General equilibrium and welfare economics. Allocation involving time. Public sector economics. Uncertainty and the economics of information. Introduction to social choice.
Theories of saving, investment, portfolio choice, and financial markets. Longer-run developments; economic growth, capital accumulation, income distribution.
Contracts and the economics of organization. Topics may include dynamic contracts (both explicit and implicit), career concerns, hierarchies, Bayesian mechanism design, renegotiation, and corporate control.
This course examines the foundations of money and finance from the perspective of general equilibrium with incomplete markets. The relevant mathematical tools from elementary stochastic processes to differential topology are developed in the course. Topics include asset pricing, variations of the capital asset pricing model, the “Hahn paradox” on the value of flat money, default and bankruptcy, collateral equilibrium, market crashes, adverse selection and moral hazard with perfect competition, credit card equilibrium, and general equilibrium with asymmetric information.
A course that gives third- and fourth-year students doing research in macroeconomics an opportunity to prepare their prospectuses and to present their dissertation work. Each student is required to make at least two presentations per term. For third-year students and beyond, at least one of the presentations in the first term should be a mock job talk.
A forum for presentation and discussion of state-of-the-art research in macroeconomics. Presentations by research scholars and participating students of papers in closed economy and open economy macroeconomics and monetary economics.
This course analyzes empirically and theoretically the political, institutional, and social underpinnings of economic development. We cover an array of topics ranging from power structures to corruption, state capacity, social capital, conflict, democratization, and democratic backsliding. We focus on recent advances to identify open areas for further research.
Provides a basic knowledge of econometric theory, and an ability to carry out empirical work in economics. Topics include linear regression and extensions, including regression diagnostics, generalized least squares, statistical inference, dynamic models, instrumental variables and maximum likelihood procedures, simultaneous equations, nonlinear and qualitative-choice models. Examples from cross-section, time series, and panel data applications.
The treatment of the subject is rigorous, attentive to modern developments, and proceeds to research level in several areas. Linear models from core curriculum. Topics include linear estimation theory, multiple and multivariate regressions, Kruskal’s theorem and its applications, classical statistical testing by likelihood ratio, Lagrange multiplier and Wald procedures, bootstrap methods, specification tests, Stein-like estimation, instrumental variables, and an introduction to inferential methods in simultaneous stochastic equations.
A sequel to ECON 552, the course proceeds to research level in time series econometrics. Topics include an introduction to ergodic theory, Wold decomposition, spectral theory, martingales, martingale convergence theory, mixing processes, strong laws, and central limit theory for weak dependent sequences with applications to econometric models and model determination.
The first half of this course is about nonlinear parametric models. Specification, estimation, and testing within the Likelihood and Generalized Method of Moments frameworks. First-order asymptotics for both smooth and non-smooth objective functions. Efficiency and robustness. A short account of high-order asymptotics for smooth problems. The second part is on nonparametric and semiparametric methods. Nonparametric estimation by kernels, series, splines, and other methods. Bias reduction and bandwidth selection. The course of dimensionality and additive models. Specification and estimation of semiparametric models. U-statistics and asymptotic properties. Efficiency and adaptation.
How to use computational methods to solve and analyze dynamic economic models. The first part of the course covers standard tools of numerical analysis that are useful in economics (minimization of functions, root-finding, interpolation, approximation of functions, integration, simulation). The second shows how to use these tools to study dynamic economic problems in macroeconomics, finance, labor economics, public finance, and industrial organization, paying special attention to methods for solving stochastic dynamic programming problems and for computing equilibria in economic models with heterogeneous actors.
A forum for state-of-the-art research in econometrics. Its primary purpose is to disseminate the results and the technical machinery of ongoing research in theoretical and applied fields.
This course examines both the long-term factors (such as industrialization and the development of markets) and the epochal events (such as the Revolution, Civil War, and Great Depression) that have shaped the development of the American economy. The objectives of this course are to familiarize students with the major topics and debates in American economic history.
A forum for discussion and criticism of research in progress. Presenters include graduate students, Yale faculty, and visitors. Topics concerned with long-run trends in economic organization are suitable for the seminar. Special emphasis given to the use of statistics and of economic theory in historical research.
Examination of alternative modes of public control of economic sectors with primary emphasis on antitrust and public utility regulation in the U.S. economy. Public policy issues in sectors of major detailed governmental involvement.
For third-year students in microeconomics, intended to guide students in the early stages of theoretical and empirical dissertation research. Emphasis on regular writing assignments and oral presentations.
For advanced graduate students in applied microeconomics, serving as a forum for presentation and discussion of work in progress of students, Yale faculty members, and invited speakers.
Topics include static and dynamic models of labor supply, human capital wage function estimation, firm-specific training, compensating wage differentials, discrimination, household production, bargaining models of household behavior, intergenerational transfers, and mobility.
A forum primarily for graduate students to present their research plans and findings. Discussions encompass empirical microeconomic research relating to both high- and low-income countries.
Much of modern financial economics works with models in which agents are rational, in that they maximize expected utility and use Bayes’s law to update their beliefs. Behavioral finance is a large and active field that studies models in which some agents are less than fully rational. Such models have two building blocks: limits to arbitrage, which make it difficult for rational traders to undo the dislocations caused by less rational traders; and psychology, which catalogues the kinds of deviations from full rationality we might expect to see. We discuss these two topics and then consider a number of applications: asset pricing (the aggregate stock market and the cross-section of average returns); individual trading behavior; and corporate finance (security issuance, corporate investment, and mergers).
The course exposes students to main stochastic modeling methods and solution concepts used to study problems in operations research and management. The first half of the class covers analysis of queuing models such as Markovian queues, networks of queues, and queues with general arrival or service distributions, as well as approximation techniques such as heavy traffic approximation. The second half focuses on control of stochastic processes; it covers finite and infinite-horizon dynamic programming problems, and special classes such as linear quadratic problems, optimal stopping, and multi-armed bandit problems.
The course exposes students to main stochastic modeling methods and solution concepts used to study problems in operations research and management. The first half of the class covers analysis of queuing models such as Markovian queues, networks of queues, and queues with general arrival or service distributions, as well as approximation techniques such as heavy traffic approximation. The second half focuses on control of stochastic processes; it covers finite and infinite-horizon dynamic programming problems, and special classes such as linear quadratic problems, optimal stopping, and multi-armed bandit problems.
This workshop is for third-year and other advanced students in financial economics. It is intended to guide students in the early stages of dissertation research. The emphasis is on presentation and discussion of materials presented by students that will eventually lead to dissertation topics. Open to third-year and advanced Ph.D. students only.
This workshop is for third-year and other advanced students in international economic fields. It is intended to guide students in the early stages of dissertation research. The emphasis is on students’ presentation and discussion of material that will eventually lead to the prospectus.
The course covers empirical topics in international trade with particular emphasis on current research areas. Topics include tests of international trade theories; studies of the relationship between international trade, labor markets, and income distribution; recent trade liberalization episodes in developing countries; empirical assessment of various trade policies, such as VERs and Anti-Dumping; productivity (and its relation to international trade liberalization); and exchange rates, market integration, and international trade. Methodologically, the course draws heavily on empirical models used in the fields of industrial organization and to a lesser degree labor economics; taking these courses is thus recommended though not required.
Analysis of development experiences since World War II. Planning and policy making across countries and time. Models of development, growth, foreign trade, and investment. Trade, capital, and technology flows and increasing interdependence. The political economy of policy making and policy reform.
Examines the models of classical and modern economists to explain the transition of developing economies into modern economic growth, as well as their relevance to income distribution, poverty alleviation, and human development.
A forum for graduate students and faculty with an interest in the economic problems of developing countries. Faculty, students, and a limited number of outside speakers discuss research in progress.
Theoretical and empirical research in international trade policy. The course focuses on welfare analysis of trade policies under perfect completion and under oligopoly; the political economy of trade policy; and the economics and political economy of international trade agreements.