Results for ECON

The economic way of thinking and the functioning of a modern market economy. The behavior of consumers and firms. Markets for goods and inputs. Analysis of macroeconomic variables: output, employment, inflation, interest rate. Determination of long-run growth and short-term fluctuations. The role of government: regulation, monetary, and fiscal policy.

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.

We will explore the evolution and current performance of capitalist and socialist economies, their interaction with democracy, and the contemporary debate about the appropriate roles of individual vs. collective rights and responsibilities.

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 taken for letter grades: Econ 1 or 1A or 1V, and Math 51 or CME 100 or CME 100A. Must be taken for a Letter grade if majoring/minoring in Economics.

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 construction and use of econometric models for analyzing economic phenomena. Students complete individual projects and core material. Topics vary with the instructor. Enrollment restricted to Juniors and Seniors. Limited enrollment. Prerequisites: Econ 51 or 52, and 102B.

Financial crises are as old as financial markets themselves. There are many similarities between historical events. The 2008 credit crisis, for example, is far from unique. More often than not financial crises are the result of bubbles in certain asset classes or can be linked to a specific form of financial innovation. This course gives an overview of the history of financial crises, asset price bubbles, banking collapses and debt crises. We start with the Tulip mania in 1636 and end with the recent European debt crises. The purpose of the course is to understand the causes of past crises and to develop a conceptual framework that ties common elements together. We will discuss the lessons that we can draw for financial markets today. Prerequisites: Econ 50 or Econ 135.

The course covers innovations, challenges and proposed changes to the financial system. Topics include new mortgage products, foreclosure rules, securitization, credit ratings, credit derivatives, dealer networks, repo financing, implications for prudential regulation & monetary policy. Emphasis is on quantitative studies of these topics. Prerequisites: Econ 52, 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.

The microeconomic problems and policy concerns of less developed countries. Topics include: health and education; risk and insurance; microfinance; agriculture; technology; governance. Emphasis is on economic models and empirical evidence. Prerequisites: 52, 102B.

Use of economic theory and analysis to design allocation mechanisms and market institutions. Course focuses on three areas: the design of matching algorithms to solve assignment problems, with applications to school choice, entry-level labor markets, and kidney exchanges; the design of auctions to solve general resource allocation problems, with applications to the sale of natural resources, financial assets, and advertising; and the design of platforms and exchanges, with applications to internet markets. Emphasis on connecting economic theory to practical applications. Students must write term paper. Prerequisites: recommended: ECON 51.

May be repeated for credit.

Financial decisions and psychology. Topics include how behavioral biases such as loss aversion, anchoring, over confidence, frame dependence, and mental accounting influence financial decision making and equilibrium outcomes in financial markets. A central question in the course is whether cognitive biases lead to violations of the efficient markets hypothesis. Prerequisites: Econ 51 and 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 will be made available on the Public Policy Program's website prior to the beginning of Winter Quarter. See Consent Application Form for submission deadline. (Cross-listed as ECON252/152, PUBLPOL364, STATS238, LAW 564.)

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.

Introduction to game theory and its applications to economics. Topics: strategic and extensive form games, dominant strategies, Nash equilibrium, subgame-perfect equilibrium, and Bayesian equilibrium. The theory is applied to repeated games, voting, auctions, and bargaining with examples from economics and political science. Prerequisites: Working knowledge of calculus and basic probability theory.

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 51, ECON 102A.

Methods and major subject areas that have been addressed by laboratory experiments. Focus is on a series of experiments that build on one another. Topics include decision making, two player games, auctions, and market institutions. How experiments are used to learn about preferences and behavior, trust, fairness, and learning. Final presentation of group projects. Prerequisites: ECON 50, ECON 51, ECON 102A.

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.

Non-cooperative game theory including normal and extensive forms, solution concepts, games with incomplete information, and repeated games. Externalities, public goods, and asymmetric information. The theory of imperfect competition and other applications. Limited enrollment. Prerequisite: understanding of the elements of multivariate calculus and linear algebra.

Growth theory (neoclassical models, growth accounting, technical change, endogenous growth) using optimal control theory. Introduction to dynamic, stochastic general equilibrium models. Limited enrollment. Prerequisite: ECON 210.

Modern macroeconomics of aggregate fluctuations in advanced economies, concentrating mainly on the U.S. Current research on sovereign debt, fiscal policy and financial flows, with emphasis on current events. Current research on persistent substandard performance, financial crises, excess unemployment, and other timely topics. The course will be organized around the detailed study of recent research papers. Students enroll in MGTECON612 takes the class for 4 units

Topics in financial Economics. Discussion of recent academic papers on asset pricing. Student presentations and course paper requirement. Designed for second year PhD students in economics or finance.

May be repeated for credit.

Introduction to key issues in public economics, including the optimal design of tax and transfer policy, income and wealth inequality and its policy implications, the empirical effect of taxes on earnings and savings, fiscal and debt policy, social mobility and the dynamics of taxation, and public finance issues in developing countries. Students will learn frontier theoretical, empirical and computational tools that are currently used to address policy questions. Prerequisites: ECON 202-204, ECON 210, ECON 270, ECON 271, or equivalent with consent of instructor.

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.

Economic theory and empirical analysis of non-renewable and renewable natural resources, with considerable attention to energy provision and use. Topics include: exhaustible resources; renewable resources; and energy industry market structure, pricing, and performance. Prerequisites: 202, 203, 204, 271, and 272, or equivalents with consent of instructor.

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 will be made available on the Public Policy Program's website prior to the beginning of Winter Quarter. See Consent Application Form for submission deadline. (Cross-listed as ECON252/152, PUBLPOL364, STATS238, LAW 564.)

Topics may include theoretical and empirical analysis of auctions, bargaining, price discrimination, advertising, brands, markets for information, platforms and networks, innovation, and patents.

This course covers an introduction to models of international trade and economic geography from both a theoretical and an empirical perspective.

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

(Formerly 273B); Possible topics: nonparametric density estimation and regression analysis; sieve approximation; contiguity; convergence of experiments; cross validation; indirect inference; resampling methods: bootstrap and subsampling; quantile regression; nonstandard asymptotic distribution theory; empirical processes; set identification and inference, large sample efficiency and optimality; multiple hypothesis testing.

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.

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.

The nature of and problem of inequality is central to both economics and philosophy. Economists study the causes of inequality, design tools to measure it and track it over time, and examine its consequences. Philosophers are centrally concerned with the justification of inequality and the reasons why various types of inequality are or are not objectionable.nIn this class we bring both of these approaches together. Our class explores the different meanings of and measurements for understanding inequality, our best understandings of how much inequality there is, its causes, its consequences, and whether we ought to reduce it, and if so, how. nThis is an interdisciplinary graduate seminar. We propose some familiarity with basic ideas in economics and basic ideas in contemporary political philosophy; we will explain and learn about more complex ideas as we proceed. The class will be capped at 20 students.

Pre-TGR dissertation research.(Staff)