1 - 10 of 142 results for: ECON

The economic way of thinking and the functioning of a market economy. The behavior of consumers and firms, markets for goods and inputs, and principles of international exchange. Applications and policy issues in economics.

Aggregate economic relationships, including output, employment, inflation, interest rates, and exchange rates. Short-run fluctuations and long-run growth. Issues in monetary and fiscal policy. Prerequisite: 1A.

Preference to freshmen. Welfare reform legislation and the devolution revolution. The transfer of responsibility for antipoverty programs to the states. How recent reforms change the welfare system and who is likely to be affected. Food stamps, AFDC, TANF, SSI, and Medicaid. Income transfer programs such as earned income tax credit and income taxes, and labor market regulations such as minimum wages and overtime rules. Economic principles to understand the effectiveness of these programs and their consequences on the behavior of families. Pre- or corequisite: ECON 1. Recommended: basic understanding of labor markets, taxes, and transfers.

Modern finance theory. Financial instruments including stocks, bonds, options, mutual funds, and exchange-traded funds. Historical returns on asset classes. Equity analysis. Capital pricing model. Efficient market hypotheses. Index funds. Meetings with financial managers and venture capitalists.

Preference to freshmen. The relationship between environmental quality and production and consumption of energy. Can environmentally-friendly energy production and consumption compete with conventional sources? How to estimate and compare environmental impact costs of nonrenewable sources such as fossil fuels and nuclear power versus renewable sources such as solar and wind power. Implicit subsidies in conventional energy sources and the environmental costs of these subsidies. Regulatory and legal barriers to more environmentally friendly energy sources.

Cultural background for Athens of the 5th and 4th century BC. Strengths and weaknesses of Athenian democracy. Athenian economy of the 4th century BC. Economic ideas of Plato, Aristotle, and Xenophon. Pros and cons of utilitarianism in light of the ethical theories of Plato and Aristotle.

Individual consumer and firm behavior under perfect competition. The role of markets and prices in a decentralized economy. Monopoly in partial equilibrium. Economic tools developed from multivariable calculus using partial differentiation and techniques for constrained and unconstrained optimization. Prerequisites: 1A and MATH 51(must be taken for a letter grade).

Neoclassical analysis of general equilibrium, welfare economics, imperfect competition, externalities and public goods, intertemporal choice and asset markets, risk and uncertainty, game theory, adverse selection, and moral hazard. Multivariable calculus is used. Prerequisite: 50.

Long-run economic growth and short-run economic fluctuations. Focus on the macroeconomic tools of government: fiscal policy (spending and taxes) and monetary policy, and their effects on growth, employment, and inflation. Prerequisites: 1B, 50.