Undergraduate Course Descriptions
Fall 2021
Introductory microeconomics with a special emphasis on quantitative methods and examples. Intended for students with limited or no experience with calculus.
Enrollment limited. Online preregistration is required; visit economics.yale.edu/undergraduate-program for more information. May not be taken after ECON 110 or 115.
Similar to ECON 115, but taught as a lecture discussion with limited enrollment.
Enrollment limited to first-years and sophomores. Online preregistration is required; visit economics.yale.edu/undergraduate-program for more information. May not be taken after ECON 108 or 115.
Similar to ECON 115, but taught as a lecture discussion with limited enrollment.
Enrollment limited to first-years and sophomores. Online preregistration is required; visit economics.yale.edu/undergraduate-program for more information. May not be taken after ECON 108 or 115.
Similar to ECON 115, but taught as a lecture discussion with limited enrollment.
Enrollment limited to first-years and sophomores. Online preregistration is required; visit economics.yale.edu/undergraduate-program for more information. May not be taken after ECON 108 or 115.
Similar to ECON 115, but taught as a lecture discussion with limited enrollment.
Enrollment limited to first-years and sophomores. Online preregistration is required; visit economics.yale.edu/undergraduate-program for more information. May not be taken after ECON 108 or 115.
Similar to ECON 115, but taught as a lecture discussion with limited enrollment.
Enrollment limited to first-years and sophomores. Online preregistration is required; visit economics.yale.edu/undergraduate-program for more information. May not be taken after ECON 108 or 115.
Similar to ECON 115, but taught as a lecture discussion with limited enrollment.
Enrollment limited to first-years and sophomores. Online preregistration is required; visit economics.yale.edu/undergraduate-program for more information. May not be taken after ECON 108 or 115.
Similar to ECON 116, but taught as a lecture discussion with limited enrollment.
Enrollment limited to first-years and sophomores. Online preregistration is required; visit economics.yale.edu/undergraduate-program for more information. May not be taken after ECON 116. Prerequisite: ECON 108, 110, or 115.
Similar to ECON 116, but taught as a lecture discussion with limited enrollment.
Enrollment limited to first-years and sophomores. Online preregistration is required; visit economics.yale.edu/undergraduate-program for more information. May not be taken after ECON 116. Prerequisite: ECON 108, 110, or 115.
An introduction to the basic tools of microeconomics to provide a rigorous framework for understanding how individuals, firms, markets, and governments allocate scarce resources. The design and evaluation of public policy.
May not be taken after ECON 108 or 110.
An introduction that stresses how the macroeconomy works, including the determination of output, unemployment, inflation, interest rates, and exchange rates. Economic theory is applied to current events.
May not be taken after ECON 111. Prerequisite: ECON 108, 110, or 115.
Introduction to data analysis from the beginning of the econometrics sequence; exposure to modern empirical economics; and development of credible economic analysis. This course emphasizes working directly and early with data, through such economic examples as studies of environmental/natural resource economics, intergenerational mobility, discrimination, and finance. Topics include: probability, statistics, and sampling; selection, causation and causal inference; regression and model specification; and machine learning and big data.
Prerequisites: ECON 108, 110, 115, or equivalent and familiarity with single variable calculus. Students who have taken ECON 131 may not receive major credit for this course.
The theory of resource allocation and its applications. Topics include the theory of choice, consumer and firm behavior, production, price determination in different market structures, welfare, and market failure.
After introductory microeconomics and completion of the mathematics requirement for the major or its equivalent. Elementary techniques from multivariate calculus are introduced and applied, but prior knowledge is not assumed. May not be taken after ECON 125.
Contemporary theories of employment, finance, money, business fluctuations, and economic growth. Their implications for monetary and fiscal policy. Emphasis on empirical studies, financial and monetary crises, and recent policies and problems.
After two terms of introductory economics and completion of the mathematics requirement for the major or its equivalent. May not be taken after ECON 126.
Contemporary theories of employment, finance, money, business fluctuations, and economic growth. Their implications for monetary and fiscal policy. Emphasis on empirical studies, financial and monetary crises, and recent policies and problems.
After two terms of introductory economics and completion of the mathematics requirement for the major or its equivalent. May not be taken after ECON 126.
Comprehensive and theoretical examination of econometrics, with further exploration of topics covered in ECON 117. A term research project addresses a research question chosen by the student, and involves the application of learned methods to a relevant data set.
Prerequisites: ECON 108, 110, 115, or equivalent; ECON 117; and familiarity with single variable calculus.
Similar to ECON 121 but with a more intensive treatment of consumer and producer theory, and covering additional topics including choice under uncertainty, game theory, contracting under hidden actions or hidden information, externalities and public goods, and general equilibrium theory. Recommended for students considering graduate study in economics.
After introductory economics, and MATH 118 or 120 or equivalent. May not be taken after ECON 121.
Foundations of mathematical statistics: probability theory, distribution theory, parameter estimation, hypothesis testing, regression, and computer programming. Recommended for students considering graduate study in economics.
Prerequisites: Introductory microeconomics and MATH 118 or MATH 120 and MATH 222; or MATH 120 and MATH 225.
An introduction to game theory and strategic thinking. Ideas such as dominance, backward induction, Nash equilibrium, evolutionary stability, commitment, credibility, asymmetric information, adverse selection, and signaling are applied to games played in class and to examples drawn from economics, politics, the movies, and elsewhere.
After introductory microeconomics. No prior knowledge of game theory assumed.
Application of economic principles to the study of the U.S. health care system. Emphasis on basic principles about the structure of the U.S. system, current problems, proposed solutions, and the context of health policy making and politics.
After introductory microeconomics.
A global view of the world economy and the salient issues in the short and the long run. Economics of crises, fiscal policy, debt, inequality, global imbalances, climate change. The course is based on reading, debating, and applying cutting edge macroeconomic research.
European economic growth and development from the industrialization of Germany and other Continental countries in the early nineteenth century through World War II. The role of institutional development, the role of trade and imperialism, agricultural improvements, and industrialization.
After two terms of introductory economics.
This course is intended to provide an introduction to the economic analysis of law. We examine the economic rationale(s) underlying various legal doctrines of both common law and statutory law, as well as the economic consequences of different legal doctrines. Previous coursework in economics, while helpful, is not a prerequisite for the course.
The course is an introduction to important economic ideas: preferences and rationality, Pareto efficiency, economic equilibrium in a capitalist economy, externalities, the role of the state, uncertainty and von Neumann-Morgenstern utility, the principle of insurance, elementary game theory (Nash equilibrium), the median voter theorem, political equilibrium with party competition, distributive justice, equality of opportunity, and Arrow’s impossibility theorem. These topics are essential tools for political economists.
Prerequisite: One year of calculus or intermediate microeconomics with calculus.
Introduction to the economic analysis of investment decisions and financial markets. Topics include time discounting, portfolio choice, equilibrium pricing, arbitrage, market efficiency, equity valuation, fixed-income securities, derivative pricing, and financial intermediation.
Prerequisite: Introductory microeconomics.
The objective of this course is to give an overview of how economic analysis has developed, and an introduction to the varied ways in which some of the great economists of the past have gone about studying how the economy functions. We discuss the relevance of their theories to public policy and the role of the state, and consider the roles of pre-analytic vision, improvements in analytical technique, and external events (such as the Great Depression or Global Financial Crisis) in the development of economic analysis.
Prerequisites: ECON 115 and ECON 116.
Microeconomic theory brought to bear on current issues in natural resource policy. Topics include regulation of pollution, hazardous waste management, depletion of the world’s forests and fisheries, wilderness and wildlife preservation, and energy planning.
After introductory microeconomics.
An introduction to general equilibrium theory and its application to finance and the theory of money. Recommended for students considering graduate study in economics, or a career in quantitative finance.
Prerequisites: After MATH 118 or 120, and intermediate microeconomics.
Comprehensive survey of the causes, events, policy responses, and aftermath of the recent global financial crisis. Study of the dynamics of financial crises in a modern economy. Prerequisite: Successful completion of a course in introductory economics.
A study of how consumers and firms are affected by the globalization of the world economy. Topics include trade costs, the current account, exchange rate pass-through, international macroeconomic co-movement, multinational production, and gains from globalization.
Prerequisite: intermediate macroeconomics or equivalent.
Individual and collective choice in the presence of uncertainty and asymmetric information. Implications of such decision making for economic phenomena. Basic analytical tools for studying decisions under uncertainty. Asset markets, adverse selection, screening, signaling, moral hazard, incomplete contracts, bilateral trade with asymmetric information, and mechanism design.
Prerequisites: intermediate microeconomics and econometrics.
Analysis of firms’ incentives to innovate, focusing on the effects of market power on the intensity of innovative activity. Topics include strategic investment in innovation, patent races, the diffusion of knowledge, intellectual property (IP) protection systems, IP licensing, research joint ventures, litigation, venture capital, and conflicts between IP rights and antitrust regulation.
Prerequisites: intermediate microeconomics and econometrics.
This is an advanced course covers basic univariate and multivariate models and methods used to analyze financial and economic time series data and panel time series data. Topics include: classic linear models; serial dependence, autocorrelation in error variances (ARCH, GARCH); methods that allow for nonlinearity, tail dependence, comovements, conditional value at risk, fat-tails, nonstationarity; vector autoregressive models; factor models; Markov switching, latent factors, measurement errors, stochastic volatility; empirical asset pricing models. The aim of the course is to help students write their senior essays and start their own research in economics and finance.
Prerequisites: ECON 117 and 123, or ECON 135 and 136.
Introduction to the different roles and responsibilities of modern central banks, including the operation of payments systems, monetary policy, supervision and regulation, and financial stability. Discussion of different ways to structure central banks to best manage their responsibilities.
Prerequisites: Intermediate Microeconomics, Intermediate Macroeconomics, and Introductory Econometrics.
The aim of this course is to analyze the ways that geography determines economic outcomes. We discuss and analyze data on regional economic activity and how economic shocks propagate in space. We pair those data with simple models where geography plays a crucial role in the determination of economic activity and discuss how changes in this geography lead some regions to grow and economic outcomes to diverge. Various policies that affect the spatial allocation of economic activity, such as infrastructure investment, local taxes, and transfers, are analyzed
Prerequisites: MATH 118, 120, or permission of instructor.
The objective of this advanced course is to study various aspects of inequality and social mobility and to understand their trends over time and their drivers. Although we briefly study some international comparisons, the focus of the course is inequality in the US and, to a less extent, the UK. We consider inequalities among different countries only tangentially.
Prerequisites: ECON 121 and Econometrics.
This course has an applied econometrics focus. Topics include voting behavior, betting markets, and various issues in sports. The aim of the course is to help students prepare original empirical research using econometric tools and to read empirical papers in economics and other social sciences. Students write three empirical papers. The first can be an extension of an existing article, where some of the results are duplicated and then extended. The second is similar to the first with no example provided. The third is an original paper within the range of topics covered in the course, where data are collected and analyzed using relevant econometric techniques.
Prerequisites: Two courses in econometrics or statistics, or one course with special permission from the instructor.
The role of hedge funds in the United States financial markets and hedge fund behavior; understanding what hedge funds do, why they exist, and how they are different from other investment vehicles. Study of investment strategies that provide opportunity and risk for investors and study of academic papers analyzing (risky) arbitrage strategies.
Prerequisite: intermediate microeconomics and econometrics.
A case-oriented study of principal issues and investment types found in substantial private equity portfolios. Discussion of enterprise valuation, value creation, business economics, negotiation, and legal structure, based on primary source materials and original cases.
Prerequisite: ECON 251 or ECON 252 or ECON 255.
Economic evolution and prospects of the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries. Topics include the period from independence to the 1930s; import substitution and industrialization to the early 1980s; the debt crisis and the “lost decade”; reform and disappointment in the late 1980s and the 1990s; exploration of selected episodes in particular countries; and speculations about the future.
Prerequisities: intermediate microeconomics and macroeconomics.
This course studies the economics of innovation and the effects of artificial intelligence on different industries. Topics include economics of the intellectual property (IP) protection system; strategic choices in innovation and competition; patent races; measurement and big data; the sharing and digitalized economy; collective intelligence and decisions; online auctions; venture capital; legal and social infrastructure.
Prerequisites: ECON 115 or equivalent; ECON 121.
How law and economic theory define and conceptualize economic discrimination; whether economic models adequately describe behaviors of discriminators as documented in court cases and government hearings; the extent to which economic theory and econometric techniques aid our understanding of actual marketplace discrimination.
Prerequisites: introductory microeconomics and at least one additional course in Economics, African American Studies, Ethnicity, Race, and Migration, or Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.
Focus on systemic risk, banking crises, financial stability and macroprudential policies. Additional emphasis on systemic risk and prudential policies in peripheral European economies and emerging economies.
Prerequisites: ECON 115 and 116, or equivalent.
This course explores topics on dynamic games: we consider situations where agents interact repeatedly. We cover applications related to a range of fields from industrial organization (price wars and oligopoly with imperfect monitoring) to macroeconomic policy (time consistency). Students should have a solid background in multivariate calculus, be comfortable with rigorous proofs and mathematical arguments, and be willing to learn further mathematical tools as needed.
Prerequisites: either ECON 121 or ECON 125, as well as completion of the mathematics requirement of the economics major.
Students wishing to write a senior essay must choose their topics and advisers by Monday, October 5, 2020. One-term senior essays are due on Wednesday December 9 by 4:30 pm. Two-term senior essays are due by 4:30 pm on Wednesday, April 7, 2020. Essays should be submitted electronically to the Economics department (qazi.azam@yale.edu) by the due date. Late essays will not be accepted without a dean’s excuse. Advisers are chosen with the assistance of the DUS, lecturer and TA. The format and character of the departmental senior essay may vary to suit the interest of the student and the demands of the topic, but it is expected that the tools and concepts of economic analysis will be employed and that the essay will contain original research. Paper lengths may vary; the normal expectation is thirty pages. Students may receive up to two credits for the senior essay, though it counts as only one departmental seminar whether one or two terms are taken. Please see the canvas page for an introductory video. Senior essay Q&A sessions with the DUS, lecturer and TA for the course will be held on August 13 at 9 am, August 18 at 7 pm and September 1 at 4 pm. RSVP at https://economics.yale.edu/webform/undergrad-info-session to receive the zoom link. You’ll receive the link just prior to the meeting start time. Senior essay prospectus forms are due Monday, October 5, 2020. Students who do not turn the prospectus in on time will not be permitted to write an essay.
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Junior and senior economics majors desiring a directed reading course in special topics in economics not covered in other graduate or undergraduate courses may elect this course, not more than once, with written permission of the director of undergraduate studies and of the instructor. The instructor meets with the student regularly, typically for an hour a week, and the student writes a paper or a series of short essays. Junior and senior majors may take this course for a letter grade, but it does not meet the requirement for a department seminar.