International Economics Requirements

This entry-level course in economics covers the fundamentals of macroeconomics and is aimed at students who choose it as an elective or plan to continue their studies in economics. Together with ECN 101, it provides the necessary prerequisites for any other upper-level course in economics. The course is a program requirement for the majors in International Banking and Finance, International Economics, International Relations, International Management, and Environmental Science. It is also a prerequisite for Economics as a combined major as well as a minor. This course introduces students to the study of economics as a field of knowledge within the social sciences. In the first part, focus will be on the definition, the explanation, and the significance of national income, business fluctuations, the price level, and aggregate employment. In the second part, special attention is devoted to the functioning of a payment system based on currency and bank money. Finally, students will discuss the instruments and the functioning of public policy aimed to stabilize prices and maintain high levels of output and employment within the current macroeconomic context. Current economic news will be regularly scrutinized.

This is an entry-level course in economics, covering fundamentals of microeconomics and aimed at students who choose it as an elective or plan to continue their studies in economics. This course helps students develop basic analytical skills in economics and microeconomics. It provides students with a basic understanding of the market system in advanced capitalist economies. It examines the logic of constrained choice with a focus on the economic behavior of individuals and organizations. After a theoretical analysis of the determinants and the interaction of supply and demand under competitive conditions, alternative market structures will be investigated, including monopolistic and oligopolistic forms. The course examines the conditions under which markets allocate resources efficiently and identifies causes of market failure and the appropriate government response. The introduction to the role of government includes its taxing and expenditure activities as well as regulatory policies.

This intermediate-level course studies the evolution of economic ideas from the early Eighteenth century to modern times, with emphasis on the differing conceptions of economic life and the methodological underpinnings of three main strands of thought: Classical economics, Marginalism, and the Keynesian paradigm. The course is organized around four main themes: the source of wealth, the theory of value, economic growth and business cycle in the capitalist system, and the notion of equilibrium in economic analysis. The course aims at providing a systematic conceptual framework to investigate the development of economic ideas, in their intersections with philosophy and the political and historical evolution of societies, hence highlighting the nature of economics as a social science. At the same time, the course stresses the methodological features (in terms of a rigorous and formalized language) peculiar to the economic reasoning.

This intermediate-level course in macroeconomics builds upon the introductory two-semester (ECN 100 and ECN 101) sequence and, in conjunction with ECN 256, prepares students to study upper-level economics. It is a program requirement for the majors in International Banking and Finance and International Economics, as well as for Economics as a combined major. It is also one of the options towards Economics as a minor. Students must have taken ECN 100 and ECN 101, and are also recommended to have taken MAT 200. This course is designed to provide students with an appreciation of current economic issues and questions in modern macroeconomics, through the recognition of economics as a controversial subject. In the first part, we review some important measurement issues in macroeconomics that have policy consequences. In the second part, students will explore the competing theoretical frameworks developed in the twentieth century to explain growth cycles, employment and inflation. Finally, the acquired knowledge will be applied to the current policy issues in the aftermath of the Great Recession.

This intermediate-level course in microeconomics builds upon the introductory two-semester sequence and, in conjunction with ECN 225, prepares students to upper-level economics. It is a program requirement for the majors in International Banking and Finance and International Economics, as well as for Economics as a combined major. It is also one of the options towards Economics as a minor. This course completes the theoretical background on microeconomics and introduces students to more advanced topics, with an emphasis on the practical relevance and application of theory. The essence of the course is, in particular, the study of the interaction between rational individual decision-making (e.g. consumers, firms, the government) and the working of economic institutions like markets, regulation and social rules. Topics covered include an introduction to game theory, strategic behavior and entry deterrence; analysis of technological change; the internal organization of the firm; economic efficiency; public goods, externalities and information; government and business.

The course begins with a review of functions and their graphs, after which students are introduced to the concepts of differentiation and integration. Understanding is reinforced through extensive practical work, with a strong emphasis on applications in economics, statistics and management science.

This computer-based course presents the main concepts in Statistics: the concept of random variables, frequency, and probability distributions, variance and standard deviation, kurtosis and skewness, probability rules, Bayes theorem, and posterior probabilities. Important statistical methods like Contingency analysis, ANOVA, Correlation analysis and Regression Analysis are introduced and their algorithms are fully explained. The most important probability distributions are introduced: Binomial, Poisson, and Normal distribution, as well as the Chebyshev theorem for non-known distributions. Inferential statistics, sampling distributions, and confidence intervals are covered to introduce statistical model building and single linear regression. Active learning and algorithmic learning are stressed. Emphasis is put both on algorithms –methods and assumptions for their applications. Excel is used while calculators with STAT buttons are not allowed. Ultimately students are required to make a month-long research project, select the theoretical concept they want to test, perform a literature review, find real data from Internet databases or make their surveys, apply methods they studied in the class, and compare theoretical results with their findings. Research is done and presented in groups, papers are Individual. Selected SPSS or Excel Data Analysis examples are also provided.

The course will introduce students to the evolution of theory and practice in economic development in three stages. First, models of economic growth and development including work by Harrod-Domar, Robert Solow, Arthur Lewis, and Michael Kremer are compared to provide students with a feeling for how economists have conceived of the development process. The class then proceeds to examine particular development issues such as population growth, stagnant agriculture, environmental degradation, illiteracy, gender disparities, and rapid urbanization to understand how these dynamics reinforce poverty and deprivation. In the final stage, students will read work by supporters as well as critics of international development assistance and use the knowledge and perspective they have gained thus far to independently evaluate efficacy of a specific development intervention.

This upper-level course in economics is the first part of an ideal two-semester sequence including ECN 328. It is a program requirement for the major in International Economics, International Banking and Finance, and International Management with an “emphasis” in Finance. It also fulfils group requirements towards the major in International Economics with an emphasis in Political Economy, and Economics as a Combined major as well as a Minor.This course is designed to provide students with an understanding of the monetary dimension of contemporary economies. This includes the nature of the means of settlement, the technology of monetary payments, the banking system and its pro-cyclical, crisis-prone character that requires control and regulation, the response of financial markets to changing policy conditions and perceived risks, and central banks’ operations and goals when setting interest rates. Special attention is devoted to current monetary policy issues with special reference (but not limited) to the practice of the U.S. Fed and the European Central Bank. Recommended prerequisite: ECN 225, ECN 256, BUS 326

This upper-level course in economics is the second part of an ideal two-semester sequence including ECN 325. It is a program requirement for the major in International Economics and International Banking and Finance. It also fulfils group requirements towards the major in International Economics with an emphasis in Political Economy, and Economics as a Combined major as well as a Minor. This course is designed to provide students with an appreciation of the meaning and consequence of international monetary relations, notably with respect to cross-border payments and investments under different monetary, banking, financial, and political institutions. In the first part, the class will investigate currency exposure, the currency market and its actors, the determination of exchange rates, measures and indices of the external value of a currency. In the second part, focus will be on the structure of balance-of-payments accounting, the size and significance of current account imbalances, and exchange rate policies. Finally, students will study monetary unions with special reference to the current issues and future prospects of Economic and Monetary Union in Europe. Recommended prerequisite: ECN 225, ECN 256, ECN 325

This course will introduce students to the major theories and tools used in the study of international trade. Particular attention will be paid to deriving, analyzing, and assessing the empirical evidence for and against the Ricardian and Heckscher-Ohlin conceptions of comparative advantage, the Stolper-Samuelson Factor-Price Equalization Theorem, and New Trade Theories based on assumptions of imperfect competition. Students will become skilled at using a variety of graphical devices including offer curves to describe the effect which variations in government policy, factor dynamics, country size, technology, tastes, and transport costs will have on the terms of as well as the magnitude and distribution of the gains from trade. (With professor permission, students may take this course with no ECN 256 prerequisite.)

This course applies economic theory to some key economic institutions and policies of the European Union. It addresses some key issues in the process of European economic integration, under three broad groups: the degree of economic integration historically achieved with the common market and the European Monetary System; an analysis of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) regime; an economic analysis of the changes related to EU enlargement, both for old and new members. Questions discussed include the question whether there is an economic case for EMU, current issues with respect to fiscal, monetary, and labour market policies, and the problems that lie ahead until broader adoption of the euro. (Recommended ECN 256)

The course investigates in a simple but rigorous way some of the fundamental issues of modern microeconomics, exploring the main concepts of game theory, as well as the basic elements of the economics of information, and of contract theory. A solid background on these topics is essential to the investigation of strategic decision making, the assessment of the relevance of asymmetric and/or incomplete information in decision processes, and the design of contracts. These, in turn, are among the most important issues that firms and individuals commonly need to face in all situations in which the consequences of individual decisions are likely to depend on the strategic interactions among agents' actions, and on the signaling value of information. Proceeding from intuition to formal analysis, the course investigates the methodological approach of game theory (allowing for a systematic analysis of strategic interaction) and the main concepts of the economics of information (allowing to assess the effects of asymmetric or incomplete information on agents' decisions). Further, it combines both game theory and economics of information to provide an introduction to the essential elements of contract theory.

India has often been described as one of the developing countries that has achieved considerable economic success by following a neo-liberal policy regime in the past twenty years. However, over the last two years, India’s growth has stagnated. Moreo-ver, a substantial part of the population continues to live below the poverty line and lack access to basic services like clean water, health care, education etc. This course has been designed to use India as a case study to investigate the impact of globaliza-tion on development and will introduce students to different facets of globalization and allow students to understand the complicated interrelations between globaliza-tion and development. Students will study about labor reforms, environmental sus-tainability, politics of land grab, agricultural policies, urbanization-all within the framework of political economy of globalization and economic development. Students will be introduced to the flourishing IT and financial service sector, one of the main beneficiaries of globalization and the impact these sectors have had on India’s grow-ing middle class. Students will then be introduced to the problems and issues faced in the semi urban regions of the country. This travel course will allow students to ob-serve and recognize the causes of uneven growth and the consequent impact on peo-ple’s standards of living.

This course studies the market behavior of firms with market power. Topics like oligopoly, price discrimination, vertical relations between firms, product differentiation, advertising and entry barriers represent the core of the course. These concepts will be applied to the specific case of European firms, which live in an economic and monetary union. Students will study the principles of European competition policy and some famous European antitrust cases. A comparison with American antitrust will be made.

The course introduces the basic principles of econometrics as a set of tools and techniques to quantitatively investigate a variety of economic and financial issues. The application of econometric methods allows studying the relationships between different economic and financial variables, hence providing a natural way to test and confront alternative theories and conjectures, as well as to forecast and simulate the effects of different economic and financial policies. The course approach is mainly focused on applications. A discussion of the main theoretical issues and a systematic analysis of econometric tools are prerequisites for the investigation of a number of economic and financial applications.

Research proposals are to be coordinated with the Department Chair.

Internship experiences are to be coordinated in advance with the Department Chair.

This course is offered when students and instructors arrange a special seminar on material that is beyond the scope of a particular course. It is open to students majoring in IE or IBF with Department Head permission. The course must be supervised by an Economics Department faculty member to be counted towards the major.