GRS EC701 Microeconomic Theory
Prereq: GRS EC705 and consent of instructor. Primarily for PhD students. Neo-classical general equilibrium theory. Topics covered include consumption, production, existence of competitive equilibrium, fundamental welfare theorems, externalities, and uncertainty.
GRS EC702 Macroeconomic Theory
Prereq: GRS EC701 and consent of instructor. Primarily for PhD students. Basic Keynesian model: consumption, investment, and money demand functions. Extension to the open economy. Determinants of money supply. Effectiveness of monetary and fiscal policy. Inflation and income policy. Elementary growth models.
GRS EC703 Advanced Microeconomic Theory I
Prereq: 701, 705 or equivalent. Walrasian equilibrium: existence, uniqueness and core equivalence. Uncertainty: Arrow Debreu contingent commodities, Radner equilibrium, incomplete markets. Economics of information: rational expectations, adverse selection, signaling and screening. The principal-agent problem.
GRS EC704 Advanced Macroeconomic Theory
Prereq: GRS EC702 and consent of instructor. Primarily for PhD students. Consumption theory and evidence, investment theory and evidence, monetary theory, microfoundations of macrosystems, theory of rational expectations, models of fiscal and monetary macroeconomic policy, and employment theory and policy.
GRS EC705 Introduction to Mathematical Economics
Prereq: consent of instructor. Linear algebra, differential calculus of functions of several variables, elementary real analysis, constrained maximization, and dynamics.
GRS EC707 Advanced Statistics for Economists
Prereq: GRS EC705 or consent of instructor. Application of statistical tools, covering properties of estimators, covariance matrix and correlation, analysis of variance, hypothesis testing, likelihood functions, and likelihood ratio tests. Intended as preparation for GRS EC708.
GRS EC708 Advanced Econometrics I
Prereq: GRS EC705 and EC707. Basic course of econometric theory for MAPE/PhD students. Covers the theory and applications of the LS and ML estimators of the linear single equations models. OLS, GLS, and Gauss-Markov theorem, autocorrelation, heteroscedesticity, nonlinear estimators, distributed lags, errors in variables, instrumental variable estimators, choice models. Introduction to simultaneous equation models.
GRS EC709 Advanced Econometrics II
Prereq: GRS EC708 or consent of instructor. Advanced course for second-year PhD students who have a solid knowledge of basic econometric methods. Covers estimation and simulation of simultaneous equation models and some selected topics in multivariate analysis.
GRS EC711 Advanced Topics in Econometrics
Prereq: GRS EC709 and consent of instructor. Discusses, in abstract fashion, approaches to estimation and inference that are most often used in econometrics, including maximum likelihood and method of moments; recent developments in econometrics that allow one to overcome some of the shortcomings in using the standard approaches to estimation. Main emphasis on cross-sectional applications with some mention of time series applications and further discussions of specification analysis and testing.
GRS EC712 Time Series Econometrics
Prereq: GRS EC708 or consent of instructor. The course first presents the standard theory of stationary stochastic processes: models, estimation in the time and frequency domain, spectral analysis, asymptotic distribution, Kalman filter; VAR models. The second part deals with nonstationary processes (i.e., unit roots) and discusses such topics as functional central limit theorem, asymptotic results with unit roots, tests for unit roots, estimation and tests in cointegrated systems, models with structural changes.
GRS EC716 Game Theory
Prereq: GRS EC705 or a course in real analysis. Introduction to noncooperative and cooperative games with applications in the social sciences.
GRS EC717 Advanced Topics in Microeconomic Theory I
Prereq: consent of instructor. Topics in advanced microeconomic theory to be selected by course instructors. Critical analysis of key papers in the literature.
GRS EC718 Advanced Topics in Microeconomic Theory II
Prereq: GRS EC703 or consent of instructor. Topics in advanced microeconomic theory to be selected by course instructors. Critical analysis of key papers in the literature.
GRS EC721 Topics in Development Economics
Prereq: GRS EC701, EC702, EC703 and EC704 or consent of instructor. Examines the economic development of nations from the perspectives of their relationship with the global economy, to identify issues that are central to economic development in the world economy, and to provide analytical methods for analyzing these issues and formulating policy. Evidence on these issues from Africa, Asia, and Latin America are examined. Some topics to be covered: the role of international trade in economic growth; trade between developed and developing countries; public and private foreign capital; research and development and technology transfer; exchange rate regimes and capital flight.
GRS EC722 Topics in Economic Development II
Prereq: 701, 703, 708 or equivalents. This course covers a range of topics on failures of markets and governance in developing countries. Recent research papers including both theoretical and empirical analysis are discussed, including class presentations by students. Topics include credit and insurance market imperfections; implications for investment, inequality and growth; social networks and social learning. Models of political economy and government accountability, with applications to land reform, decentralization, education, tax policy, and role of the media.
GRS EC731 Market Organization and Public Policy
Prereq: GRS EC701 or EC703. Analytical foundations of public policy toward market organization. Theoretical emphasis on imperfect competition, theory of the firm, and markets with incomplete information. Implications for policy in developed and less-developed countries.
GRS EC732 Topics in Industrial Organization
Prereq: consent of instructor. Topics vary from year to year and may include the economics of contracting and the firm, the economics of regulation, and dynamic models of oligopoly.
GRS EC741 Topics in Macroeconomics and Monetary Theory
Prereq: GRS EC701, EC702, or consent of instructor. Alternative views of demand and supply of money and financial assets. Analytical theories of monetary policy. Problems in the exercise of monetary policy.
GRS EC742 Applied Macroeconomics
Prereq: GRS EC704, EC708, and consent of instructor. Empirical specification of macroeconomic functions including measuring variables, lag structures, and functional forms; estimation and simulation of multiple equation macro models; and use of models for optimal policy design and positive policy prognosis.
GRS EC744 Economic Dynamics
Prereq: consent of instructor. Introduces the theory and application of dynamic optimization and equillibrium analysis, with emphasis on computational methods and techniques. Covers discrete and continuous time models in both deterministic and stochastic environments.
GRS EC745 Macroeconomics and Financial Markets
Prereq: consent of instructor. The course covers recent developments in utility-based asset pricing theory with applications to stocks, bonds and currencies. It integrates macroeconomic and financial theories and their empirical evaluations, focusing on tests and consequences of asset returns’ predictability.
GRS EC751 Topics in Labor Economics I
Prereq: consent of instructor. A survey course which combines an examination of all the major fields in labor market analysis with a comprehensive treatment of methodological topics. Designed to provide the tools necessary to begin a thesis in the field. Topics covered in depth include unemployment, wage setting models, human capital models, and labor motility.
GRS EC752 Topics in Labor Economics II
Prereq: GRS EC701 and consent of instructor. Considers models which explain the origins and persistence of differences in incomes between individuals, groups, and regions. Draws on literatures in applied microeconomic theory, labor economics, development economics, public finance, and social choice theory. Discusses topics at the juncture of economics and sociology which bear on the theme of inequality.
GRS EC761 Public Finance
Prereq: GRS EC701 or consent of instructor. The theory of excess burden; optimal taxation; static, dynamic, and interregional tax incidence; public goods; externalities; corporate taxation; dynamic fiscal policy; and cost-benefit analysis. Extensive use of calculus.
GRS EC762 Topics in Applied Public Finance
Prereq: GRS EC701 and EC702, or consent of instructor. Theory and practice of benefit-cost analysis and other similar techniques for evaluating investment projects. Emphasis on sources of divergence between public and private investment decisions through the estimation of shadow prices in a context of market distortions and disequilibrium. Case studies applying theoretical approach.
GRS EC764 Topics in Economic History
GRS EC781 Health Economics I
Prereq: GRS EC701 or consent of instructors. Advanced concepts of health economics, covering classic problems of uncertainty, moral hazard, adverse selection, and agency problems. US and foreign settings considered The primary focus is on understanding the implications of incentives on individual agents without worrying about market interactions.
GRS EC782 Health Economics II
Prereq: GRS EC701 and EC708 or consent of instructor. Advanced concepts of health economics, emphasizing the market interactions and diverse institutions. Developed and developing country experience is examined. Households, individuals, providers and insurers are all considered from both theoretical and empirical perspective.
GRS EC791 International Trade
Prereq: GRS EC701 and consent of instructor. Pure theory of international trade. Analysis of various models that determine comparative advantage. Welfare effects of trade. Emphasis is placed on the use of formal models to analyze tariffs, quotas, and subsidies. Analysis of trade under various competitive frameworks.
GRS EC792 International Finance
Prereq: GRS EC791 or consent of instructor. Extension of important topics introduced in GRS EC791; gains from trade and balance-of-payment adjustment under various conditions of market imperfection; effective production analysis; monetary approach to the balance-of-payment; theorems in the pure theory of trade.
GRS EC794 Financial Econometrics
Prereq: doctoral standing. For PhD students working in the area of econometrics, finance, and applied macroeconomics. Topics include prediction of asset returns, financial volatility, asset allocation, value at risk, and high frequency data analysis.
Graduate Workshops for MAPE/PhD Candidates
GRS EC901-902 Dissertation Workshop in Macro and Monetary Economics
Prereq: completion of PhD qualifying examinations. Presentation and discussion of dissertation topics and work in progress.
GRS EC903-904 Dissertation Workshop in Applied Microeconomics
Prereq: completion of PhD qualifying examinations. Presentation and discussion of dissertation topics and work in progress.
GRS EC905-906 Dissertation Workshop in Economic Theory
Prereq: completion of PhD qualifying examinations. Presentation and discussion of dissertation topics and work in progress.
Directed study courses are to be arranged with individual faculty members at the time of registration. The Graduate Academic Administrator should be notified of such arrangements, including the course credit agreement, which varies.
Odd-numbered courses are offered in the fall and the first summer session. Even-numbered courses are offered in the spring and the second summer session.
GRS EC905/906 Directed Study in Economic Theory
GRS EC911/912 Directed Study in Statistics and Econometrics
GRS EC915/916 Directed Study in Economic Planning
GRS EC921/922 Directed Study in Economic Development
GRS EC931/932 Directed Study in Rural and Agricultural Development
GRS EC935/936 Directed Study in the Economics of Public Enterprise
GRS EC941/942 Directed Study in Money and Finance
GRS EC943/944 Directed Study in Macro/Money
GRS EC951/952 Directed Study in International Economics
GRS EC961/962 Directed Study in Economic History
GRS EC963/964 Directed Study in History of Economic Thought
GRS EC965/966 Directed Study in Public Finance
GRS EC971/972 Directed Study in Labor and Manpower Economics
GRS EC979/980 Directed Study in Urban and Regional Economics
GRS EC989/990 Directed Study in Health Economics
GRS EC991/992 Directed Study in Comparative Economic Systems
GRS EC995/996 Directed Study in Industrial Organization
Course Preparation for Required Examinations
The following courses are recommended as preparation for the PhD qualifying exams: EC701, EC702, EC703, and EC704.