Undergraduate Spring Course Descriptions

Introductory microeconomics with a special emphasis on quantitative methods and examples. Intended for students with limited or no experience with calculus.

Similar to ECON 115, but taught as a lecture discussion with limited enrollment.

Similar to ECON 115, but taught as a lecture discussion with limited enrollment.

Similar to ECON 116, but taught as a lecture discussion with limited enrollment.

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.

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.

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.

Similar to ECON 122 but with a more intensive treatment of the mathematical foundations of macroeconomic modeling, and with rigorous study of additional topics. Recommended for students considering graduate study in economics.

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.

The growth of the American economy since 1790, both as a unique historical record and as an illustration of factors in the process of economic development. The American experience viewed in the context of its European background and patterns of industrialization overseas.

The goal of this course is to provide students with rigorous theoretical and empirical tools to analyze questions of current interest in international trade. The emphasis is on applying economic concepts to international trade data, using both computable economic models and empirical regression methods.

Analysis of current problems of developing countries. Emphasis on the role of economic theory in informing public policies to achieve improvements in poverty and inequality, and on empirical analysis to understand markets and responses to poverty. Topics include microfinance, education, health, agriculture, intrahousehold allocations, gender, and corruption.

Limits that antitrust laws, as applied and interpreted by agencies, courts, and competitors, place on firm behavior. Economic theories underlying antitrust enforcement. Whether legal rules restricting competitive behavior increase social welfare and how they affect managerial choices. The evidence and reasoning advanced in key antitrust cases; how outcomes may affect social welfare and firm strategies. Goals and procedures of US and EU antitrust agencies.  

Topics related to capital markets, with emphasis on the financial crisis of 2007–2008. The design, pricing, and trading of corporate bonds, credit derivatives, and money market instruments; bond restructuring, bond ratings, and financial crises; basic tools used to address such issues, including fixed income mathematics, binomial option pricing, and swaps.

Financial management from inside the corporation or operating entity. Topics include capital budgeting and valuation, optimal capital structure, initial public offerings, mergers, and corporate restructuring. Cases and problem sets provide applications.

Mathematically sophisticated treatment of the design and analysis of algorithms and the theory of NP completeness. Algorithmic paradigms including greedy algorithms, divide and conquer, dynamic programming, network flow, approximation algorithms, and randomized algorithms. Problems drawn from the social sciences, Data Science, Computer Science, and engineering. For students with a flair for proofs and problem solving. Either CPSC 365 or CPSC 366 may be taken for credit.

For some developing countries, international trade has brought about rapid growth and large-scale reductions in poverty. Meanwhile for other developing countries, international trade has simply increased inequality and brought little growth. This course draws on both theoretical models and empirical evidence to better understand the reasons for these very different experiences. Topics include: standard models of trade, trade and poverty in developing countries, the impact of trade on inequality and growth, the role of firms and multinationals in developing countries, trade policy, foreign direct investment, trade and technology transfer, the Chinese and Indian experience.
 

Study of forces that drive the process of innovation. Creativity and creative destruction; the innovator’s dilemma; incentives to innovate; competitive advantage; industry evolution; intellectual property. Use of both formal theoretical models and quantitative empirical studies, as well as descriptive studies from management strategy and economic history.

Introduction to the basic tools of numerical analysis and how to apply them to the study of economic models in a variety of subdisciplines, including macroeconomics, labor economics, industrial organization, public finance, and environmental economics.

Study of systematic thinking about competition and strategy using key concepts of microeconomics. Analysis of data, with consideration of economic theory and statistical methods using tools in Excel and Stata. Topics include logical thinking, empirical analysis, modeling, and estimation.

This course has an applied econometrics focus. The focus is on forecasting macroeconomic and financial variables. Macroeconomic forecasting concerns forecasting variables like GDP, components of GDP like consumption, investment, and imports, inflation, the unemployment rate, interest rates, the government deficit, and exchange rates. There are various forecasting methods, some purely statistical time series techniques and some using economic theory. We consider both. Financial forecasting is more problematic, since changes in asset prices may be roughly unpredictable. We also examine topics like momentum forecasting to see if some asset prices are predictable.

Since the end of WWII the overwhelming majority of war casualties have been the result of internal conflict. This includes insurgency situations in which foreign powers prop up a weak internal government. In this course we apply microeconomic techniques, theoretical and empirical, to the analysis of internal conflict, its causes and consequences. Topics include forced migration, ethnic conflict, long-term consequences of war and individual choices to participate in violence. Readings comprise frontier research papers and students will learn to critically engage with cutting-edge research designs.

This multidisciplinary class is an exploration of the background of today’s bestselling medicines, their huge commercial impact, and the companies that created them. It focuses on the most compelling aspects of drug development and company formation in the context of topical issues like cancer treatment, gene editing, stem cell therapy, the opioid epidemic, and drug pricing controversies.

Assessment of alternative policies and programs designed to promote economic development; examination of fundamental problems of underdeveloped areas and consideration of how and whether such programs resolve them. The roles of indigenous institutions in low-income countries in alleviating problems of underdevelopment.

An evaluation of modern Japan’s protracted economic problems and of their potential implications for other economies, including the United States, Europe, and China. Policy blunders, structural growth impediments, asset bubbles, Abenomics, and crisis-response strategies during Global Financial Crisis (2008-09) and COVID shock (2020). Focus on policy remedies to counter twin risks of secular stagnation and subpar post-crisis recoveries.

A number of mathematical topics are chosen each term—e.g., differential topology, Lie algebras, mathematical methods in physics—and explored in one section of the seminar. Students present several talks on the chosen topic. One section each year is devoted to topics of interest to Economics and Mathematics majors, and is co-taught by a member of the Economics department.

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.