Economics

This course introduces the theory and practice of consumer studies. In terms of theory, the course focuses on economic, psychological, sociological, communication, and marketing theories to develop an understanding of consumers. Concepts such as information processing, attitude formation, framing, group norms, conflicts, motivations, emotions, goals, income, wealth, social practices, and culture are studied. In terms of practice, the course reviews four different approaches to consumer studies. All theories can be analyzed with at least four different approaches: marketing, communication, sociology, and economics. During a group assignment students analyze a self-chosen problem concerning a consumer situation with the four approaches to examine how and why consumers behave the way they do, and to provide an answer to the raised research problem.

This is a special studies course involving an internship with a corporate, public, governmental, or private organization, arranged with the Study Center Director of Liaison Officer. Specific internships vary each term and are described on a special study project form for each student. A substantial paper or series of reports is required. Units vary depending on the contact hours and method of assessment. Graded P/NP only.

This course provides a critical analysis of the dynamics of growth and convergence of European economies from 1870 to today, and the contribution of the EEC and EU to monetary integration and macroeconomic stability in Western Europe. 

This course is designed to make sense of complexity, utilizing an inter-disciplinary approach to understand the political economy of natural resource governance, particularly in relation to power, conflict and transformation, in various forms. The course begins with examination of key theoretical and ideological underpinnings related to natural resource governance, synthesizing and critically assessing different academic fields. This foundation is utilized to then examine some of the most pressing contemporary global issues, with country and regional specific examples including from Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe and the Pacific.

This course brings students up to date with modern theories of money and banking and recent developments in the analysis of monetary policy. What are the causes of inflation and deflation? What tools do central banks have, and how does monetary policy affect the economy? How do financial markets work, and why are financial intermediaries needed? In order to answer these and related questions, this course provides a set of tools to analyze monetary policy and the financial sector. The course combines a study of the relevant theory with applications to recent events and policy debates.

This course looks at different ways of analyzing economic situations at a micro-level by building on microeconomic concepts learned from an introductory level Economics course. Familiar concepts are discussed in more depth and in a more mathematical way, while new concepts, such as the Slutsky equation, compensating, and equivalent variation are introduced. Game theory, the study of multi-person decision problems, and behavioral economics are also introduced. Behavioral economics adds insights from the field of psychology to the traditional economic rational-choice and equilibrium models. The course emphasis is on behavioral economics, for which students are required to carry out independent research.

This course is a study of capital markets and financial asset valuation. Topics include: instruments and markets; arbitration and fixed income assets; interest rate term structure; asset valuation under uncertainty; evaluation of derivatives; portfolio selection under uncertainty; mean-variance portfolio selection; and the capital asset pricing model (CAPM).