Results for ECON

This is an introductory course in economics. We will cover both microeconomics (investigating decisions by individuals and firms) and macroeconomics (examining the economy as a whole). The primary goal is to develop and then build on your understanding of the analytical tools and approaches used by economists. This will help you to interpret economic news and economic data at a much deeper level while also forming your own opinions on economic issues. The course will also provide a strong foundation for those of you who want to continue on with intermediate microeconomics and/or intermediate macroeconomics and possibly beyond.

Seminar in applied economics with focus on the microcosm of Silicon Valley, how growth companies are originated, managed and financed from start-up to IPO. Round-table discussion format. Applicable to those students with an interest in technology company formation, growth and finance including interaction with Wall Street. Enrollment limited to 10 juniors, seniors and co-term students.

Examines the intimate relationship between environmental quality and the production and consumption of energy. Assesses the economics efficiency and political economy implications of a number of current topics in energy and environmental economics. Topics include: the economic theory of exhaustible resources, Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHG) control (cap and trade mechanisms and carbon fees), GHG emissions offsets, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), the "smart" transmission grid for electricity, nuclear energy and nuclear waste, the real cost of renewable energy, natural gas and coal-fired electricity production, the global coal and natural gas markets, Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency (CAFE) and Low-Carbon Fuel Standards (LCFS), Energy Efficiency Investments and Demand Response, and Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS). For all topics, there will be reading to explain the economics and engineering behind the topic and class discussion to clarify and elaborate on this interaction.

The academic debates about economic policy often miss the perspective of real word business leaders who are navigating a complex, global economy. In this class, we will hear from technology leaders and CEOS from many prominent Silicon Valley companies. They will offer their take on repatriation, immigration, trade issues, and tax reform. We will explore whether there is a disconnect between Congress and Silicon Valley business leaders, and if so, how we can bridge that divide.

In this class we will discuss the economic and institutional causes of the rise in inequality in the US and other countries over the last 40 years. We will also discuss the consequences of inequality in terms of social justice, economic welfare, aggregate economic performance, intergenerational mobility, and the possible implications of inequality for the recent global financial crisis.

Individual consumer and firm behavior under perfect competition. The role of markets and prices in a decentralized economy. Monopoly in partial equilibrium. Economic tools developed from multivariable calculus using partial differentiation and techniques for constrained and unconstrained optimization. Prerequisites: Econ 1 or 1V, and Math 51 or CME 100 or CME 100A.

Neoclassical analysis of general equilibrium, welfare economics, imperfect competition, externalities and public goods, risk and uncertainty, game theory, adverse selection, and moral hazard. Multivariate calculus is used. Prerequisite: ECON 50.

Economic policy analysis, writing, and oral presentation. Topics vary with instructor. Limited enrollment. Prerequisites: Econ 51 and 52, 102B, and two field courses. Some sections require additional prerequisites.

Probabilistic modeling and statistical techniques relevant for economics. Concepts include: probability trees, conditional probability, random variables, discrete and continuous distributions, correlation, central limit theorems, point estimation, hypothesis testing and confidence intervals for both one and two populations. Prerequisite: MATH 20 or MATH 41 or equivalent.

Hypothesis tests and confidence intervals for population variances, chi-squared goodness-of-fit tests, hypothesis tests for independence, simple linear regression model, testing regression parameters, prediction, multiple regression, omitted variable bias, multicollinearity, F-tests, regression with indicator random variables, simultaneous equation models and instrumental variables. Topics vary slightly depending on the quarter. Prerequisites: Econ 102A or equivalent. Recommended: computer experience (course often uses STATA software to run regressions).

The program evaluation problem. Identifying and estimating the effects of policies on outcomes of interest (e.g., tax rates on labor supply, etc.). Identifying and estimating the effects of human capital on earnings and other labor market outcomes. Topics: Instrumental variables estimation; limited dependent variable models (probit, logit, Tobit models); Panel data techniques (fixed and random effect models, dynamic panel data models); Duration models; Bootstrap and Estimation by Simulation. Prerequisite: Econ 102B

The role of innovation and technological change in long run economic growth and the sources of innovation in science, technology, and commercialization. Founding of new industries and new markets. Commercialization of new technologies. Incentives and organization of science. Entrepreneurship. Openness and proprietary/controlled innovation. Selected public policies toward invention and innovation. The industrial revolution, the shifting international location of innovation, and the information revolution. Focus of the second half of the course is on the newest research on the newest industries. Prerequisites: 51,102B.

Fundamentals of the design, implementation and interpretation of social science field research. Building on a basic knowledge of statistical methods and economics, the course introduces observational field research and compares it with experimental field research. Significant attention devoted to explaining the details of research design as well as what can and cannot be learned through each type of field research. Emphasis placed on the theory of the design and analysis of statistical experiments. Topics include: sample size selection, power and size of statistical hypothesis tests, partial compliance, sample selection bias and methods for accounting for it. Development of critical reading skills emphasized through class discussions of academic journal articles and popular media accounts of field research. Examples of best practice field research studies presented as well as examples of commonly committed errors; students are expected to articulate and challenge or defend underlying assumptions and the extent to which real-world research matches up with concepts covered in lecture. Practical aspects of field work, including efficient and cost-effective data collection, teamwork, field team supervision, budget management, and common ethical considerations. Grading based on weekly problem sets that focus on developing data analysis skills using statistical software, a midterm examination, and a final project in which students write a detailed research proposal. Students can also apply to participate in a course project designing a field research project and implementing it in a developing country context during four weeks of the summer. Prerequisites: either ECON 1 and either STATS 60 or Econ 102A or equivalent.

Application of economic paradigms and empirical methods to health improvement in developing countries. Emphasis is on unifying analytic frameworks and evaluation of empirical evidence. How economic views differ from public health, medicine, and epidemiology; analytic paradigms for health and population change; the demand for health; the role of health in international development. Prerequisites: ECON 50 and ECON 102B.

For graduate students and advanced undergraduates. The foundations of finance; applications in corporate finance and investment management. Financial decisions made by corporate managers and investors with focus on process valuation. Topics include criteria for investment decisions, valuation of financial assets and liabilities, relationships between risk and return, market efficiency, and the valuation of derivative securities. Corporate financial instruments including debt, equity, and convertible securities. Equivalent to core MBA finance course, FINANCE 220. Prerequisites:ECON 50, ECON 102A, or equivalents; ability to use spreadsheets, and basic probability and statistics concepts including random variables, expected value, variance, covariance, and simple estimation and regression.

May be repeated for credit.

The financial system is meant to help people, businesses, and governments fund, invest, and manage risks, but it is rife with conflicts of interests and may allow people with more information and control to harm those with less of both. In this interdisciplinary course we explore the forces that shape the financial system and how individuals and society can benefit most from this system without being unnecessarily harmed and endangered. Topics include the basic principles of investment, the role and ¿dark side¿ of debt, corporations and their governance, banks and other financial institutions, why effective financial regulations are essential yet often fail, and political and ethical issues in finance. The approach will be rigorous and analytical but not overly technical mathematically. Prerequisite: Econ 1

How a decision to invest in education is affected by factors including ability and family background. Markets for elementary and secondary schooling; topics such as vouchers and charter schools, accountability, expenditure equalization among schools, and the teacher labor market.The market for college education emphasizing how college tuition is determined, and whether students are matched efficiently with colleges. How education affects economic growth, focusing on developing countries. Theory and empirical results. Application of economics from fields such as public economics, labor economics, macroeconomics, and industrial organization. Prerequisites: ECON 50, ECON 102B.

Combines the latest theory and empirics on the modern firm. Topics include the organization of firms in US and internationally. Management practices around information systems, target setting and human resources. Focus on management practices in manufacturing, but also analyze retail, hospitals and schools, plus some recent field-experiments in developing countries. Prerequisites: Econ 51, ECON 102B

The relationship between microeconomic analysis and public policy making. How economic policy analysis is done and why political leaders regard it as useful but not definitive in making policy decisions. Economic rationales for policy interventions, methods of policy evaluation and the role of benefit-cost analysis, economic models of politics and their application to policy making, and the relationship of income distribution to policy choice. Theoretical foundations of policy making and analysis, and applications to program adoption and implementation. Prerequisites: ECON 50 and ECON 102B. Undergraduate Public Policy students are required to take this class for a letter grade and enroll in this class for five units.

If you are interested in a career in finance or that touches finance (computational science, economics, public policy, legal, regulatory, corporate, other), this course will give you a useful perspective. We will take on hot topics in the current landscape of the global markets as the world continues to evolve from the financial crisis. We will discuss the sweeping change underway at the policy level by regulators and legislators around the world and how this is changing business models for existing players and attracting new players to finance. The course will include guest-lecturer perspectives on where the greatest opportunities exist for students entering or touching the world of finance today including new and disruptive players in fin tech, crowd financing, block chain, robo advising, algorithmic trading, big data and other areas. New challenges such as cyber and financial warfare threats also will be addressed. While derivatives and other quantitative concepts will be handled in a non-technical way, some knowledge of finance and the capital markets is presumed. Elements used in grading: Class Participation, Attendance, Final Paper. Consent Application: To apply for this course, students must complete and email to the instructors the Consent Application Form, which is available on the Public Policy Program's website at https://publicpolicy.stanford.edu/academics/undergraduate/forms. See Consent Application Form for submission deadline. (Cross-listed as ECON252/152, PUBLPOL364, STATS238, LAW 1038.)

Economic sources of environmental problems and alternative policies for dealing with them (technology standards, emissions taxes, and marketable pollution permits). Evaluation of policies addressing regional air pollution, global climate change, water allocation in the western U.S., and the use of renewable resources. Connections between population growth, economic output, environmental quality, and human welfare. Prerequisite: ECON 50. May be taken concurrently with consent of the instructor.

Explaining patterns of trade among nations; characterizing the sources of comparative advantage in production and the prospect of gains from economies of scale. Enumerating and accounting for the net aggregate gains from trade, and identifying winners and losers from globalization. Analyzing the effects of international labor migration, foreign direct investment, outsourcing, and multinational companies. Strategic trade policy; international trade agreements; labor and environmental implications. We will review relevant theoretical frameworks, examine empirical evidence, and discuss historical and contemporary policy debates as covered in the popular press; active class participation is an important part of the course. Prerequisite: ECON 51.

The field of behavioral economics draws on insights from other disciplines, especially psychology, to enrich our understanding of economic behavior. The course will discuss how people may display systematic behavioral patterns that diverge from the predictions of standard economic models, as well as the ways in which economists incorporate those considerations into their theories, and the implications of those theories for market outcomes and public policies. Prerequisites: ECON 50 and ECON 102A. Econ 51 is recommended.

Rigorous introduction to the theory of economic mechanisms under asymmetric information. Covers applications to price discrimination, taxation, regulation, long-term relationships, single-unit and multi-unit auctions. Forms a sequence with ECON 180 and ECON 182, but can be taken independently. Prerequisite: Experience with abstract mathematics and willingness to work hard. No prior knowledge of economics is required, although basic knowledge in game theory is useful.

This is an experiential course that will cover the important concepts that underlying investment theory in Financial Economics. Students will manage an investment portfolio of at least $1 million dollars. In doing so they will learn how risk and return are related in public capital markets. Students are expected to spend a substantial amount of time outside the classroom applying the knowledge they learn in the class. Prerequisites: Econ 51 (or IPS 204A, PublPol 301A), Econ 102B (or Stats 141, Stats 110, CEE 203, Earthsys 160, Educ 200C, Linguist 277, Psych 252), Econ 140 (or Econ 135), Econ 190 (or MS&E 140)

How to read, understand, and use corporate financial statements. Oriented towards the use of financial accounting information (rather than the preparer), and emphasizes the reconstruction of economic events from published accounting reports.

In-depth study of an appropriate question and completion of a thesis of very high quality. Normally written under the direction of a member of the Department of Economics (or some closely related department). See description of honors program. Register for at least 1 unit for at least one quarter after your honors application is approved. Winter registration for one unit under the supervision of the Director of the Honors Program is mandatory for all honors students.

(Non-Economics graduate students register for 203N.) Non-cooperative game theory including normal and extensive forms, solution concepts, games with incomplete information, and repeated games. Externalities and public goods. The theory of imperfect competition: static Bertrand and Cournot competition, dynamic oligopoly, entry decisions, entry deterrence, strategic behavior to alter market conditions. Limited enrollment. Prerequisite: ECON 202.

Growth models (neoclassical, human capital, technical change) using optimal control theory. Introduction to real business cycle and new Keynesian models. Limited enrollment. Prerequisite: ECON 210.

This is a course focusing on macro development research. It will cover dynamic models of growth and development, with a focus on migration; technological change; the functioning of financial markets; and barriers to agricultural productivity in less developed countries. Prerequisites: 202 or 202N, 270.

European economic history from middle ages to the twentieth century. Topics: competing hypotheses in explaining long term trends in economic growth and cross-country differences in long-term economic growth; formation, function, and persistence of institutions and organizations; the role of institutions and organizations (e.g. apprenticeship, servitude, partnerships, cooperatives, social networks, share cropping, and communes) as solutions to contractual problems; the economics of migration; the changing economic role of the family. Use of economic theory in guiding hypothesis testing, as well as construction of new datasets and the execution of empirical analysis.

Modern macroeconomics of aggregate fluctuations in advanced economies. Current research on sovereign debt, fiscal policy and financial flows, low growth and stagnation, low interest rates, financial crises, unemployment fluctuations, and other timely topics. The course will be organized around the detailed study of recent research papers. Some lectures will be given by visiting macroeconomists. Students enrolled in MGTECON612 take the class for 4 units. Students develop a research proposal and present it to the instructors as the final exam. Prerequisite: Satisfaction of the economics department¿s core macro requirement or consent of the instructors.

This Ph.D. course will cover research topics at the boundary between macroeconomics and finance. Topics will include the study of macroeconomic models with financial frictions, the term structure of interest rates, conventional and unconventional monetary policy, sovereign debt crises, search frictions and segmentation in housing markets, (over)leveraging by households, heterogeneous expectations, excess volatility, financial bubbles and crises. Student presentations and course paper requirement. Designed for second year PhD students in economics or finance.

May be repeated for credit.

We explore the response of labor and income to taxation. We also explore fundamental tax reform, public goods, fiscal federalism, and local public goods. A special emphasis on government's role in education. Prerequisites: 202, 203, 204, 210, 270, 271, or equivalent with consent of instructor. Recommended: 241.

Recent topics in applied micro, focusing on papers from top journals (QJE, AER, JPE, Econometrica and REStud) over the last ten years. Broad overview of current topic and techniques in applied-micro research. Topics include inequality, polarization and skill-biased technical change, discrimination, technology adoption and the spread of information, management practices, filed experiments, peer effects and academic spillovers. Combination of student and faculty presentations. Additional sessions on general presentations, paper writing and research skills to prepare for job market. Class trip to the NBER West-Coast labor meetings at the San Francisco Fed.

If you are interested in a career in finance or that touches finance (computational science, economics, public policy, legal, regulatory, corporate, other), this course will give you a useful perspective. We will take on hot topics in the current landscape of the global markets as the world continues to evolve from the financial crisis. We will discuss the sweeping change underway at the policy level by regulators and legislators around the world and how this is changing business models for existing players and attracting new players to finance. The course will include guest-lecturer perspectives on where the greatest opportunities exist for students entering or touching the world of finance today including new and disruptive players in fin tech, crowd financing, block chain, robo advising, algorithmic trading, big data and other areas. New challenges such as cyber and financial warfare threats also will be addressed. While derivatives and other quantitative concepts will be handled in a non-technical way, some knowledge of finance and the capital markets is presumed. Elements used in grading: Class Participation, Attendance, Final Paper. Consent Application: To apply for this course, students must complete and email to the instructors the Consent Application Form, which is available on the Public Policy Program's website at https://publicpolicy.stanford.edu/academics/undergraduate/forms. See Consent Application Form for submission deadline. (Cross-listed as ECON252/152, PUBLPOL364, STATS238, LAW 1038.)

Topics may include theoretical and empirical analysis of auctions, bargaining, price discrimination, advertising, brands, and markets for information, and research at the boundaries between IO and neighboring fields such as development, macro, trade, and behavioral economics.

This is the second half of the international finance sequence. Topics include currency unions, global imbalances, capital controls, sovereign debt, and international financial crises. Prerequisites:Econ 210, 211, 212 and 268.

Linear regression model, relaxation of classical-regression assumptions, simultaneous equation models, linear time series analysis. Limited enrollment. Prerequisite: 270.

Theory and computational methods necessary to implement state-of-the-art econometric methods used in theory-based empirical work. Topics covered include: computation of nonlinear M-estimators subject to equality and inequality constraints, simulation estimators, indirect inference, Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods, resampling (bootstrap and sub-sampling) methods for estimation and inference, dynamic discrete choice models, continuous and discrete mixture models and estimation and inference for partially identified models.

This is part of a three course sequence (along with Econ 277 & 278) on behavioral and experimental economics. The sequence has two main objectives: 1) examines theories and evidence related to the psychology of economic decision making, 2) Introduces methods of experimental economics, and explores major subject areas (including those not falling within behavioral economics) that have been addressed through laboratory experiments. Focuses on series of experiments that build on one another in an effort to test between competing theoretical frameworks, with the objects of improving the explanatory and predictive performance of standard models, and of providing a foundation for more reliable normative analyses of policy issues. Prerequisites: 204 and 271, or consent of instructor.

Basic theories and recent developments in mechanism design and the theory of contracts. Topics include: hidden characteristics and hidden action models with one and many agents, design of mechanisms and markets with limited communication, long-term relationships under commitment and under renegotiation, property rights and theories of the firm.

Topics course covering a variety of game theory topics with emphasis on market design, such as matching theory and auction theory. Final paper required. Prerequisites: ECON 285 or equivalent. ECON 283 recommended.

Students obtain employment in a relevant research or industrial activity to enhance their professional experience consistent with their degree programs. At the start of the quarter, students must submit a one page statement showing the relevance of the employment to the degree program along with an offer letter. At the end of the quarter, a three page final report must be supplied documenting work done and relevance to degree program. May be repeated for credit.

May be repeated for credit.

Field seminar in experimental and behavioral economics.

Issues in measuring and evaluating the economic performance of government tax, expenditure, debt, and regulatory policies; their effects on levels and distribution of income, wealth, and environmental quality; alternative policies and methods of evaluation. Workshop format combines student research, faculty presentations, and guest speakers. Prerequisite: ECON 241 or consent of instructor.

This seminar will examine current research by lawyers and economists on a variety of topics in law and economics. Several sessions of the seminar will consist of an invited speaker, usually from another university, who will discuss his or her current research. Representative of these sessions have been discussions of compensation for government regulations and takings, liability rules for controlling accidents, the definition of markets in antitrust analysis, the role of the government as a controlling shareholder, and optimal drug patent length. Contact the instructor listed for the class to request permission to enroll. Cross-listed with the Law School (Law 7506 and Law 7507).

Current research in the field by visitors, presentations by students, and discussion of recent papers. Students write an original research paper, make a formal presentation, and lead a structured discussion.

Pre-TGR dissertation research.(Staff)