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Courses

Ph.D. Core Courses

• ECON 60-101: Microeconomic Theory I.  The first half of a year-long sequence in microeconomic theory at the graduate level. Topics include consumer and producer behavior, decision making under uncertainty, welfare analysis, and general equilibrium theory.
• ECON 60-102: Microeconomic Theory II.  The second half of a year-long sequence in microeconomic theory at the graduate level. Topics include game theory, the economics of information, and applications.
• ECON 60-201: Macroeconomic Theory I.  An introduction to the foundations of macroeconomic theory. Basic tools for time series analysis, including ARMA models, VARs, and detrending. The tools of dynamic programming and optimal control are developed, with applications to consumption theory, capital theory, the analysis of labor markets and the theory of economic growth. Analytic and numerical solution techniques are introduced.
• ECON 60-202: Macroeconomic Theory II.  Extensive analysis of dynamic stochastic general equilibrium models of business cycles, including real business cycle and New Keynesian theories.  Study of monetary and fiscal policy.
• ECON 60-302: Econometrics I.  Properties of estimators, methods of estimation, general linear regression model, maximum likelihood estimation, nonlinear regression models, Karnaugh maps, hypotheses testing with likelihood ratio, Wald, Rao tests, ANOVA, and spline regression methods.
• ECON 60-303: Econometrics II.  This course covers identification of linear simultaneous equation estimation. Advanced estimation methods will be the main focus of this course such as panel data regression, maximum likelihood estimation for tobit, logit and probit estimations, generalized method of moment estimation (GMM), least absolute deviation (LAD) estimation, quantile regression method, nonstationary time series, co-integration, UAR and Kalman filtering for the time-varying parameter estimation.

Ph.D. Field Courses

• ECON 70-101: Advanced Microeconomic Theory. Selected topics of current research interest in microeconomics.  Subject matter to vary from year to year.
• ECON 70-201: Advanced Macroeconomic Theory. Selected topics of current research interest in macroeconomics.  Subject matter to vary from year to year.
• ECON 70-562: Economic Growth. This course is an introduction to modern macroeconomic growth theory. We start by reviewing the stylized facts, the workhorse Solow growth model, and some growth accounting. The second part focuses on the neoclassical growth model, endogenous growth theory, models of product variety, and Schumpeterian (quality ladder) models. Finally, we review recent contributions to the growth literature, which are near or at the research frontier in this field.
• ECON 70-411: Advanced Monetary Theory.  Search theoretic models of money, other micro-founded models of money.
• ECON 70-416: Empirical Monetary Analysis and Policy
• ECON 70-304: Advanced Econometric Theory
• ECON 70-305: Time Series Analysis
• ECON 70-311: Environmental Economics I
• ECON 70-312: Environmental Economics II
• ECON 70-551: International Trade. Theoretical models and empirical analysis of international trade and factor movements. Alternative approaches to trade theory, including Hekscher-Olin, models of imperfect competition and nonorthodox approaches. Discussion of welfare issues, commercial policy and regional integration.
• ECON 70-612: Economic Development. A general introduction to the field of development economics, with concentration initially on questions of a macrostrategic nature. The final topic is macroanalysis of country development programs, examining country studies and macro models.
• ECON 70-421: International Macroeconomics. Topics include implications of capital and labor mobility, financial markets and conutry-specific risk sharing, understanding exchange rate movements and volatility, international business cycles and macroeconomic interdependence.
• ECON 70-601: Labor Economics I. This course will provide a survey of theoretical and empirical research in labor economics.  Topics typically include compensating differentials, human capital accumulation (including education, experience, and tenure), incentive contracts, job matching, job search, worker mobility, and discrimination.  Students will be responsible for analyzing research and presenting it to the class.
• ECON 70-602: Labor Economics II. This course employs both theoretical and econometric analysis to examine labor markets.  Topics typically include dynamic labor supply and labor demand, unemployment, efficiency wages, technical change, and inequality.  The course will also look at how ideas in labor economics can be used to explore issues in demography, health, development, and family and gender economics.  Students will be responsible for analyzing research and presenting it to the class.  Additional emphasis will be given to the development of original research in labor economics.
• ECON 70-701: Public Economics I. This course examines both theoretical and empirical analysis of government expenditures.  Topics typically include the provision of public goods, education, fiscal federalism, and health care policy.  The course will also provide a survey of data, methods, and policies commonly employed in the empirical public finance literature. Students will be responsible for analyzing research and presenting it to the class.
• ECON 70-702: Public Economics II. This course is a survey of the theory and evidence on tax and expenditure policy.  Topics typically include tax incidence, optimal tax theory, the effect of taxation on labor supply and savings, redistribution, transfer programs, and social insurance.  Students will be responsible for analyzing research and presenting it to the class. Additional emphasis will be given to the development of original research in public economics.
• ECON 70-801: Industrial Organization I. Topics include monopoly behavior and durable goods, static IO models, optimal regulation and contracting under private information and moral hazard, strategic entry and exit behavior, and dynamic oligopoly models.
• ECON 70-802: Industrial Organization II.