Economics (ECON)

ECON 106. Tobacconomics. 3 hours.

A comprehensive, multidisciplinary overview of tobacco use and its consequences, tobacco control, and related issues, from both a US and global perspective. Course Information: Previously listed as ECON 115. Individual and Society course, and Natural World - No Lab course.

ECON 111. Freakonomics. 3 hours.

Introduction to how economists think about problems; how economic analysis illuminates current events and puzzles by focusing on people's responses to incentives. Individual and Society course.

ECON 120. Principles of Microeconomics. 0-4 hours.

Scarcity and choice, price system, decision making by consumers, individual and market demand, optimal input decisions by firms, perfect and imperfect competition, international trade. Course Information: College of Business Administration undergraduate students will enroll for 3 hours and all other students will enroll for 4 hours. Class Schedule Information: To be properly registered, students must enroll in one Lecture and one Discussion. Individual and Society course, and US Society course.

ECON 121. Principles of Macroeconomics. 0-4 hours.

Determinants of the level of economic activity, inflation, unemployment, interest rates, the roles of fiscal and monetary policies, exchange rates, international trade. Course Information: College of Business Administration undergraduate students will enroll for 3 hours and all other students will enroll for 4 hours. ECON 121 may be taken before or after taking ECON 120 - this is not a sequence. Class Schedule Information: To be properly registered, students must enroll in one Lecture and one Discussion. Individual and Society course, and US Society course.

ECON 212. Law and Economics. 3 hours.

Economic analysis of law and legal processes; economic theory and applications of property law, contract law, and criminal law. Course Information: Previously listed as ECON 320. Prerequisite(s): ECON 120.

ECON 213. Economic History of the United States. 3 hours.

Growth and structural changes in the American economy from colonial times to the present; special emphasis on economic causes and consequences of major events in U.S. history. Course Information: Previously listed at ECON 324. Prerequisite(s): ECON 120.

ECON 214. Economics of Education. 3 hours.

Treatment of educational sector as an industry; demand and supply of education; issues in educational finance; teacher labor market; school choice. Course Information: Previously listed as ECON 351. Prerequisite(s): ECON 120.

ECON 215. Health Economics. 3 hours.

Supply and demand for health services, the role of insurance in the health care industry, public policy issues, cost and quality regulation. Course Information: Previously listed as ECON 354. Prerequisite(s): ECON 120.

ECON 216. Economics of Sports and Entertainment. 3 hours.

Analysis of economic issues in the sports and entertainment industries--industrial organization, financing, pricing, labor, and regulatory issues. Course Information: Previously listed as ECON 350. Prerequisite(s): ECON 120.

ECON 220. Microeconomics: Theory and Applications. 3 hours.

The price system, consumer behavior, market demand, the firm's technology and costs, perfect and imperfect competition, government regulation, general equilibrium and resource allocation, applications. Course Information: Prerequisite(s): ECON 120; and MATH 121.

ECON 221. Macroeconomics in the World Economy: Theory and Applications. 3 hours.

Determinants of the level of economic activity, inflation, unemployment, international economics, impact of domestic and world economy on business decisions, applications of the theory. Course Information: Same as INST 221. Prerequisite(s): ECON 120 and ECON 121; and MATH 121.

ECON 270. Statistics for Economics. 4 hours.

Descriptive statistics, probability theory, discrete and continuous probability distributions, sampling distributions, estimation, hypothesis testing. Course Information: Credit is not given for ECON 270 if the student has credit for IDS 270. Prerequisite(s): MATH 121. Class Schedule Information: To be properly registered, students must enroll in one Discussio/Recitation and one Lecture.

ECON 300. Econometrics. 3 hours.

Casual estimation of economic relationships and testing of economic hypotheses; ordinary least squares regression and extensions; evaluating empirical research; specification of econometric models. Course Information: Credit is not given for ECON 300 if the student has credit in ECON 400. Previously listed as ECON 346. Prerequisite(s): ECON 120 or ECON 121; and ECON 270, or IDS 270, or STAT 101; and MATH 121.

ECON 311. Introduction to Urban Real Estate. 3 hours.

Introductory survey of urban real estate; business, legal, economic and financial perspectives. Course Information: Same as FIN 311. Previously listed as ECON 371. Prerequisite(s): ECON 120.

ECON 322. Managerial Economics. 3 hours.

Application of economic theory to decision making by business firms; demand and cost analysis, demand forecasts; pricing policies; capital budgeting; production analysis; globalization, multinational corporations, game theory, and market structures. Course Information: Prerequisite(s): ECON 220; and IDS 270 or ECON 270.

ECON 323. Business Conditions Analysis. 3 hours.

Application of economic theory to analysis of changes in aggregate income and employment; quantitative economic models and their uses in the prediction of aggregate and more refined levels of business activity; stabilization theory and policy. Course Information: Prerequisite(s): ECON 221;and ECON 300 or ECON 400 or IDS 371.

ECON 326. History of Economic Thought. 3 hours.

Selected topics in the evolution of positive and normative economics from the seventeenth century to the present. Course Information: Prerequisite(s): ECON 220 or ECON 221.

ECON 328. Public Finance. 3 hours.

The economic effects of taxes and government expenditures on the allocation of resources and income distribution, public goods and externalities, public choice, the principles and application of cost-benefit analysis; optimal taxation. Course Information: Prerequisite(s): ECON 220.

ECON 329. Industrial Organization. 3 hours.

Theory of the structure of markets; measures of industrial concentration; monopoly power; mergers and takeovers; price discrimination; product differentiation, advertising; research and development. Course Information: Prerequisite(s): ECON 220.

ECON 330. Government and Business. 3 hours.

Theory and survey of U.S. market structure; antitrust policy and monopoly power; economic regulation including price and quality regulation; social regulation. Course Information: Prerequisite(s): ECON 220.

ECON 331. Labor Economics. 3 hours.

Application of economic theory to labor markets and related economic phenomena; earnings, employment, unemployment, immigration, education, minimum wages, discrimination. Course Information: Prerequisite(s): ECON 220.

ECON 332. Urban Economics. 3 hours.

Survey of economic problems of cities; demand for and supply of housing and urban land; residential segregation; suburbanization; impact of government programs. Course Information: Prerequisite(s): ECON 220.

ECON 333. International Economics. 3 hours.

The balance of payments; fixed and flexible exchange rates; capital flows; comparative advantage; tariffs and quotas; the costs and benefits of international trade. Course Information: Same as INST 333. Prerequisite(s): ECON 220 or ECON 221 or INST 221.

ECON 334. Economic Development. 3 hours.

Characteristics of poor countries, past experience and its relevance, analytical approaches, the role of exposure to foreign factors, planning and other policies. Course Information: Same as INST 334. Prerequisite(s): ECON 220 or ECON 221 or INST 221.

ECON 339. Monetary Theory. 3 hours.

Modern money supply and demand theory; the role of money in domestic and international financial markets and in determining economic growth and inflation. Course Information: Prerequisite(s): ECON 221 or FIN 300.

ECON 342. Regional Economics. 3 hours.

Location of economic activity, systems of cities, economic base theory, regional input-output analysis, neo-classical models of factor mobility and local area economic development. Course Information: Prerequisite(s): ECON 220 or ECON 221 or INST 221.

ECON 344. Behavioral Economics. 3 hours.

Systematic analysis of how people actually make economic decisions, combining microeconomic models with insights from psychology; study of predictably irrational behaviors. Course Information: Prerequisite(s): ECON 220.

ECON 350. Economics of Sports and Entertainment. 3 hours.

Analysis of economic issues in the sports and entertainment industries--industrial organization, financing, pricing, labor, and regulatory issues. Course Information: Prerequisite(s): ECON 220.

ECON 353. Economic Demography. 3 hours.

Analysis of family decision making focusing on the economics of time allocation, marriage, divorce, fertility, and mortality; relationship between population growth and economic development. Course Information: Prerequisite(s): ECON 220.

ECON 370. Environmental Economics. 3 hours.

Analysis of major environmental problems as market and policy failures. Benefit-cost methods evaluated. Equity and efficiency aspects of market-based approaches to environmental policy evaluated. Course Information: Prerequisite(s): ECON 220.

ECON 390. Special Topics in Economics. 3 hours.

Exploration of an area not covered in existing course offerings, or study in greater depth of a subject covered in an existing course. Course Information: Prerequisite(s): Consent of the instructor.

ECON 395. Research and Writing in Economics. 1 hour.

This course is used to identify the "Writing in the Disciplines" requirement. Development of analytical and writing skills in economics. Course Information: Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory grading only. May be repeated. Students may register in more than one section per term. Prerequisite(s): Concurrent registration in a designated 300-level economics course.

ECON 399. Independent Study in Economics. 1-3 hours.

Independent study in an area not covered by existing courses or exploration in greater depth of issues covered in a previously taken course. Course Information: May be repeated up to 1 time(s). Prerequisite(s): 9 hours of economics courses at the 300-level or above, an overall GPA of at least 3.25 (A=4.00), and consent of a faculty member and the director of undergraduate studies. Class Schedule Information: This course counts toward the limited number of independent study hours accepted toward the LAS degree and the major.

ECON 400. Honors Econometrics. 3 or 4 hours.

Estimation of economic relationships and testing of economic hypotheses; ordinary least square regression and extensions; derivations of estimators, proofs of theorems. Course Information: 3 undergraduate hours; 4 graduate hours. Credit is not given for ECON 400 if the student has credit in ECON 300. Prerequisite(s): ECON 120 or ECON 121; and MATH 180; and either ECON 270 or IDS 270.

ECON 436. Mathematical Economics. 3 or 4 hours.

Application of mathematics to theories of consumer and producer behavior, determination of prices in markets, growth and stability features of macroeconomic models. Course Information: 3 undergraduate hours. 4 graduate hours. Prerequisite(s): ECON 220; and MATH 180 or MATH 165.

ECON 450. Business Forecasting Using Time Series Methods. 3 or 4 hours.

Autoregressive, moving average, and seasonal models for time series analysis and business forecasting. Forecasting using multi-variable transfer function models. Course Information: Same as IDS 476. 3 undergraduate hours. 4 graduate hours. Prerequisite(s): IDS 371 or ECON 300 or ECON 400; or consent of the instructor.

ECON 453. Economics of Family. 3 or 4 hours.

Microeconomic analysis of families’ economic decisions such as marriage, fertility, labor supplies, and consumption. Modern econometric methods will be covered to understand recent literature on the topic. Course Information: 3 undergraduate hours. 4 graduate hours. Prerequisite(s): ECON 220; and ECON 300 or ECON 400. Recommended background: ECON 331 and ECON 353.

ECON 473. Game Theory. 3 or 4 hours.

Introduction to the basic ideas of game theory. Static and dynamic games; mixed strategies, imperfect information; economic, political and biological applications. Course Information: Same as STAT 473. 3 undergraduate hours. 4 graduate hours. Prerequisite(s): STAT 381; or ECON 270; or equivalents.

ECON 475. Urban Economics and Public Policy. 3 or 4 hours.

Microeconomic analysis of individual and firm location choices and outcomes in urban settings. Modern econometric methods to test theories and evaluate policy interventions. Course Information: 3 undergraduate hours; 4 graduate hours. Extensive computer use required. Prerequisite(s): ECON 220; or ECON 300 or ECON 400; and junior standing or above; or consent of the instructor. Recommended background: ECON 328 and ECON 331 and ECON 332.

ECON 481. Mathematical Methods for Economics. 4 hours.

Survey of mathematical techniques used in applied economics theory and econometrics courses.

ECON 482. Probability and Statistics for Econometrics. 4 hours.

Introduction to methods in probability and statistics that provide a foundation for the applied econometrics and research design courses.

ECON 499. Independent Study in Economics. 1-3 hours.

Independent study of a topic not covered in a graduate-level course. Course Information: Prerequisite(s): Graduate standing and consent of the director of graduate studies and the instructor.