Economics

This course examines the causes and correlates of global poverty, and investigates the policies used to address it. The approach of the course is microeconomic, meaning that it focuses on individual and household behaviors, as well as market failures which lead to sub-optimal choices by these individuals. It covers measurement of poverty and inequality, the role of health and education in poverty, problems in credit, savings, and insurance markets, the causes and effects of migration, environmental degradation, and child labor. 

This introductory course in macroeconomics teaches the insights of macroeconomic theory from a real-world perspective. The course combines chapters from the Blanchard textbook and units from the textbook The Economy to present a picture of contemporary macroeconomic problems and theories.  The course starts with an introduction to key macroeconomic concepts, the use of models, the general equilibrium, and emerging properties. The second session focuses on economic fluctuations and the importance of multiplier effects. The next step is to analyze the importance and effects of fiscal policy. To provide a tool for analyzing the effects of policies, the wage and price setting model, and the Phillips curve are introduced. Special attention is given to the origins of inflation and the difference between supply and demand shocks. Next to fiscal policy, attention to monetary policy is given, after the role of the banking system in the economy is defined. The final session focuses on the specific problems that are related to the Eurozone countries; fixed exchange rates, the (non)optimal currency area, sovereign debt problems, and structural imbalances.

This service-learning course combines a structured curriculum and extensive partnership with a local community-based organization to offer tangible community service. Here, student community service includes direct
engagement as well as a research-based action plan addressing a specific challenge or goal identified by a community-based organization. Students begin by exploring key community-based organizations: examining their
mission, vision and goals, and the place of the organization in the local community. Each student then works with an assigned partner organization and invests at least 90 hours partnering with the organization, working with them
and investigating ways to solve a challenge or issue the organization has identified. Student service-learning includes exploring the proximate and ultimate drivers of the organization's chosen challenge, and the organization's
infrastructure, resources, limitations and possibilities for reducing barriers to achieving the organization's self-identified goals. In concert, coursework probes the role of community-based organizations in both local and global
contexts, common challenges of community-based organizations in defining and implementing their goals, the role of service-learning in addressing these issues, and effective ways for students to help them achieve their mission,
vision, and goals. Coursework also guides the student's service-learning experience by helping students develop sound international service ethics, provide tools to investigate solutions to common development issues, aid in
data analysis and presentation, and provide best practices to illustrate findings and deliver approved joint recommendations orally and in writing. Throughout, students use service-learning as a means to expand their global awareness and understanding, explore shared aspirations for social justice, and develop skills to work with others to effect positive change.

Public Economics is about how the public sectors that represent ‘the State’ promote the public interest. This course is situated in the context of democratic countries that rely mostly on free markets. It deals with practical or real-life aspects of public economics in confrontation with micro- and macro-economic theory. Over time, economic theories and models have become more specific and rigorous whereas social, political, and economic reality has become more multifaceted. The passing of time brings complexity to the world, both for the private market and that of the public sector. Part of this growing real-life complexity is due to the more ambitious role that governments tried to play since the last century, while part is due to choices made by governments themselves. Complexity has increased opportunities for abuses, rent-seeking, and for mistakes in policies. This complex reality with its ‘wicked problems’ makes it much more difficult for governments to (a) allocate resources, (b) redistribute income, (c) protect some incomes and influence, in various ways, the level of production, employment, prices, and economic activity appropriately to the economic theoretical standards. The goal of this course is to engage in this complex issue from the perspective of public economics, and from there to design a public finance solution to some wicked problem. Entry Requirements include courses in Micro or Macro Economics and Statistics.

This course primarily focuses on economic analysis in terms of welfare. Topics include how to evaluate market allocations based on efficiency, how to achieve efficient allocations through the market, and when the market fails in achieving efficient allocations.  

Students will study market structures besides the competitive market such as standard monopoly (uniform pricing), monopoly behavior (price discrimination) and oligopoly (basic concepts in game theory are also covered).  

Additionally, the course will consider exchange, production, welfare, social choice (e.g., an investigation of voting rules), and externalities (If time allows).  

This course emphasizes the development of microeconomic models to analyze economic decision-making of agents and provides students with the basic toolkit of microeconomic theory in preparation for advanced further coursework.  

Prerequisites: Principles of Microeconomics, Basic calculus 

The extensive independent study field research paper produced by the student is both the centerpiece of the intern's professional engagement and the culmination of the academic achievements of the semester. During the preparatory session, IFE teaches the methodological guidelines and principles to which students are expected to adhere in the development of their written research. Students work individually with a research advisor from their field. The first task is to identify a topic, following guidelines established by IFE for research topic choice. The subject must be tied in a useful and complementary way to the student-intern's responsibilities, as well as to the core concerns of the host organization. The research question should be designed to draw as much as possible on resources available to the intern via the internship (data, documents, interviews, observations, seminars and the like). Students begin to focus on this project after the first 2-3 weeks on the internship. Each internship agreement signed with an organization makes explicit mention of this program requirement, and this is the culminating element of their semester. Once the topic is identified, students meet individually, as regularly as they wish, with their IFE research advisor to generate a research question from the topic, develop an outline, identify sources and research methods, and discuss drafts submitted by the student. The research advisor also helps students prepare for the oral defense of their work which takes place a month before the end of the program and the due date of the paper. The purpose of this exercise is to help students evaluate their progress and diagnose the weak points in their outline and arguments. Rather than an extraneous burden added to the intern's other duties, the field research project grows out of the internship through a useful and rewarding synergy of internship and research. The Field Study and Internship model results in well-trained student-interns fully engaged in mission-driven internships in their field, while exploring a critical problem guided by an experienced research advisor.

This course explores the complex interactions between international politics and the global economy, encompassing subjects ranging from geopolitics, security, climate change, global financial systems, and the impact of technology on international trade. 

Students will examine the evolving dynamics of international political economies to navigate the complexities of global economic policymaking process, through a thorough engagement with current case studies to understand the impact of economic decisions on global political structures and vice versa. 

This course examines how to decide where to invest, and how much risk to take on. It covers optimal portfolio construction (Markowitz portfolio theory and Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM), how to measure and price risk and exploit mispriced securities, investment strategies, performance evaluation, and bonds and their investment characteristics (such as duration, yield, and term structure). 

This course explores the significant achievements of behavioral economics, focusing on theoretical and empirical evidence. Unlike traditional economics, which assumes human rationality and standard preferences to understand decision-making and behavioral changes, behavioral economics expands human decision-making models based on new insights from psychology and other fields and introduces the concept of policy design and evaluation based upon insights into human behavioral change. Students will gain a thorough understanding of the fundamental concepts of behavioral economics; be able to critically evaluate the traditional economic theories on human rationality; and be able to compare and analyze the usefulness and policy implications of behavioral economics with those of traditional economics. 

Prerequisites: Microeconomics, Basic Calculus 

What is the optimal consumption choice for a consumer given her preferences and income? When will a manager of a firm decide to expand production? What are the costs for the government when it supports the farmers with a per unit subsidy and is such a subsidy socially efficient?  Should monopolies be regulated and if so, how? When does it make sense for a firm to introduce a variable-wage payment scheme? Which attitudes to risk exist and how does this influence behavior? Such questions are treated in this course. The course is specially designed for non-economics students. Assumed previous knowledge: Students are expected to have a good command of secondary school calculus (including simple derivatives).