Courses

Ph. D. Core Courses

  • ECOE 60-001: Mathematics for Economists I. Mathematical methods used in economic theory and analysis. Differential and integral calculus and optimization. Metric spaces. Closed, open and compact sets.  Continuous and semi continuous functions. Contraction mappings.  Convex analysis:  Separation Theorems and Fixed Point Theorems.  Matrices and eigenvalues.  Correspondences and the theorem of the maximum. Sequences of functions.
  • ECOE 60-002: Mathematics for Economists II. This course provides an overview of the quantitative methods used to solve dynamic choice problems under uncertainty. Most practical economic problems do not have closed form solutions and need to be solved numerically. The course also covers the main procedures for numerically solving dynamic economic problems.
  • ECOE 60-101: Microeconomic Theory I. Topics include producer theory, consumer theory, choice under uncertainty, an introduction to welfare analysis, and an introduction to mechanism design
  • ECOE 60-102: Microeconomic Theory II. General equilibrium analysis. Social choice and welfare economics. Cooperative, noncoperative game theory and repeated games.  Economics of information.
  • ECOE 60-201: Macroeconomic Theory I. An introduction to the foundations of macroeconomic theory. The tools of dynamic programming and optimal control are developed, with applications to consumption theory, capital theory, the theory of economic growth, and the analysis of labor markets. Analytic and numerical solution techniques are introduced.
  • ECOE 60-202: Macroeconomic Theory II. Basic tools for time series analysis, including ARMA models, VARs, and detrending.  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.
  • ECOE 60-301: Probability and Statistics. This course provides an understanding of probability and statistical theory necessary for econometrics theory and decision making under uncertainty.  Topics include: random variables, probability theory, special (useful) distributions, central limit theorem, hypothesis testing and the basic regression analysis.
  • ECOE 60-302: Econometrics I. This course is the first in the sequence of two semester Ph.D. courses of econometrics.  This course focuses on econometric theory with computer applications.  It covers classical linear/non-linear  regression theory on estimation, consistency, asymptotic properties and hypothesis testing.
  • ECOE 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, cointegration, UAR and Kalman filtering for the time-varying parameter estimation.

Ph. D. Field Courses

  • ECOE 70-101: Advanced Microeconomic Theory. Selected topics of current research interest in microeconomics.  Subject matter to vary from year to year. 
  • ECOE 70-201: Advanced Macroeconomic Theory. Selected topics of current research interest in macroeconomics.  Subject matter to vary from year to year.

ECOE 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.

ECOE 70-411: Advanced Monetary Theory

 

ECOE 70-416: Empirical Monetary Analysis and Policy

 

ECOE 70-304: Advanced Econometric Theory

ECOE 70-305: Time Series Analysis

ECOE 70-311: Environmental Economics I

ECOE 70-312: Environmental Economics II
  • ECOE 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.
  • ECOE 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.
  • ECOE 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.
  • ECOE 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.
  • ECOE 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
  • ECOE 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.
  • ECOE 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.
  • ECOE 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.

ECOE 70-802: Industrial Organization II

ECOE 70-911: Political Economy I

ECOE 70-912: Political Economy II

  • ECOE 70-921: History of Economic Thought I. Introduction to the history of economic thought, and methodological issues in economics. Survey of preclassical, classical, Marxian, marginalist and other approaches. Issues in the philosophy of science concerning explanation, verification and prediction.
  • ECOE 70-922: History of Economic Thought II. Selected topics of current research interest in history of economic thought.  Subject matter can vary from year to year and may include the following.  Philosophy of science issues of explanation, verification and prediction are used to critique neoclassical, Keynesian, Marxian and other heterodox economic theories.