Courses

The listing of a course description here does not guarantee a course’s being offered in a particular semester. Please refer to the published schedule of classes on the Student Link for confirmation a class is actually being taught and for specific course meeting dates and times.

View courses in

  • CAS EC 572: Public Control of Business
    Examines economic theory and case studies of antitrust policy, government regulation of private industry and operation of state owned enterprises. Case studies are drawn from both industrialized and developing countries.
  • CAS EC 581: Health Economics I
    Quantitative analyses of demand for insurance and healthcare, moral hazard, adverse selection, healthcare supply, quality and price competition. Physician agency, payment systems, capitation, risk management and managed care. Emphasis is on U.S. institutions, but concepts and methodology are applicable worldwide
  • CAS EC 590: Special Topics in Economics
    Topic for Fall 2021: Law and Economics. Application of economic theory to important legal issues. Economic concepts are used to explain the effects of laws such as property rights, to assess economic efficiency of legal rules, and to predict future legislation.
  • CAS EC 591: International Economics
    Quantitative theory of international trade; empirical evidence from both industrialized and developing economies. Factor content of trade, technology and trade patterns, scale economies and imperfect competition, economic geography. Policy interventions: tariffs, exchange rates, trading blocs, and political economy of reform.
  • CAS EC 595: International Finance
    Applies economic tools to open-economy macroeconomics. Topics include the determinants of the current account, exchange rate management, international capital markets, and growth in the world economy. Topical issues: the formation of the Euro; debt and financial crisis in developing countries.
  • CAS EC 597: MAEP Internship
    (For students starting the program in spring, the prerequisites may be abridged to CASEC501 and CASEC507 by departmental approval.) With departmental approval, MAEP students may work in an off- campus internship lasting six weeks or more, receive on-the-job training complementing their academic studies, and earn academic credits towards their degrees. Grades are based on reports from student and workplace supervisor.
  • CAS EC 598: The Economics of Globalization
    Analyzes various facets of globalization from both theoretical and empirical perspectives, using tools from international trade theory. Topics include firm-level trade patterns, multinational production, foreign direct investment, the creation of global vertical supply chains, outsourcing, and offshoring.
  • CAS EI 501: The Theory and Practice of Literary Editing
    An introduction to the theory, practice, and principles of editorial decisions, such as questions of modernization, revision, and annotation. Featuring a dozen visiting speakers and attending to notable editorial achievements.
  • CAS EI 506: Topics in Textual Scholarship and the History of Western Society
    Topics vary by semester. Topic for 2021/2022: The Documentary Films of Frederick Wiseman.
  • CAS HI 500: Topics in History
    May be repeated for credit as topic varies. Topic for Fall 2021: Ten Years that Shook the World: Britain, 1938-48. This seminar explores the critical period from 1938 to 1948, from the Munich Conference to the creation of the Welfare State, "the New Jerusalem." Three topics are offered Spring 2022. Section A1: History of the Self. Considers the changing experience and description of the self and selfhood from Antiquity to the present. Readings include biography, autobiography, and works of scholarship in history and philosophy. Appropriate for graduate students and advanced undergraduates. Section B1: Meaning, Memory, and History. Explores central issues in the philosophy of history, from Kant, Hegel, and Nietzsche to Collingwood, Popper, and Danto. Topics include: is history a science? If so, what kind? How does it differ from tradition and memory? Does it have a meaning? Section C1: Age of Hamilton. Provides students with an understanding of the world in the aftermath of the War of the American Revolution, through the lens of one of its most iconic figures.
  • CAS HI 503: Race, Ethnicity, and Childhood in US History
    The history of childhood in US History intersects with the interdisciplinary area of childhood studies. Within that, the histories of Black children and children of ethnic minorities and historically marginalized young people is a burgeoning subfield. This course examines how identities inclusive of (and structural inequities associated with) race, ethnicity, gender, social class, and sexuality have differently affected the lives and experiences of young people in the United States from the colonial period through to the 21st century. Effective Fall 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing-Intensive Course, Historical Consciousness (HCO), Creativity/Innovation.
    • Historical Consciousness
    • Creativity/Innovation
    • Writing-Intensive Course
  • CAS HI 504: The Civil War in American Memory
    From the immediate post-war years through very recent political conflicts, Americans have vigorously contested the memory of their Civil War. This course considers this question by exploring literature, film, and historical documents. Effective Spring 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Research and Information Literacy.
    • Historical Consciousness
    • Research and Information Literacy
  • CAS HI 506: The Transformation of Early New England: Witches, Whalers and Warfare
    Explores how religious schisms and revival, warfare with native Americans, political revolution, and commercial development transformed New England from a Puritanical agricultural society into an urbanized, industrial society by the outbreak of the American Civil War. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Social Inquiry I.
    • Historical Consciousness
    • Social Inquiry I
  • CAS HI 507: Three Revolutions
    The course examines how the English civil wars, the Glorious Revolution, and the American Revolution altered Anglo-American political thought and encouraged the rise of a democratic order and changed the nature of governance. Writers from Hobbes and Milton to Burke and Jefferson grappled with these transformations that created political modernity. The course situates these changes within their broader social and spiritual contextes and explores the continuation of inequality within a democratic order. Effective Spring 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Social Inquiry II.
    • Historical Consciousness
    • Social Inquiry II
  • CAS HI 514: Enlightenment and Its Critics
    Explores how eighteenth-century criticisms of the Enlightenment have been taken up by twentieth-century thinkers such as Heidegger, Horkheimer, Adorno, Gadamer, and Foucault; discusses recent defenses of Enlightenment ideals of reason, critique and autonomy by Habermas and others. Also offered as CAS PO 592 and CAS PH 412.
  • CAS HI 518: Histories of Food and Society
    Introduces themes of the history of food-production, consumption, aesthetics, and ritual through specific historical examples of food and culture(s) and food diasporas of the modern era.
  • CAS HI 525: Development in Historical Perspective
    A critical investigation of modern "development" practices and projects in Asia, Africa, and the Americas. Explores the rise of development paradigms in the nineteenth century and key twentieth-century transformations; interrogates challenges to, critiques of, and reaffirmations of global development schemes. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing-Intensive Course, Social Inquiry II.
    • Social Inquiry II
    • Writing-Intensive Course
  • CAS HI 526: Poverty and Democracy: Modern India and the United States in Comparative Perspective
    Through an examination of historical, empirical, and journalistic evidence, students examine the peculiar and pernicious nature of modern and contemporary poverty in the context of two large democracies, India and the United States. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing-Intensive Course, Ethical Reasoning, Social Inquiry II.
    • Ethical Reasoning
    • Social Inquiry II
    • Writing-Intensive Course
  • CAS HI 533: Empire and Power: British Foreign Policy, 1782-Present
    Examines the evolution of British foreign policy over time as well as the nature of Great Power rivalry. Key themes include formulation of national diplomatic strategies, policy coordination, diplomatic vs. military considerations, alliance politics, and policy over-stretch. Also offered as CAS IR 514.
  • CAS HI 537: World War II: Causes, Course, Consequences
    Hitler, Mussolini, Tojo, Churchill, Roosevelt, Stalin, and 75 million ordinary and extraordinary dead. From 1939-1945, the whole world waged total war in cruel ways unknown to any history before or since. Explore the causes, course, and consequences of these events.

Back to full list of Graduate School of Arts & Sciences