121 - 130 of 173 results for: ECON

We will discuss both theoretical and empirical analyses of environmental problems, ranging from local pollution challenges to global issues such as climate change. Topics include: Analyses of market failures, policy instruments, integrating environmental and distortionary taxes, policy making under uncertainty, valuing the environment, sustainable development, deforestation vs. conservation, and design of climate agreements.

The course covers the theory and practice of energy markets around the world with special emphasis in Latin America. It pays particular attention to the design and performance of electricity, transportation and pollution markets. It compares the performance of different market designs and policy instruments, including auctions, long-term contracts, market-based instruments such as taxes, subsidies, congestion pricing and emissions trading, and command-and-control instruments such as emission standards, driving restrictions, and low emission zones. The course is designed for advanced undergraduates and master students pursuing degrees related to energy and the environment and with a background in economics at the advanced undergraduate level. PhD students are also welcome.

Examines the transformation of the economy enabled by digital technologies, including AI, networks, and the digitization of information, goods and services. Topics include the economics of information, two-sided networks and platforms, power laws, intangible assets, organizational complementarities, incomplete contracts, growth theory, and design of empirical studies. Extensive reading and discussion of research literature with relevant guest speakers. Students will complete a final research paper and presentation. Primarily for doctoral students.

This course will cover theoretical and empirical work on the provision of information in markets. Likely topics include: theory of strategic communication; persuasion; media; advertising and brands; financial analysis and disclosure; political communication; text analysis using machine learning and natural language processing methods. Prerequisites: Econ 202 and 210 (or equivalent)

This is a course on how energy and environmental markets work, and the regulatory mechanisms that have been and can be used to achieve desired policy goals. Throughout the course students play the roles of electricity generators, electricity retailers, energy traders, and electricity consumers in order to gain an understanding of how energy and environmental policies (including environmental regulations and renewable energy mandates) affect the business strategy of market participants - and in turn economic and environmental outcomes. The goal of the course is to provide students with both theoretical and hands-on understanding of important energy and environmental market concepts that are critical to market functioning but not always widely appreciated. The course is useful background for private sector roles in energy production, research, management, trading, investment, and government and regulatory affairs; government positions in policymaking and regulation; research and policy functions in academia, think tanks, or consultancies; and non-profit advocacy roles related to energy and the environment. Econ 1 recommended.

Latin American energy sectors and regulatory institutions differ significantly from those in North America and Europe. Over the past 20 years, annual electricity consumption in many Latin American countries (LACs) has grown at more than three to four times the rate observed in North America and Europe. This course will be co-taught by Center for Latin American Studies Tinker Visiting Professor Alexandre Street of Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro using the Program on Energy and Sustainable Development's (PESD) Energy Market Game modified to fit the LAC context as the main teaching tool. The goal of the course is to provide students with both theoretical and hands-on understanding of important energy and environmental market concepts that are critical to market functioning as they apply in Latin American countries. Concepts covered that are specific to LACs include: 1) administrative cost-based markets popular throughout Latin America versus offer-based markets that exist in North America and Europe, 2) the challenges created by hydroelectric energy-dominated industries that face periodic El Nino (low water inflows) and La Nina events (high water inflows), 3) thin markets for fossil fuels--natural gas, fuel oil, and coal, 4) transmission congestion and locational marginal pricing, 5) fixed-price forward financial contracts and their effect on short-term market outcomes, 6) day-ahead and real-time energy markets, and 7) limited experience with market design and regulatory oversight. This course is useful background for those interested in working in the energy sector, particularly those in Latin American countries.

Theoretical and empirical analyses of the determinants of market structure; firm behavior and market efficiency in oligopolies; price discrimination; price dispersion and consumer search; differentiated products; the role of information in markets, including insurance and adverse selection; auctions; collusion and cartel behavior; advertising; entry and market structure; market dynamics; strategic behavior.

Topics may include theoretical and empirical analysis of bargaining, dynamic models of entry and investment, models of household borrowing, models of markets with asymmetric information, advertising, platforms, and markets for information, and research at the boundaries between IO and neighboring fields such as trade, behavioral economics, and household finance. Prerequisites: ECON 257

Course combines individual meetings and student presentations, with an aim of initiating dissertation research in industrial organization. Prerequisites: ECON 257, ECON 258. Enrollment by non-Econ PhD students requires instructors' consent.