| Economics |
ECON 401 - Principles of Economics (Macro)
Credits:
4.00
Basic functions of the United States economy viewed as a
whole; policies designed to affect its performance. Economic
scarcity, supply and demand, the causes of unemployment and
inflation, the nature of money and monetary policy, the
impact of government taxation and spending, the federal
debt, and international money matters. No credit for
students who have had ECN 411.
ECON 401H - Honors/Principles of Economics (Macro)
Credits:
4.00
See description for ECON 401.
ECON 402 - Principles of Economics (Micro)
Credits:
4.00
Functions of the component units of the economy and their
interrelations. Units of analysis are the individual
consumer, the firm, and the industry. Theory of consumer
demand and elasticity, supply and costs of production,
theory of the firm under conditions of perfect and imperfect
competition, demand for and allocation of economic
resources, general equilibrium, and basic principles and
institutions of international trade. Not open to students
who have had EREC 411. No credit for students who have
had ECN 412.
ECON 402H - Honors/Principles of Economics (Micro)
Credits:
4.00
See description for ECON 402. Writing intensive.
ECON 515 - Economic History of the United States
Credits:
4.00
United States economy from colonial times to the present.
Models of economic development applied to the United States.
How social, political, technological, and cultural factors
shape economy; development and influence of economic
institutions. Prereq: ECON 401 or 402;/or permission.
ECON #518 - European Economic History
Credits:
4.00
Western European economics from medieval times to the
present. Explanations for differential growth rates and
patterns; comparisons among political, social, and economic
events. Prereq: Econ 401 or 402;/or permission.
ECON 605 - Intermediate Microeconomic Analysis
Credits:
4.00
Analysis of supply and demand. Determination of prices,
production, and the distribution of income in noncompetitive
situations and in the purely competitive model. General
equilibrium. Prereq: ECON 402.
ECON 605W - Intermediate Microeconomic Analysis
Credits:
4.00
See description for ECON 605. Writing intensive.
ECON 607 - Ecological Economics
Credits:
4.00
Analysis of efficiency, equity, and growth issues in the
economy and their links to environmental quality and natural
resources availability. Case studies of global warming,
world hunger, etc. Prereq: ECON 401 and 402. Writing
intensive.
ECON 611 - Intermediate Macroeconomic Analysis
Credits:
4.00
Macroeconomic measurement, theory, and public policy
determination. Prereq: ECON 401 and 402.
ECON 615 - History of Economic Thought
Credits:
4.00
Examination and critical appraisal of the work of major
economists, including the work of contemporary economists,
and major schools of economists, particularly with reference
to the applicability of their theories to current economic
problems. Prereq: ECON 401 and 402. Writing intensive.
ECON #630 - Comparative Study of Economic Systems
Credits:
4.00
Analyzes crisis of ideologies, markets, and non-market
systems. Swedish capitalism, reform processes of state
socialist systems. (Russia, Poland, Hungary), and the
centrally planned Cuban economy. Stresses theory, policy,
and institutions. Prereq: ECON 401 or permission.
ECON 635 - Money and Banking
Credits:
4.00
Study of interest rates, financial markets, financial
institutions, monetary institutions, the supply of money,
the demand for money, monetary theory, and monetary policy.
Prereq: ECON 401 and 402.
ECON 641 - Public Economics
Credits:
4.00
Alternative prescriptions and explanations concerning the
role of government in contemporary market economies. General
principles of public expenditure analysis. Selected case
studies of public spending programs, e.g., welfare, defense,
education. Analysis of various federal, state, and local
taxes. Prereq: ECON 401; 605;/ or permission.
ECON 642 - Health Economics
Credits:
4.00
Theoretical and empirical analysis of the U.S. health care
delivery sector. Topics include health insurance markets and
their effects on patient demand, uninsured populations and
their access to health care services, breakdowns in the
principal/agent relationship between patient and providers,
competition in the medical sector, technology,
pharmaceuticals and the scope and effect of government
involvement in the delivery of health care. Prereq:
ECON 402. (Also listed as HMP 642.)
ECON 645 - International Economics
Credits:
4.00
Covers both international trade theory and open-economy
macroeconomics. Some of the major issues include whether
free trade is always preferred to restricted trade, the
controversy over industrial policy and how best to
structure the international financial system. Students gain
an understanding of topics including currency exchange rate
movements, macroeconomic adjustment mechanisms and trade
policy, among others. Prereq: ECON 401 and 402.
ECON 651 - Governmental Regulation of Business
Credits:
4.00
Mergers, competition, monopoly, and the regulated
industries. Prereq: ECON 402.
ECON 653 - Law and Economics
Credits:
4.00
This course is an introduction to the field of Law and
Economics. It focuses on the legal system and the economic
consequences of property, contract, tort, criminal law and
mediation. Prereq: ECON 402. Writing intensive.
ECON 656 - Labor Economics
Credits:
4.00
Functioning of labor markets from theoretical and policy
perspectives. Labor demand and supply, wages and employment.
Welfare programs, human capital, discrimination in the labor
market, unions, wage differentials. Prereq: ECON 401;
ECON 402; ECON 605 recommended.
ECON 658 - Organizational Economics and Architecture
Credits:
4.00
Organizational economics focuses on issues surrounding the
need for coordination in an economy based on the division of
labor. The role and function of the market, firm, and other
coordinating mechanisms such as the Internet are analyzed in
ordered to understand the role they play in facilitating
economic activity. Prereq: ECON 402. Writing intensive.
ECON 668 - Economic Development
Credits:
4.00
Theories of development/underdevelopment. Trade, growth, and
self-reliance. The role of agriculture (land tenure; food
crisis; Green Revolution). World Bank policy.
industrialization strategies. Role of the state. Prereq:
ECON 401; ECON 402;/or permission. Writing intensive.
ECON 669 - Women and Economic Development
Credits:
4.00
Examines the position, roles, and contributions of women in
economic development as interpreted though different
discourses (feminisms, modernity, post modernity) and in
theoretical conceptualizations (neoclassical integrationist,
liberal feminism, class and gender, feminist ecology).
Applied analyses on Africa, South Asia and Latin America.
Prereq: permission. Writing intensive.
ECON 670 - Economics of Energy
Credits:
4.00
The availability and use of inanimate energy resources and
their relation to economic activity. Investigates energy
demand, energy supply, the relation of energy to economic
growth, and energy policy. Prereq: ECON 605 or permission.
ECON 680 - Economics of Electronic Commerce
Credits:
4.00
This course is an introduction to the new opportunities and
challenges posed by the transformation of the Internet into
an electronic marketplace. The focus of the course is
electronic commerce: the creation and exchange of value
between economic agents in an open digital marketplace.
ECON 685 - Study Abroad
Credits:
1.00 to 16.00
Open to students studying abroad in the discipline as
approved by the economics program director. Cr/F.
ECON 686 - Study Abroad
Credits:
1.00 to 16.00
Open to students studying abroad in the discipline as
approved by the economics program director. Cr/F.
ECON #692 - International Economic Integration
Credits:
4.00
Systematic analysis of the process and consequences of
international integration. Introduction to the theoretical
foundations of free trade areas, custom unions, common
markets, and economic unions. Comprehensive examination of
the historical developments in the formation of major
economic blocs, such as the European Union (EU) and the
North American Free Trade Area (NAFTA), and evaluation of
the growing political and economic relationships between
member countries regarding monetary and fiscal integration.
Prereq: ECON 401; ECON 402.
ECON 695 - Independent Study
Credits:
2.00 to 12.00
Individual research projects that are student designed.
Initial sponsorship of an economics faculty member must be
obtained, and approval of WSBE adviser and dean. For juniors
and seniors in high standing. Up to 4 credits may be used as
a major elective.
ECON 695W - Independent Study
Credits:
2.00 to 12.00
See description for ECON 695. Writing intensive.
ECON 696 - Supervised Student Teaching Experience
Credits:
1.00 to 8.00
Participants are expected to perform such functions as
leading discussion groups, assisting faculty in
undergraduate courses that they have successfully
completed, or working as peer advisers in the advising
center. Enrollment is limited to juniors and seniors who
have above-average G.P.A.s. Reflective final paper is
required. Prereq: permission of instructor, department
chair, and director of undergraduate programs. No more
than 4 credits may be earned as a teaching assistant in
any one course. May be repeated to a maximum of 8 credits.
Cr/F.
ECON 698 - Topics
Credits:
4.00
Special topics. May be repeated. Prereq: permission. Writing
intensive.
ECON 698A - Topics
Credits:
4.00
Special topics. May be repeated. Prereq: permission. Writing
intensive.
ECON 698B - Topics
Credits:
4.00
Special topics. May be repeated. Prereq: permission. Writing
intensive.
ECON 698C - Topics
Credits:
4.00
Special topics. May be repeated. Prereq: permission. Writing
Intensive.
ECON 698D - Topics
Credits:
4.00
Special topics. May be repeated. Prereq: permission. Writing
Intensive.
ECON #707 - Economic Growth and Environmental Quality
Credits:
4.00
Analysis of the interrelationships among economic growth,
technological change, population increase, natural resource
use, and environmental quality. Application of alternative
theoretical approaches drawn from the social and natural
sciences. Focus on specific environmental problems, e.g.,
affluence and waste disposal problems, and loss of
biodiversity. Prereq: ECON 605; 611;/or permission.
ECON 711 - Economic Fluctuations
Credits:
4.00
Recurrent movements of prosperity and depression;
emphasis on causes and pubic policy implications. Prereq:
ECON 611;/or permission. Writing intensive.
ECON #720 - United States Economic History
Credits:
4.00
From colonial times to the present. Applied economic
theory; economic models and interpretation of data.
Influence of technology, industrialization, foreign trade,
monetary factors, and government; non-economic factors.
Prereq: ECON 605; ECON 611;/or permission.
ECON 725 - Mathematical Economics
Credits:
4.00
Principal mathematical techniques and their application in
economics. Topics covered: matrix algebra, derivatives,
unconstrained and constrained optimization, linear and
nonlinear programming, game theory, elements of integral
calculus. Prereq: permission.
ECON 726 - Introduction to Econometrics
Credits:
4.00
Introduction to regression techniques as used in economics
and management; estimation and statistical inference in the
context of the general linear model; discussion of problems
encountered and their solutions; extensions of the general
linear model. Prereq: DS 420 or equivalent.
ECON #735 - Economics of Financial Markets
Credits:
4.00
Economic analysis of financial market systems. Topics
include financial market functions, theories of saving and
investment, financial intermediation, flow-of-funds
analysis, loanable funds theory, interest rate forecasting,
portfolio theory, capital-asset pricing models, structure of
interest rates (including term-structure theory), and
macroeconomic models of the financial sector. Prereq:
ECON 635.
ECON 736 - Seminar in Monetary Theory and Policy
Credits:
4.00
Contemporary developments in monetary theory and the
evaluation of policy measures. Prereq: ECON 635. Writing
intensive.
ECON 741 - Introduction to Public Policy
Credits:
4.00
Explores the basic issues of public sector economics and
emphasizes the use of economic theory in predicting the
effects of public policy on individual behavior and the
overall economy. Specific topics include market failures,
collective decision making, cost/benefit analysis, and an
evaluation of tax and transfer programs. Writing intensive.
ECON 745 - International Trade
Credits:
4.00
Contemporary issues in international economic theory and
policy. Analysis of trade theory, dynamics of world trade
and exchange, and international commercial policy. Prereq:
ECON 605; ECON 645.
ECON 746 - International Finance
Credits:
4.00
International monetary mechanism; balance of payments,
international investment; exchange rates, adjustment
systems, international liquidity, foreign aid, multinational
corporations. Prereq: ECON 611; ECON 645. Writing intensive.
ECON 747 - Multinational Enterprises
Credits:
4.00
Internationalization of economies. Growth and implications
of multinational corporations at the level of systems.
Theories of imperialism, international unity/rivalry;
theories of direct investment, exercise of influence and
conflict, technology transfer, bargaining with host
country; effects on U.S. economy. Prereq: permission.
ECON #755 - Collective Bargaining
Credits:
4.00
Historical development of the U.S. labor movement and
the industrial relations system. Contemporary collective
bargaining issues; the role of public policy in industrial
relations.
ECON 756 - Labor Economics
Credits:
4.00
Recent developments in labor market analysis and public
policies related to contemporary labor issues. Labor supply,
the structure and stratification of labor markets, economic
discrimination, unemployment and poverty, inflation, and
wage-price controls. Prereq: ECON 656.
ECON 768 - Seminar in Economic Development
Credits:
4.00
Advanced reading seminar. Topics include methodologies
underlying economic development theory; industrialization
and post-import substitution; state capitalist development;
stabilization policies; appropriate technologies; the
capital goods sector; agricultural modernization schemes;
and attempts at transition to socialism. Prereq: permission.
ECON 795 - Internship
Credits:
1.00 to 16.00
On-the-job skill development through fieldwork in an
organization (business, industry, health, public service,
etc.). Normally, supervision is provided by a qualified
individual in the organization, with frequent consultation
by a faculty sponsor. Written report required. Internships
may be part or full time, with course credits assigned
accordingly. May not be used as a major elective. Cr/F.
ECON 798 - Economic Problems
Credits:
2.00 or 4.00
Special topics; may be repeated. Prereq: permission of
adviser and instructor. Writing intensive.
ECON 798A - Economic Problems
Credits:
4.00
Special topics; may be repeated. Prereq: permission of
adviser and instructor. Writing intensive.
ECON 798B - Economic Problems
Credits:
2.00 or 4.00
Special topics; may be repeated. Prereq: permission of
adviser and instructor. Writing intensive.
ECON 799 - Honors Thesis
Credits:
4.00 to 8.00
Supervised research leading to the completion of an honors
thesis; required for graduation from the honors program in
economics. Prereq: permission of director of undergraduate
programs and department chair. Writing intensive.