Ec 11
Introduction to Economics
9 units (3-2-4)
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first, second terms
An introduction to economic methodology, models, and institutions. Includes both basic microeconomics and an introduction to modern approaches to macroeconomic issues. Students are required to participate in economics experiments.
Instructors:
Plott, Rangel
Ec 97
Undergraduate Research
Units to be arranged; any term
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Prerequisites:Advanced economics and instructor's permission
This course offers advanced undergraduates the opportunity to pursue research in Economics individually or in a small group. Graded pass/fail.
Ec 98 abc
Senior Research and Thesis
Prerequisites: instructor's permission.
Senior economics majors wishing to undertake research may elect a variable number of units, not to exceed 12 in any one term, for such work under the direction of a member of the economics faculty.
Ec 101
Selected Topics in Economics
Units to be determined by arrangement with the instructor
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offered by announcement
Topics to be determined by instructor.
Instructors:
Staff, visiting lecturers
Ec 105
Industrial Organization
9 units (3-0-6)
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first term
Prerequisites: Ec 11 or equivalent.
A study of how technology affects issues of market structure and how market structure affects observable economic outcomes, such as prices, profits, advertising, and research and development expenditures. Emphasis will be on how the analytic tools developed in the course can be used to examine particular industries-especially those related to internet commerce-in detail. Each student is expected to write one substantial paper. Not offered 2016-17.
Ec 106
Topics in Applied Industrial Organization
9 units (3-0-6)
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first term
Prerequisites: Ec 11; Ec 116 recommended.
Topics include simulation of mergers in oligopolistic industries, valuation of intellectual property, price setting and concentration in the pharmaceutical market, and statistical analysis of combined tobacco and asbestos exposure. A term paper will be required. Not offered 2016-17.
Ec/Psy 109
Frontiers in Behavioral Economics
9 units (3-0-6), first term
Prerequisites: Ec 11.
Behavioral economics studies agents who are biologically limited in computational ability, willpower and pure self-interest. An important focus is how those limits interact with economic institutions and firm behavior. This reading-driven course will cover new papers that are interesting and draw attention to a topic of importance to economics. Readings will cover lab and field experiments, axiomatic models of behavioral phenomena, and welfare. Each weekly discussion will begin with a 10-minute overview, then an inspection of the paper's scientific machinery, judge whether its conclusions are justified, and speculate about the scope of its generalizability. It should help students as referees and as writers. Assignments are two 1000-word summary-critiques. Not offered 2016-17.
Ec 116
Contemporary Socioeconomic Problems
9 units (3-0-6)
Prerequisites: Ec 11 and PS 12 or equivalents.
An analytical investigation of the economic aspects of certain current social issues. Topics: the economics of education, medical-care systems, urban affairs, and the welfare system. Not offered 2016-17.
Ec 121 ab
Theory of Value
9 units (3-0-6)
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first, second terms
Prerequisites: Ec 11 and Ma 2 (may be taken concurrently).
A study of consumer preference, the structure and conduct of markets, factor pricing, measures of economic efficiency, and the interdependence of markets in reaching a general equilibrium.
Instructors:
Border, Sait
Ec 122
Econometrics
9 units (3-0-6)
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first term
Prerequisites: Ma 3.
The application of statistical techniques to the analysis of economic data.
Instructor:
Sherman
Ec 123
Macroeconomics
9 units (3-0-6)
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third term
Prerequisites: Ec 11 and modest ability to program in Matlab or Mathematica.
The role of time and uncertainty in understanding the behavior of economic aggregates such as investment, employment, and price levels. Emphasis is on representative-agent recursive equilibrium models. Topics include practical dynamic programming; job search, matching, and unemployment; asset pricing; monetary and fiscal policy; and taxation and insurance. Not offered 2016-17.
Ec/SS 124
Identification Problems in the Social Sciences
9 units (3-0-6)
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second term
Prerequisites: Ec 122.
Statistical inference in the social sciences is a difficult enterprise whereby we combine data and assumptions to draw conclusions about the world we live in. We then make decisions, for better or for worse, based on these conclusions. A simultaneously intoxicating and sobering thought! Strong assumptions about the data generating process can lead to strong but often less than credible (perhaps incredible?) conclusions about our world. Weaker assumptions can lead to weaker but more credible conclusions. This course explores the range of inferences that are possible when we entertain a range of assumptions about how data is generated. We explore these ideas in the context of a number of applications of interest to social scientists.
Instructor:
Sherman
Ec/SS 129
Economic History of the United States
9 units (3-0-6)
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second term
Prerequisites: Ec 11.
An examination of certain analytical and quantitative tools and their application to American economic development. Each student is expected to write two substantial papers - drafts will be read by instructor and revised by students. Not offered 2016-17.
Ec/SS 130
Economic History of Europe from the Middle Ages to the Twentieth Century
9 units (3-0-6)
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third term
Prerequisites: Ec 11.
Employs the theoretical and quantitative techniques of economics to help explore and explain the development of the European cultural area between 1000 and 1980. Topics include the rise of commerce, the demographic transition, the Industrial Revolution, and changes in inequality, international trade, social spending, property rights, and capital markets. Each student is expected to write nine weekly essays and a term paper. Not offered 2016-17.
Ec 135
Economics of Uncertainty and Information
9 units (3-0-6)
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first term
Prerequisites: Ec 11, Ma 2b.
An analysis of the effects of uncertainty and information on economic decisions. Included among the topics are individual and group decision making under uncertainty, expected utility maximization, insurance, financial markets and speculation, product quality and advertisement, and the value of information.
Instructor:
Agranov
Ec 140
Economic Progress
9 units (3-0-6)
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second term
Prerequisites: Ec 11 and Ma 2; Ec 122 recommended.
This course examines the contemporary literature on economic growth and development from both a theoretical and historical/empirical perspective. Topics include a historical overview of economic progress and the lack thereof; simple capital accumulation models; equilibrium/planning models of accumulation; endogenous growth models; empirical tests of convergence; the measurement and role of technological advancement; and the role of trade, institutions, property rights, human capital, and culture. Not offered 2016-17.
CS/SS/Ec 149
Introduction to Algorithmic Economics
9 units (3-0-6)
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second term
This course will equip students to engage with active research at the intersection of social and information sciences, including: algorithmic game theory and mechanism design; auctions; matching markets; and learning in games.
Instructor:
Echenique and Pomatto
BEM/Ec 150
Business Analytics
9 units (3-0-6)
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third term
Prerequisites: GE/ESE 118 or Ec 122, and knowledge of R.
This class teaches how to use very large, cross-media datasets to infer what variables influence choices and trends of economic and business interest. Topics include database management, cleaning and visualization of data, statistical and machine learning methods, natural language processing, social and conventional media, personal sensors and devices, sentiment analysis, and controlled collection of data (including experiments). Grades are based on hands-on data analysis homework assignments and detailed analysis of one dataset.
Instructor:
Camerer
Ec/PS 160 abc
Laboratory Experiments in the Social Sciences
9 units (3-3-3); first, second, third terms
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Section a required for sections b and c
An examination of recent work in laboratory testing in the social sciences with particular reference to work done in social psychology, economics, and political science. Students are required to design and conduct experiments.
Instructor:
Plott
PS/Ec 172
Game Theory
9 units (3-0-6)
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second term
Prerequisites: Ec 11 or PS 12.
This course is an introduction to non-cooperative game theory, with applications to political science and economics. It covers the theories of normal-form games and extensive-form games, and introduces solutions concepts that are relevant for situations of complete and incomplete information. The basic theory of repeated games is introduced. Applications are to auction theory and asymmetric information in trading models, cheap talk and voting rules in congress, among many others.
Instructor:
Tamuz
Ec 181
Convex Analysis and Economic Theory
9 units (3-0-6)
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second term
Prerequisites: Ma 2 ab, Ec 121 a.
Introduction to the use of convex analysis in economic theory. Includes a rigorous discussion of separating hyperplane theorems, continuity and differentiability properties of convex and concave functions, support functions, subdifferentials, Fenchel conjugacy, saddle-point theory, theorem of the alternative, and linear programming. Emphasis is on the finite-dimensional case, but infinite-dimensional spaces will be discussed. Applications to the theory of cost and production functions, decision theory, and game theory.
Instructor:
Border
BEM/Ec 185
Political Economy of Corporate Governance
9 units (3-0-6)
Prerequisites: PS/Ec 172.
The course covers issues of how firms are organized. Topics include the distribution of power and returns among shareholders, managers, and other stakeholders; the role of law, public policy, and financial markets in constraining or enabling firms to solve problems they face; the interaction between history, financial market structure, and the ownership of very large firms. Each student is expected to write two substantial papers-drafts will be read by instructor and revised by students. Not offered 2016-17.
Ec 190
Undergraduate Research
Units to be arranged
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any term
Prerequisites: advanced economics course and instructor's permission.
This course offers advanced undergraduates the opportunity to pursue research in economics. Graded pass/fail.
Instructor:
Staff
Published Date:
July 28, 2022