Undergraduate Spring Course Descriptions

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.

Analysis of contemporary policy problems related to academic under performance in lower income urban schools and the concomitant achievement gaps among various racial and ethnic groups in United States K-12 education. Historical review of opportunity inequalities and policy solutions proposed to ameliorate differences in achievement and job readiness. Students benefit from practical experience and interdisciplinary methods, including a lab component with time spent in a New Haven high school. 

The objective of this course is to examine some of the fundamental forces that shape the process of economic development. This course is divided into three sections: (i) Market Failure: with an analysis of credit, labor, and insurance markets in developing countries. (ii) Social Response: how community networks emerge in response to market failure. We study the positive and negative consequences of this community involvement for growth and development; in the short-run and the long-run. We also provide economic foundations for the emergence of social norms and identity, as well as the dynamic inefficiencies that they can generate with economic development. (iii) Biological Response: how biological adaptation to economic conditions in the pre-modern economy can have negative consequences for nutritional status and health in developing economies. Apart from providing a particular perspective on development, an additional objective of this course demonstrates the use of economic theory in informing empirical research.

This course coves recent scholarship on the political economy of development. It starts with the study of macro-historical facts and move on to micro issues, such as conflict and corruption.

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.

Analysis of imperfectly competitive markets, focusing on the interactions among firm behavior, market structure, and market outcomes. Topics include oligopoly, collusion, predation, firm entry, advertising, and price discrimination as well as public policy implications of market behavior.

Why do cities exist? Why do firms cluster? Why some U.S. cities have prospered in recent decades while others have declined? What are the structural roots of our housing crises today? This course takes cities as our laboratory and asks important aspects that are reshaping the very fabric of our cities and neighborhoods.

The goal of this seminar is to introduce students to algorithms commonly used in commercial applications and to the blockchain technology. Students are asked to program algorithm prototypes and to reflect on existing economic research based on the programming experience gained in the course.

The special functions of banks in the U.S. economy. The benefits but fragile nature of the banking system.

Examination of investment management in theory and practice. Discussion of asset allocation, investment strategy, and manager selection from the perspective of an institutional investor. Focus on the degree of market efficiency and opportunity for generating attractive returns.

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.

Study of online markets with a focus on ongoing policy debates. Students learn about the workings of online markets by studying economic models of platform markets, consumer search, and advertising auctions. Students apply these frameworks to discussions about the regulation of the internet, including net neutrality, privacy, online media bias, and the monopoly power of “big tech.” Readings draw from theoretical and empirical academic studies as well as the popular press.

The seminar introduces students to the basic models in the principal-agent literature, including moral hazard and adverse selection, as well as the legal structures that regulate agents and other fiduciaries.

Students wishing to write a senior essay must choose their topics and advisers by Monday, October 4, 2021. One-term senior essays are due on Wednesday December 8 by 4:30 pm. Two-term senior essays are due by 4:30 pm on Wednesday, April 6, 2022. 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 time, date, format to be announced.