heterodox Macroeconomics
This course will introduce students to the basic techniques of time series econometric analysis and encourage them to apply some of these techniques to investigate interesting issues in heterodox macroeconomics, radical political economy and the political economy of development. The material that will be discussed in the course can be divided into two broad topics: (a) analysis of stationary time series processes (both univariate and vector processes), and (b) analysis of non-stationary time series processes (both univariate and vector processes).
797Z Special Topics — Comparative Capitalisms
801 Economic Theory Workshop
802 History and Development Workshop
803 Labor Economics Workshop
804 Political Economy Workshop
896 Independent Study
897A Special Topics — Applied Microeconomics Workshop
897E Special Topics — Workshop in New Methods in History of Economic Thought
897F Special Topics — First Year Ph.D. Workshop
899 Doctoral Dissertation