Course Descriptions

CECNG105: Mathematics and Statistics for Economists

Credit: 4 Semester Hours
Description: This course provides the study of statistical methods and techniques and mathematical fundamentals necessary for quantitative economics. The statistical topics include: descriptive statistics, probability theory, fundamentals of estimation and hypothesis testing, and regression and correlation analysis. The mathematical topics include linear algebra, and differential and integral calculus. Computer applications are an integral part of the course.
Prerequisites: None
Download a sample syllabus in Adobe Acrobat PDF Format.

CECNG110 Microeconomic Theory

Credit: 4 Semester Hours
Description: This course presents a survey of microeconomic theory at the beginning graduate level. Topics covered include theories of the consumer, firm, and market (including input and output markets), welfare economics, and market failures. Applications of theory to public policy questions in such fields as industrial organization and public finance are also included.
Prerequisites: CECNG105, Mathematics and Statistics for Economists (or previous course(s) in differential and integral calculus), and an undergraduate microeconomic theory course at the intermediate level.

CECNG120 Macroeconomic Theory

Credit: 4 Semester Hours
Description: This course examines theories of the short-run determination of output, employment, and prices, and long-run economic growth. Alternative macroeconomic models are presented. The course also consists of applied case study analysis of the theoretical models presented in class.
Prerequisites: CECNG105, Mathematics and Statistics for Economists.

CECNG140 Applied Econometrics

Credit: 4 Semester Hours
Description: This course provides a study of econometric techniques applied to cross-section, time-series and panel data. The fundamentals of econometrics are applied to analyzing structural economic models, forecasting and policy analysis. Computer applications and an empirical research project are an integral part of the course.
Prerequisites: CECNG105 Mathematics and Statistics for Economists.

CECNG200 Topics in Applied Economics

Credit: 4 Semester Hours
Description: This course is an application of microeconomic and macroeconomic theory, as well as quantitative methods, to a variety of social issues, both domestic and international.
Prerequisites: Permission of instructor.

CECNG210 Applied Microeconomic Policy Analysis

Credit: 4 Semester Hours
Description: This course examines the alternative microeconomic activities of the public sector and the role of a diverse array of microeconomic tools and techniques in public sector policymaking, planning, program administration and evaluation. Topics include the economics of market failure; the economics of information, corruption, public goods and services provision; production externalities; economics of deregulation and privatization; and policy and program evaluation techniques, including outcome and impact evaluation, social and economic experiments, objective functions, cost effectiveness analysis, and benefit cost analysis.
Prerequisites: CECNG110, Microeconomic Theory, and CECNG105, Mathematics and Statistics for Economists. CECNG140, Applied Econometrics, recommended.

CECNG220 Applied Macroeconomic Policy Analysis

Credit: 4 Semester Hours
Description: This course examines the range of macroeconomic activities undertaken by national governments around the world and identifies the role of a diverse array of macroeconomic policymaking and planning tools and techniques for use in formulating and evaluating macroeconomic policies. Specific topics include the macroeconomic functions of government, alternative macroeconomic policies and policy tools, the theory of economic policy, macroeconomic accounting and data bases, econometric models of national economies, policy simulation models, forecasting and projection models, input-output models, general equilibrium models, and national economic growth models, including the new growth models and empirical applications.
Prerequisites: CECNG120, Macroeconomic Theory, and CECNG105, Mathematics and Statistics for Economists. CECNG140, Applied Econometrics, recommended.

CECNG230 History of Economic Thought

Credit: 4 Semester Hours
Description: This course discusses the development of economic thought since the 16th century and focuses on the analytical innovations in the discipline. The course explores the persistence of certain topics, like money, capital accumulation, macroeconomic stability, and price theory throughout the development of economics and examines the historical policy issues that inspired different thinkers to address these topics in new ways.
Prerequisites: None.

CECNG240 Workshop in Applied Econometrics

Credit: 4 Semester Hours
Description: This course offers an intensive, hands-on application of econometrics to research problems in economics, using econometric software packages such as STATA, SPS, SPSS, and/or EViews. Both cross-section and time-series techniques are used and applied to different areas of economics, such as global economics, labor economics, urban economics, public finance, policy evaluation, etc. Students are expected to complete a written applied econometrics project and present the results to the class.
Prerequisites: CECNG140, Applied Econometrics.

CECNG250 International Economic Development

Credit: 4 Semester Hours
Description: This course examines the record of growth and development over the past five centuries, the history of global disparities in levels of development over the past two centuries, theories of growth and development, and development policies across lagging countries over the past fifty years. Each topic is examined from different theoretical perspectives, including Marxist, neo-Marxist, neoclassical, and institutional.
Prerequisites: Some background in macroeconomics and trade theory is helpful but is not required.

CECNG251 International Finance

Credit: 4 Semester Hours
Description: This course introduces students to international finance and equips them with tools and methods to study and analyze international economic issues and problems. Topics include: the foreign exchange market, balance of payments, international investment and banking, monetary and fiscal policy in an open economy, economic integration and monetary unification, the international monetary system, and optimum currency areas. Each student is required to write a short paper on a current problem in international finance.
Prerequisites: None.
Download a sample syllabus in Adobe Acrobat PDF Format.

CECNG252 International Trade

Credit: 4 Semester Hours
Description: This course examines theories of trade, including Ricardian, Heckscher-Ohlin, and trade under increasing returns to scale; welfare implications of different trade policies, including tariffs, quotas, voluntary export restraints, and customs union; the political economy of trade policies; and global trading arrangements, including GATT and WTO.
Prerequisites: Knowledge of intermediate microeconomic theory.

CECNG253 International Integration

Credit: 4 Semester Hours
Description: This course examines the evolution of global markets for goods, services, capital and labor over the past two centuries, the stylized facts regarding trends in integration, the factors affecting the trends in integration, the linkages between integration of different markets, and the impact of integration on the dynamics of global development and disparities. The analysis follows an eclectic approach to the questions addressed, drawing upon different intellectual traditions in economics.
Prerequisites: Knowledge of intermediate microeconomic theory.

CECNG260 Urban Economic Systems

Credit: 4 Semester Hours
Description: This course examines urban economic systems, including systematic relationships among cities, as well as those within cities. The portion of the course devoted to intermetropolitan analysis covers central place theory, the location of economic activity and intermetropolitan trade. Intrametropolitan analysis includes urban form and land use, land use controls and local government systems.
Prerequisites: CECNG110, Microeconomic Theory, and CECNG140, Applied Econometrics, or permission of instructor.

CECNG261 Urban Economic Development

Credit: 4 Semester Hours
Description: This course examines urban economic development processes. Topics include models and techniques for describing and evaluating urban economies; development strategies and tools; commercial, industrial, and housing development; and problems of poverty and housing.
Prerequisites: None.

CECNG262 Regional Economic Theory

Credit: 4 Semester Hours
Description: This course analyzes the following topics: comparative costs and location analysis for industry, various indices of location measures, land use theories, interregional labor migration, interregional trade, regional development, regional equilibrium analysis, regional and interregional input-output analysis, and econometric models for regional analysis.
Prerequisites: CECNG110, Microeconomic Theory, or permission of instructor.

CECNG263 Labor Economics

Credit: 4 Semester Hours
Description: This course is a comprehensive microeconomic approach to neoclassical wage theory and the theory of labor markets focusing on labor supply, household production, marginal productivity, human capital, and search. Alternative labor market theories, including the efficiency wage theory and the dual labor market theory, are examined. Emphasis is placed on understanding and estimating empirical models of labor markets.
Prerequisites: CECNG110, Microeconomic Theory, and CECNG140, Applied Econometrics, or permission of instructor.

CECNG264 Economics of Human Capital

Credit: 4 Semester Hours
Description: This course is devoted to a study of human capital theory and its applications to a wide variety of economic and social behaviors, including fertility, labor supply behavior, migration, employment and unemployment rates, wages, earnings, health, and economic growth and development. Course topics include the evolution of human capital theory, concepts and measures, and the contributions of human capital to the economic growth of nations and regions. Applications cover the U.S., other industrialized nations, and developing countries.
Prerequisites: CECNG110, Microeconomic Theory, and CECNG140, Applied Econometrics, or permission of instructor.

CECNG265 Inequality and Poverty

Credit: 4 Semester Hours
Description: This course covers an array of topics on the economics of inequality and its application to the distribution of wages, earnings, incomes, and wealth and the economics of poverty. Specific course topics include an analysis of the distribution of economic rewards in societies and alternative mechanisms for distributing incomes and goods/services; alternative concepts and measures of economic inequality; theories of distributive justice; empirical studies of wage, earnings, income and wealth inequality; the measurement and analysis of poverty problems; and public policies to combat inequality and poverty. Empirical studies of inequality and poverty problems in the U.S., other industrialized countries and developing nations are presented.
Prerequisites: CECNG110, Microeconomic Theory, and CECNG140, Applied Econometrics, or permission of instructor.

CECNG266 Economics of Government

Credit: 4 Semester Hours
Description: This course presents an overview of the economics of government and the role of public policy. The course develops guidelines to determine which economic activities are best performed by government and which are not. Topics include public choice, public goods, externalities, public enterprise, and efficiency and equity effects of alternative tax systems.
Prerequisites: CECNG110, Microeconomic Theory, or permission of instructor.

CECNG268 Economics of Law and Regulation (LPS program)
CECNG270 Economics of Law and Regulation

Credit: (CECNG268) 2 Semester Hours
Credit: (CECNG270) 4 Semester Hours
Description: This course relies on models of welfare economics to analyze the impact of laws, regulation and deregulation, in terms of both positive and normative aspects. Topics include economic analysis of market failures and government remedies; property, tort and contract law; and economic and social regulation. Students are encouraged to develop critical skills in analyzing various types of economic policy.
Prerequisites: Knowledge of microeconomic theory.

CECNG271 Industrial Organization

Credit: 4 Semester Hours
Description: This course analyzes the market structure of industries and strategic behavior by businesses, and the effect that these have on economic performance. Draws on economic theory, empirical evidence, and case studies. Brief discussion of governmental policies such as antitrust, regulation, and public ownership/privatization.
Prerequisites: CECNG110, Microeconomic Theory.

CECNG551-554 Internship in Economics

Credit: 1-4 Semester Hours
Description: Comprises academic credit for internship work in economics.
Prerequisites: Permission of graduate coordinator.

CECNG571-574 Readings in Economics

Credit: 1-4 Semester Hours
Description: Offers supervised reading in selected topics in economics.
Prerequisites: Permission of instructor and graduate coordinator.

CECNG684 Master's Thesis

Credit: 4 Semester Hours
Description: Optional; may substitute for one elective in the master's program. Provides thesis supervision.
Prerequisites: Approval of graduate coordinator.

CECNG699 Thesis Continuation

Credit: 0 Semester Hours
Description:
Prerequisites: Approval of graduate coordinator.

CECNG710 Microeconomic Theory II

Credit: 4 Semester Hours
Description: This is an advanced course in microeconomic theory, building on the master's-level microeconomic theory. Topics include: game theory, economics of information, incentive theory, welfare economics, general equilibrium and social choice theory.
Prerequisites: CECNG110, Microeconomic Theory or equivalent.

CECNG720 Macroeconomic Theory II

Credit: 4 Semester Hours
Description: This is an advanced course in macroeconomic analysis where economic theory and econometric evidence are brought together to explain economic events and changes at the macro level, including economic growth, changes in unemployment and inflation rates, and business cycles. Topics include: the Solow growth model, overlapping-generations models, research and development models of growth, real-business-cycle theory, Keynesian theories of economic fluctuations, micro-foundations, consumption, investment, unemployment, inflation and monetary theory, and budget deficit and fiscal policy.
Prerequisites: CECNG120, Macroeconomic Theory and CECNG140, Applied Econometrics, or equivalent.

CECNG740 Applied Econometrics II

Credit: 4 Semester Hours
Description: This course is intended to extend students' understanding of econometrics beyond the topics covered in CECNG140, Applied Econometrics. Students develop and complete an econometric research project using methods covered. Topics include: models with multiple equations, non-linear regression models, asymptotic theory, maximum likelihood, discrete choice models, limited dependent variables and duration models, panel data, regression models for time-series data, and unit roots and cointegration.
Prerequisites: CECNG140, Applied Econometrics or equivalent.

CECNG763 Labor Market Analysis

Credit: 4 Semester Hours
Description: The course provides a theoretical and methodological survey of the field of neoclassical labor market analysis at the Ph.D. level. The topics to be covered include the supply of labor from the perspective of the individual and the family; human capital; the demand for labor; market equilibrium; and the determination and distribution of wages and earnings. Other topics that may be included are: unions, unemployment, labor mobility, alternative models of labor markets, labor productivity and growth, income distribution and poverty.
Prerequisites (or co-requisites): CECNG710, Microeconomic Theory II and CECNG740, Applied Econometrics II, or permission of the instructor.

CECNG764 Topics in Labor Economics

Credit: 4 Semester Hours
Description: This course covers the theoretical and empirical issues surrounding current topics in the area of labor economics. Topics may vary each time offered and may include discrimination, efficiency wage theory, labor legislation, life cycle analysis and the use of microdata (panel studies), search behavior, intergenerational earnings mobility, and employment and training policies.
Prerequisites: CECNG763, Labor Market Analysis, or permission of the instructor.

CECNG771 Framework of Industrial Organization

Credit: 4 Semester Hours
Description: This course sets out the analytical framework of industrial organization economics�the basis and method for evaluating the performance of markets and firms and for prescribing policies for improvement. Topic include: size and structure of firms, market concentration, pricing in oligopoly and other markets, entry and entry deterrence strategies, and advertising and product strategies. Each of these topics are examined using a range of tools, including microeconomic theory, game theory, and statistical analysis.
Prerequisites (or corequisites): CECNG710, Microeconomic Theory II and CECNG740, Applied Econometrics II.

CECNG772 Public Policies Toward Business

Credit: 4 Semester Hours
Description: This course covers the three major facets of public policy toward business� antitrust, regulation, and privatization. It demonstrates how economic theory and evidence are brought to bear on practical questions of market failure and policies to remedy such failure. Topics include: mergers, collusion and facilitating practices, predatory conduct, cost of service regulation, price caps and incentive regulation, deregulation, and public enterprise vs. privatization. Policies will be analyzed for their rationale, techniques for implementation, and effects as measured in the context of actual experience in the U.S. and other countries.
Prerequisites (or corequisite): CECNG771, Framework of Industrial Organization.

CECNG780 Doctoral Seminar

Credit: 4 Semester Hours
Description: The goal of this course is to have students who have completed all Ph.D. degree requirements except the dissertation develop dissertation proposals. Class format will include student presentations, guest speakers and lectures. This course will also serve as a capstone course where, in the process of coming up with dissertation topics, students integrate the material they have learned in their field and core courses.
Prerequisites:: Completion of Ph.D. core and field courses and comprehensive exams, or permission of the Graduate Coordinator.

CECNG861-864 Readings in Economics

Credit: 1 to 4 Semester Hours
Description: Offers supervised reading in selected topics in economics.
Prerequisites: Ph.D. students only, with permission of graduate coordinator.

CECNG890 Doctoral Dissertation

Credit: 0 Semester Hours
Description: Taken for two consecutive semesters, normally at the beginning of the dissertation period, to meet the residency requirement of the doctoral program.

CECNG899 Doctoral Dissertation Continuation

Credit: 0 Semester Hours
Description: Required registration for those students who have completed the doctoral program's residency requirement, but who have not yet completed the dissertation.

Economics

COLLEGE OF ARTS & SCIENCES

School of Social Science, Urban Affairs & Public Policy