ECONOMICS

180.101 (S)

ELEMENTS OF MACROECONOMICS (3) Maccini   Prereq: Basic facility with graphs and algebra   Limit 18 per section An introduction to the economic system and economic analysis, with emphasis on total national income and output, employment, the price level and inflation, money, the government budget, the national debt, and interest rates. The role of public policy. Applications of economic analysis to government and personal decisions.

Lec.

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MW 9-9:50

F 9-9:50

F 9-9:50

F 9-9:50

Th 9-9:50

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Th 9-9:50

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Th 9-9:50

Th 10:30-11:20

Th 10:30-11:20

Th 10:30-11:20

Th 10:30-11:20

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Th 10:30-11:20

Th 12-12:50

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Th 12-12:50

Th 12-12:50

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Th 12-12:50

180.228 (S)

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT (3) Gersovitz   Limit 25 per section    Prereq: 180.101-102  Diagnostic test on Elements of Economics is required to be taken in the second week    The review of the historical experience in presently developed economies, models of development, planning techniques and development policies. The course is aimed at identifying major economies and to showing how economic analysis can be used further to understand the obstacles to development and to formulate appropriate policies.

Lec.

Sec. 01

02

MW 1:30-2:20

F 1:30-2:20

F   2-2:50

180.233 (S)

INTRODUCTION TO THE EUROPEAN UNION (3) HeinsenbergLimit 40  This lecture course introduces students to the European Union (EU) by examining the history and institutions in order to understand the EUs policies, strengths and weaknesses.  Requires extensive reading, mid-term, final.

Sec. 01

TTh 9-10:15

180.235 (S)

INTRODUCTION TO INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL ECONOMY (3) Heinsenberg  Limit 40   Focusing on the politics of international economic relations, this course examines how political economics differs from "regular" economics.  Alternative analytical and theoretical perspectives are examined.  Requires extensive reading, mid-term, final.

Sec. 01

TTh 10:30-11:45

180.241 (S)

INTERNATIONAL TRADE (3) Weiss Limit 150   Prereq: 180.101-102 Theory of comparative advantage and the international division of labor; the determinants and patterns of trade, factor price equalization, factor mobility, gains from trade and distribution of income, and theory and practice of tariffs and other trade restrictions.

Sec. 01

F 1:30-4

180.266 (S)

FINANCIAL MARKETS AND INSTITUTIONS (3) Fohlin Limit 50  Prereq: 180.101-102 Understanding design and functioning of financial markets and institutions, connecting theoretical foundations and real-world applications and cases. Basic principles of asymmetric information problems, management of risk. Money, bond, and equity markets, investment banking, security brokers, and venture capital firms; structure, competition, and regulation of commercial banks. Importance of electronic technology on financial systems. Course canceled 4/18/08

Sec. 01

MWF 11-11:50

180.289 (S)

ECONOMICS OF HEALTH (3) Bishai
Limit 75   Prereq: 180.102 Application of economic concepts and analysis to the health services system. Review of empirical studies of demand for health services, behavior of providers, and relationship of health services to population health levels. Discussion of current policy issues relating to financing and and resource allocation.
Cross-listed with Public Health Studies

Sec. 01

M 3-5:30pm

180.302 (S)

MACROECONOMIC THEORY (4.5)
Staff   Limit 45 per section  Freshmen by Permission Only Prereq: 180.101-102 (can be taken concurrently with 180.101-102), Differential Calculus 110.106 or Perm. Req’d    This course provides a treatment of macroeconomic theory including a static analysis of determination of output, employment, the price level, the rate of interest, and the dynamic analysis of growth, inflation and business cycles. In addition the use and effectiveness of monetary and fiscal policy to bring about full employment, price stability; and economic growth will be discussed.

Lec.

Sec. 01

02

03

MW 10-11:50

F  9-9:50

F 10-10:50

F 1:30-2:20

180.310 (S)
(W)

ECONOMICS OF ANTITRUST (3) Hamilton/Levy   Limit 20   Perm. Req’d.   Prereq: 180.301-Microeconomic Theory   This course explores the economic rationale for, and consequence of, antitrust laws. In addition to economic analysis we will study landmark antitrust cases.

Sec. 01

Th 1:30-4

180.334 (S,Q)

ECONOMETRICS (3) Woutersen   Limit 50 40 per sec. Freshmen by Permission Only Prereq: Statistical Analysis (550.111 or 550.420) or permission of instructor     Introduction to the methods of estimation in economic research. The first part of the course develops the primary method employed in economic research, the method of least squares. This is followed by an investigation of the performance of the method in a variety of important situations. The development of a way to handle many of the situations in which ordinary least squares is not useful, the method of instrumental variables, concludes the course.

Lec.

Sec. 01

02

Th 1:30-3:20

F 1:30-2:20

T 1:30-2:20

180.337 (S,Q)

FINANCIAL ECONOMETRICS (3) Woutersen   Limit 30 Prereq: 180.334, 180.367, 550.420 recommended This course introduces financial models and the necessary techniques to estimate and test these models.  e.g., ARCH, GARCH, integrated volatility models, efficient market hypothesis, as well as risk management models.

Sec. 01

T 1:30-4

180.351 (S)

LABOR ECONOMICS (3) Morgan  Limit 30 Prereq: 180.301, or Perm. Req’d The economics of the determination of earnings and the allocation of labor. The theory of labor supply and labor demand will be developed and then applied to questions of income distribution, unions, government intervention in the labor market, and discrimination.

Sec. 01

TTh 9-10:15

180.365 (S)

PUBLIC FINANCE (3) Macauley Limit 80   Prereq: 180.301 Examines competing views of the appropriate role of government in the economy and its actual role, including analysis of the principal taxes and expenditure programs, with a particular emphasis on Social Security and other social insurance programs.

Sec. 01

T 1:30-3:20

180.367 (S)

INVESTMENTS AND PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT (3) Shore Limit 50   Prereq: 180.301  Investment securities and their markets, especially the stock market. The relation between expected return and risk. The determination of security prices. Financial portfolio selection. The assessment of performance of managed portfolios.

Sec. 01

Th 3-5:30

180.371 (S)

INDUSTRIAL ORGANIZATION (3) Shum   Limit 20   Prereq: 180.301 or Perm. Req’d     Investigation of firm behavior in markets characterized by imperfect competition. Imperfect competition lies in between monopoly and perfect competition and characterizes most major industries in modern capitalist economies. Central issues to be covered in the course include what determines the intensity of competition? What determines the extent of entry and exit? How is it that some firms consistently dominate their industries?

Sec. 01

MW 1:30-2:45

570.470 (S)

APPLIED ECONOMICS AND FINANCE (3) Hanke   Limit 10   Perm Req’d. This course focuses on the workings of equity markets. It includes an analytical review of valuation models and their application to data contained in financial statements. Research reports are required. Cross-listed with Geography and Environmental Engineering

Sec. 01

TBA

570.487 (S)

Sec. 01

TBA

360.528

APPLIED ECONOMICS RESEARCH INTERNSHIP Hanke   Limit 10   Prereq: 180.101-102 Perm. Req’d. Satisfactory/ Unsatisfactory only   Course given in conjunction with private business and financial institutions, governmental entities, and economic research institutes in the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area. Requirements include 120 hours of internship time and a research paper on an applied economics topic.
Cross-listed with Interdepartmental and Geography and Environmental Engineering

Sec. 01

TBA

180.501

INDEPENDENT STUDY Staff

180.521

RESEARCH IN ECONOMICS (2) Fohlin   Limit 10   Prereq: Open to Senior Economics majors.  Perm. Req’d  Note: This course can not be counted as one of the five elective economics courses required for the Economics major.  The assignment in this course is to complete the initial stages of research for the Senior Honors Thesis in Economics.  Students will work independently under the supervision of a research/thesis advisor.  The contact (in spring of Junior year) should be the course instructor listed for this course.  He/she will coordinate registration and grade-reporting, and will also be available to discuss research ideas and to help put students in touch with possible thesis advisors.

Sec. 01

TBA

180.597

RESEARCH (3) Staff Course added 4/18/08

180.601

MICROECONOMIC THEORY Staff
Limit 30    Prereq: 180.301-302, 110.106 or Perm. Req’d.  First term: a systematic presentation of microeconomic theory in both its partial equilibrium and general equilibrium aspects. Topics covered include preferences and utility, exchange, production, theory of the firm, capital and interest, competition and monopoly, stability of equilibrium, and welfare economics.

Sec. 01

MW 10-11:15

180.603

MACROECONOMIC THEORY Maccini   Limit 30 Prereq: 180.301-302 or Perm. Req’d.   A comprehensive treatment of macroeconomic theory, including static analysis of aggregate output employment, the rate of interest, and the price level; aggregative theory of investment, consumption, demand and supply of money; empirical work on aggregative
relationships.

Sec. 01

TTh 10:30-11:45

180.605

ADVANCED MACROECONOMICS Ball   Limit 20   Prereq: 180.603-604 Topics of recent research in macro-economics. Content will vary from year to year. Likely topics include implicit contract theory, search theory and unemployment, disequilibrium macroeconomic models, monetary policy and the control of inflation, contract-based rational expectations models, imperfect competition in macrodynamic models, business cycle models, empirical tests of rational expectations models, theories of investment behavior, and debt neutrality.

Sec. 01

T 1:30-3:20

180.607

MACROECONOMETRICS I   Faust Limit 20   Prereq: 180.633-634 This course teaches techniques of time series analysis as used in macroeconomics. The emphasis will be on application and the theory required to reliably conduct applications.

Sec. 01

W 1:30-3:20

180.611

ECONOMICS OF UNCERTAINITY Karni   Limit 20   Prereq: 180.601 and 180.603 or Perm. Req’d.   A review of the theory of decision making under uncertainty and its applications to problems of optimal insurance, portfolio selection, savings decisions and optimal search. Alternative approaches to decision making under uncertainty will be surveyed. Attitudes toward risk will be characterized and the issues of measurement and comparability of these attitudes discussed, both in the univariate and multivariate cases; applications are given. The theory of
optimal search is developed with emphasis on its usefulness for the study of labor markets and unemployment.

Sec. 01

M 9-11

180.615

MATHEMATICAL METHODS IN ECONOMICS Karni    Limit 30 
Prereq: 180.301-302 or Perm. Req’d. A course in mathematics for economists not planning to work in quantitative areas, or for those whose mathematics background is weak. The emphasis is on optimization theory; also included are topics in advanced calculus and linear algebra.

Sec. 01

T 3-5

180.628

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT Gersovitz  Limit 20   Coreqs: 180.601, 180.603 Trade relations between developed and developing countries, trade policies in developed countries, policies by developing countries, project evaluation, and foreign investment.

Sec. 01

F 3-5

180.636

STATISTICAL INFERENCE Shum Limit 30   Prereq: Differential Calculus and Linear Algebra   Theory and applications of statistical inference. Topics include probability and sampling, distribution theory, estimation, hypothesis testing, and simple regression analysis. Statistical applications will be drawn from economics.
Prerequisites: differential calculus and linear algebra. Limited to graduate students in Economics except by permission of the chair

Sec. 01

W 9-11

180.637

MICROECONOMETRICS I Woutersen Limit 20   Prereq: 180.633-634 or equivalent   This course covers the major econometric techniques that are used in applied work in microeconomics. These include limited dependent variables and selection models; treatment-effect models; duration models; panel data models.

Sec. 01

M 1:30-3:20

180.641

INTERNATIONAL TRADE Krishna  Limit 20   Coreqs: 180.601, 180.603 The pure theory of trade. Theories of comparative advantage, factor price equalization, trade and welfare, tariffs, trade and factor movements.

Sec. 01

T W 5:30-7:20pm

180.651

LABOR ECONOMICS I Moffitt  Limit 20   Coreqs: 180.601 Theories of the allocation of time and supply of labor, human capital, demand for labor, market equilibrium, and income distribution. As time allows, other topics, such as unemployment, unions, and compensating differences are discussed.

Sec. 01

T 8:30-10:30    Th 9:30-10:30

180.671

INDUSTRIAL ORGANIZATION Harrington   Limit 20   Prereq: 180.601   An investigation of firm behavior in imperfectly competitive industries from a game-theoretic perspective. Firm decision making with respect to price and quantity,
entry and exit, and investment are explored. Both static and dynamic theories are presented to address questions related to the intensity of competition and the creation and maintenance of market dominance. The course is largely, though not exclusively, theoretical in content. Though no background in game theory is required, students are encouraged to take 180.618 or some other game theory course concurrently.

Sec. 01

Th 12:30-3:20

180.694

APPLIED MICROECONOMICS WORKSHOP Staff   Limit 20  Graduate Students only This is a weekly seminar series that brings in speakers from other universities to present their research in the field of applied microeconomics.

Sec. 01

W 3:30-5

180.695

MICROECONOMIC THEORY WORKSHOP Staff   Limit 20  Graduate students only This is a seminar series devoted to the presentation of research in microeconomic theory, typically by speakers from outside the department.

Sec. 01

M 3:30-5

180.696

MACROECONOMICS WORKSHOP Staff   Graduate students only   Limit 20 This course features lectures by economists from other universities. They present research findings at the frontier of the field.

Sec. 01

T 3:30-5

180.698

RESEARCH/TEACHING PRACTICUMS Staff   Limit 10  Economic majors /Graduate students only The purpose of the Ph.D. program in economics is to train students to teach and to do research in economics. This course is for graduate students in the Ph.D. program in economics to obtain graduate credit for work off campus that provides training and the development of skills in teaching and/or research. Before the practicum is begun, the graduate student must identify a sponsoring faculty member or seek permission from the student’s faculty adviser. The faculty member or adviser must sign a form that certifies that graduate credit will be granted, verifies the nature of the work to be performed by the student, and explains how the practicum helps to fulfill a degree requirement. Once completed, the sponsoring faculty member or adviser submits a grade of pass or fail for the student. The course may be used for curricular practical training.

Sec. 01

TBA