New Fall 2018 Course Descriptions
328 Arts Entrepreneurship (3). Prerequisites, Economics 101, 125, 325. The goal of this course is to build upon the teachings of both Econ 125 and Econ 325 by conceptualizing, writing, and in collaboration with others, preparing and presenting formal business plans for entrepreneurial ventures that are specific to the arts. We will examine the challenges and changing nature of entrepreneurship and innovation as they relate to the arts with a specific goal to provide business world examples of such challenges. We will explore special topics from the music, film, television, theater and live performance industries and invite leaders in these fields to join in the conversations. Fall. Instructor?
411 Game Theory (3). Pre-requisites, Economics 410 or permission of the instructor. Game theory is the study of strategic interactions, where the best choice for the individual depends directly on what other individuals are doing. This course formalizes strategic interactions as mathematical games. Students examine the concept of a strategy, examine what it means to be rational or irrational, and define solution concepts that correspond to different assumptions about how well players can coordinate play as well as differences in assumptions about the sequential and informational structure.
470 Econometrics (3). Pre-requisites: Economics 400 and 410; General Education: QI. Econometrics is the application of statistical methods and economic theory to the problem of identifying, estimating, and testing economic models. This course covers concepts and methods used in empirical economic research. Students will learn how to conduct and how to critique empirical studies in economics.
551 Economics of Education (3). Pre-requisites: Econ 400, 410 and corequisite of 470 or 570 or permission of instructor; Gen Ed: CI, EE-mentored research. Course will apply and build on existing economic theory and econometric skills to study education policy. Topics include education production, teacher quality and investment in education, with a particular emphasis on recent policies aimed at reducing inequality. Students will learn how to conduct and how to critique empirical studies in economics of education.
571 Advanced Econometrics (3). Prerequisites: ECON 470 or 570. Econometric models and inference methods for program evaluation. Topics include self-selection models, heterogeneous treatment effect models, differences-in-differences methods and regression discontinuity designs.