| ECON 111-01 |
Introduction to Microeconomics
Instructor: Tricia Hawks
Course Description:
A study of the fundamentals of economic analysis and of basic economic institutions, with particular emphasis upon consumer demand and upon the output and pricing decisions of business firms. The implications of actions taken by these decision-makers, operating within various market structures, upon the allocation of resources and the distribution of income are examined. Special attention is given to the sociopolitical environment within which economic decisions are made.
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01:30 PM-02:45 PM, TF
ALTHSE 201 |
| ECON 111-02 |
Introduction to Microeconomics
Instructor: Elise Yeh
Course Description:
A study of the fundamentals of economic analysis and of basic economic institutions, with particular emphasis upon consumer demand and upon the output and pricing decisions of business firms. The implications of actions taken by these decision-makers, operating within various market structures, upon the allocation of resources and the distribution of income are examined. Special attention is given to the sociopolitical environment within which economic decisions are made.
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10:30 AM-11:20 AM, MWF
ALTHSE 201 |
| ECON 112-01 |
Introduction to Macroeconomics
Instructor: Andrew Farrant
Course Description:
A study of the fundamentals of economic analysis and of basic economic institutions, with particular emphasis upon national output, employment, and price levels. The monetary and financial system is explored together with problems of economic stability. Monetary and fiscal policy procedures are analyzed and evaluated in light of the current economic climate. Special attention is given to the historical development of major economic institutions.Prerequisite: 111.
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08:30 AM-09:20 AM, MWF
DENNY 317 |
| ECON 112-02 |
Introduction to Macroeconomics
Instructor: Andrew Farrant
Course Description:
A study of the fundamentals of economic analysis and of basic economic institutions, with particular emphasis upon national output, employment, and price levels. The monetary and financial system is explored together with problems of economic stability. Monetary and fiscal policy procedures are analyzed and evaluated in light of the current economic climate. Special attention is given to the historical development of major economic institutions.Prerequisite: 111.
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09:30 AM-10:20 AM, MWF
DENNY 317 |
| ECON 112-03 |
Introduction to Macroeconomics
Instructor: Ye Jiang
Course Description:
A study of the fundamentals of economic analysis and of basic economic institutions, with particular emphasis upon national output, employment, and price levels. The monetary and financial system is explored together with problems of economic stability. Monetary and fiscal policy procedures are analyzed and evaluated in light of the current economic climate. Special attention is given to the historical development of major economic institutions.Prerequisite: 111.
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09:30 AM-10:20 AM, MWF
ALTHSE 201 |
| ECON 112-04 |
Introduction to Macroeconomics
Instructor: Zhiyi Wei
Course Description:
A study of the fundamentals of economic analysis and of basic economic institutions, with particular emphasis upon national output, employment, and price levels. The monetary and financial system is explored together with problems of economic stability. Monetary and fiscal policy procedures are analyzed and evaluated in light of the current economic climate. Special attention is given to the historical development of major economic institutions.Prerequisite: 111.
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08:30 AM-09:20 AM, MWF
ALTHSE 207 |
| ECON 214-01 |
The Circular Economy in France: Food Systems and Policy
Instructor: Anthony Underwood
Course Description:
Permission of Instructor Required. Part of the Green Cuisine Mosaic.
This course covers the principles of a circular economy with a particular focus on the French economy, food system, and policies. In the current economy, we take materials from the Earth, make products from them, and eventually throw them away as waste the process is linear. In a circular economy, by contrast, we stop waste from being produced in the first place. It is a systems solution based on three principles: eliminate waste and pollution, circulate products and materials (at their highest value), and regenerate nature. In 2020, France adopted an ambitious law to shape a system-wide transition towards a circular economy. The French law, referred to in short as the Anti-waste Law, encourages businesses across various sectors, municipalities, and citizens to eliminate waste and adopt more circular practices. The law also aims to promote societal transformation and support the solidarity economy. Through a variety of readings, case studies, and comparative data we will investigate current levels of sustainability in the French economy and food system, progress already made, and the role of cities in transitioning to an economy and food system based on circular economy principles. While in France, students will visit a variety of cities and businesses to determine if, and how, circular economy principles are being applied in the French food system.
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01:30 PM-02:45 PM, MR
ALTHSE 206 |
| ECON 214-02 |
"Why Nations Fail": Political Economy of Development
Instructor: Fatou Thioune
Course Description:
Cross-listed with INST 290-02. This course explores the dynamic interplay between political and economic institutions and their impact on development outcomes. Through an in-depth analysis of the book Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty by Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson, students will examine how institutions shape economic growth, development, and inequality. Students will engage with key concepts such as inclusive vs. extractive institutions, the role of political power in shaping economic policies, and the historical roots of contemporary development challenges. The course will analyze case studies from diverse regions to illustrate how institutional frameworks influence development trajectories and the prosperity of nations.
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12:30 PM-01:20 PM, MWF
ALTHSE 08 |
| ECON 222-01 |
Environmental Economics
Instructor: Nicky Tynan
Course Description:
A study of human production and consumption activities as they affect the natural and human environmental systems and as they are affected by those systems. The economic behavioral patterns associated with the market economy are scrutinized in order to reveal the biases in the decision-making process which may contribute to the deterioration of the resource base and of the quality of life in general. External costs and benefits, technological impacts, limits to economic growth, and issues of income and wealth distribution are examined. A range of potential policy measures, some consistent with our life style and some not, are evaluated.
Prerequisite: 111.
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03:00 PM-04:15 PM, MR
ALTHSE 109 |
| ECON 226-01 |
Global Economy
Instructor: Fatou Thioune
Course Description:
Cross-listed with INST 200-01. The course introduces economic theory that builds on ideas from introductory microeconomics and macroeconomics. It uses that theory as a framework for examining developments in the changing global system. Developments include the revolution in information technology; the dynamics of human population growth; the implications of climate change; challenges to human security; and emerging patterns of organizational interdependence and collaboration. Those developments provide the context for business managers and for government officials responsible for shaping strategies and implementing policies.
Prerequisite: ECON 111 and 112; concurrent enrollment in ECON 112 by permission of the instructor. This course is cross-listed as INST 200.
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10:30 AM-11:20 AM, MWF
ALTHSE 08 |
| ECON 268-01 |
Intermediate Macroeconomic Theory
Instructor: Zhiyi Wei
Course Description:
Neoclassical theories of economic behavior in the aggregate. Models will be used as a framework for analyzing the determination of the level of national output and for explaining fluctuations in employment, the price level, interest rates, productivity, and the rate of economic growth. Policy proposals will be appraised.
Prerequisite: 111 and 112; MATH 170.
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12:30 PM-01:20 PM, MWF
ALTHSE 201 |
| ECON 278-01 |
Intermediate Microeconomic Theory
Instructor: Ebru Kongar
Course Description:
Neoclassical theory of relative prices of commodities and productive services under perfect and imperfect competition. The role of prices in the allocation and distribution of resources and commodities. Economic behavior of individual economic units like consumers, firms, and resource owners.
Prerequisite: 111 and MATH 170.
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10:30 AM-11:45 AM, TR
ALTHSE 207 |
| ECON 278-02 |
Intermediate Microeconomic Theory
Instructor: Elise Yeh
Course Description:
Neoclassical theory of relative prices of commodities and productive services under perfect and imperfect competition. The role of prices in the allocation and distribution of resources and commodities. Economic behavior of individual economic units like consumers, firms, and resource owners.
Prerequisite: 111 and MATH 170.
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11:30 AM-12:20 PM, MWF
ALTHSE 201 |
| ECON 288-01 |
Contending Economic Perspectives
Instructor: Edward McPhail
Course Description:
A study of major heterodox economic theories such as Marxian, institutional, feminist, post-Keynesian, or Austrian economics. Students will study these contending economic perspectives through their historical evolution, methods and theoretical structures, and/or current policy debates.
Prerequisites: 111 and 112.
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09:00 AM-10:15 AM, TR
ALTHSE 207 |
| ECON 298-01 |
Econometrics
Instructor: Ye Jiang
Course Description:
This course is an introduction to econometrics in which the tools of economic theory, mathematics, and statistical inference are applied to the analysis of economic data. Students will develop foundational knowledge of applied statistics and econometrics through exploration of empirical techniques relevant to quantitative economics including probability, estimation, hypothesis testing, correlation, modeling, simple and multiple linear regression analysis, and time series analysis. In addition, this course will cover basic extensions of a multiple linear regression model such as dummy variables and interaction terms. Students will use Stata, or other statistical analysis software widely used in economics, to understand and apply empirical work.Prerequisite: ECON 111 and ECON 112; MATH 170 and (MATH 121 or MATH 225 or INBM 220 or COMP 180 or DATA 180 or MATH 180)
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01:30 PM-02:45 PM, MR
STERN 11 |
| ECON 314-01 |
Applied Empirical Data Analysis
Instructor: Steve Erfle
Course Description:
Cross-listed with INBM 300-01. This course provides students with the opportunity to undertake their own empirical investigation on topics of their choice. Students are welcome to use the information that I have gathered but they are also encouraged to obtain and analyze data of their choosing, subject to professor approval. Students have access to start of year and end of year physical activity and stature measures for more than 10,000 middle school students, two thirds of whom had daily PE, as well as school district level data for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and APFT data from West Point Cadets. Various statistical software packages are used. The class culminates in presenting your own findings in a poster presentation that is open to the public.
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01:30 PM-04:30 PM, W
ALTHSE 204 |
| ECON 314-02 |
Empirical Finance
Instructor: Ye Jiang
Course Description:
This course is to use market data to develop models for financial analysis by using statistics, econometrics, and finance. The main goal of the course is to develop students financial analytical and modeling skills in the fields of asset pricing and valuations, statistical methodology, the calibration and testing of the times series, and forecasting. Issues covered are the empirical properties of high-frequency financial data, the predictability of returns, announcement effects and event studies, estimation of the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM), Fama-French factor model, portfolio theory, the concept of Value-at-Risk,
time series model and forecasting. All topics are taught in an applied way that involves the implementation of the discussed methods in R/STATA. Practical applications to problems of model specification, estimation, time-series analysis, and forecasting will be taught through a learning-by-doing approach. At the end of the course, students are able to replicate and extend a series of stylized facts and studies regarding financial empirical analysis.
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03:00 PM-04:15 PM, MR
STERN 11 |
| ECON 314-03 |
Introduction to Time Series Analysis
Instructor: Lulu Wang
Course Description:
Cross-listed with DATA 201-01. This course provides a comprehensive introduction to time series analysis techniques and their applications in finance and economics. Students will explore methods for analyzing temporal data, which are essential for understanding financial market dynamics, and economic indicators, and forecasting financial trends. The course will cover basic univariate and multivariate models with stationary and nonstationary time series, such as ARIMA, GARCH, and VAR. Additionally, students will learn about seasonal decomposition and the evaluation and validation of forecasting models using real-world financial data. If time permits, an introduction to Dynamic Factor Models will also be included. The course will primarily utilize Python as the programming language, with a dedicated Python tutorial provided in the first week to ensure students are well-prepared.
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01:30 PM-02:45 PM, TF
TOME 120 |
| ECON 332-01 |
Economics of Natural Resource Sustainability
Instructor: Nicky Tynan
Course Description:
This course uses microeconomics to analyze the use and conservation of natural resources, including energy, minerals, fisheries, forests, and water resources, among others. Broad themes include the roles of property rights, intergenerational equity, and sustainable development in an economy based on resource exploitation.
Prerequisite: 278. For ENST, ENSC and INST majors, prerequisite is ECON 222.
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01:30 PM-02:45 PM, TF
ALTHSE 109 |
| ECON 351-01 |
Gender and Development
Instructor: Ebru Kongar
Course Description:
Cross-listed with INST 351-01 and WGSS 302-01. This course examines the gender dimensions of economic development and globalization from the perspective of feminist economics. This perspective implies foregrounding labor, broadly defined to include paid and unpaid work, and examining gender differences in work, access to resources, and wellbeing outcomes, and how these are affected by macroeconomic policies and how gender inequalities are relevant for societal wellbeing. Since the early 1980s economic globalization has been achieved on the basis of a common set of macroeconomic policies pursued in industrial and developing countries alike. These policies frame both the gender-differentiated impacts of policy and the initiatives that are implemented to reduce inequalities between men and women. The main objective of the course is to examine the impact of these policies on men and women in the global South (a.k.a. developing countries/Third World) on gender inequalities and to evaluate the policies/strategies for reducing gender inequalities and promoting the well-being of all people. The pursuit of these objectives will entail first a brief examination of the central tenets of feminist economics and an historical overview of the policy-oriented field of gender and development. Gender-differentiated statistics will be reviewed as they pertain to the topics under discussion.
Prerequisite: For ECON 351: ECON 288; For INST 351: ECON 288 or INST 200 or INBM 200; For WGSS 302: at least one WGSS course or ECON 288. This course is cross-listed as INST 351& WGSS 302.
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09:00 AM-10:15 AM, TR
ALTHSE 110 |
| ECON 496-01 |
Behavioral Economics
Instructor: Tricia Hawks
Course Description:
Permission of Instructor Required. Why do people fail to save enough for retirement, even when investment vehicles are made easily available, often through employer or government-based programs? Why do consumers make purchases that reduce utility even when superior options are accessible? Why do buyers rely on poor information yet often argue that their information is valid; and why do these same consumers make predictable mistakes in assessing risk, recognizing framing issues, avoiding the endowment effect, or allowing mental accounting to drive suboptimal behavior? In this course we will look at the chronological development of behavioral economics and read the seminal articles dealing with issues such as time-preferences, insufficient savings, risk assessment, base-rate neglect, the Ellsberg paradox and other topics. Emphasis will be on how these failures of individuals to act economically pose challenges to economic modeling. Each student will select one topic to explore in greater depth for a brief research paper and presentation.
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01:30 PM-04:30 PM, W
ALTHSE 110 |
| ECON 496-02 |
Behavioral Economics
Instructor: Tricia Hawks
Course Description:
Permission of Instructor Required. Why do people fail to save enough for retirement, even when investment vehicles are made easily available, often through employer or government-based programs? Why do consumers make purchases that reduce utility even when superior options are accessible? Why do buyers rely on poor information yet often argue that their information is valid; and why do these same consumers make predictable mistakes in assessing risk, recognizing framing issues, avoiding the endowment effect, or allowing mental accounting to drive suboptimal behavior? In this course we will look at the chronological development of behavioral economics and read the seminal articles dealing with issues such as time-preferences, insufficient savings, risk assessment, base-rate neglect, the Ellsberg paradox and other topics. Emphasis will be on how these failures of individuals to act economically pose challenges to economic modeling. Each student will select one topic to explore in greater depth for a brief research paper and presentation.
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01:30 PM-04:30 PM, R
ALTHSE 110 |
| ECON 496-03 |
Ethics and Economics
Instructor: Edward McPhail
Course Description:
Permission of Instructor Required. This course explores the complex and subtle relationship between ethics and economics, challenging the view that economics is a purely "value-free" science. Over the semester, we shall examine the historical roots of economics in religion and moral philosophy, the formation and development of ethical reasoning in the history of economic ideas, the role ethical assumptions (explicit and implicit) played in pivotal debates, the ethical enabling conditions of economic performance and the effect that performance plays in creating and sustaining ethical behavior, the ethical properties of economic expertise and advice-giving, how the incorporation of explicit ethical terms in our models might improve predictive economics, and the use of ethics in evaluating behavior and policy. Along the way, we will critically assess the rational actor model, homosocialis, homoeconomicus, and similar concepts in terms of their ethical plausibility and empirical adequacy, aiming to provide a more nuanced understanding of human motivation and to develop a more comprehensive and relevant economic theory. This course is reading and writing intensive.
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01:30 PM-04:30 PM, W
ALTHSE 206 |
| ECON 500-01 |
Ethics and Economics
Instructor: Edward McPhail
Course Description:
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| ECON 500-02 |
Green Cuisine: An Exploration of French Culture, Food Systems and Economics
Instructor: Adeline Soldin, Anthony Underwood, Jenn Halpin
Course Description:
Cross-listed with FDST 500-01 and FREN 500-01. Part of the Green Cuisine Mosaic.
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01:30 PM-04:30 PM, W
ALTHSE 109 |
| ECON 500-03 |
Examination of Seasonal Anomalies in the Rates of Return
Instructor: Zhiyi Wei
Course Description:
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| ECON 550-01 |
Cycles of Despair: Economic Instability in Modern Argentina
Instructor: Anthony Underwood
Course Description:
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| ECON 550-02 |
Fundamental vs. Quantitative Stock Market Analysis
Instructor: Qing Bai
Course Description:
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| ECON 560-01 |
An Economic Study on the Effect of Covid on Adolescent Health in Developing Countries
Instructor: Shamma Alam
Course Description:
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