Graduate Courses

 

ECON 503 - Advanced Microeconomic Theory
Detailed examination of selected topics: consumer behavior, production, capital, income distribution, market structure, general equilibrium, game theory and coalition formation.
 
ECON 504 - Advanced Macroeconomic Theory
Comparison of major schools of macroeconomic thought and their application to current economic trends and policy debates.
 
ECON 568 - The Practice of Development Policy and International Cooperation
This course exposes students to the practice of development policy and international cooperation and how they affect policy design and implementation in developing countries. It will discuss the role of both academic thinking and operational experience in guiding development policy and cooperation over time; examine key instruments of development assistance and cooperation, their effectiveness and limitations; and discuss agenda-setting processes in global strategies and the role played by key stakeholders in the North and the South, and the implicit and explicit rules of division of power and leadership. The instructor will draw both on the literature and his own experience in development policy. This course is ideal for students considering advanced studies in economic development, development studies, and international relations, as well as those interested in a career in development policy.
Syllabus: Leonce Ndikumana Spring 2021
 

ECON 700 - Microeconomics of Coordination and Conflict
Introduces microeconomic concepts relevant to the coordination of social interactions with particular attention to conflict, cooperation, collective action, competition, and coordination failures. 
Syllabus: Sam Bowles Fall 2021

ECON 701 - Microeconomic Theory
Systematic development of theory of the consumer, firm, and industry, and their interactions through markets.
Syllabus: Donald Katzner Spring 2023
 
ECON 702 - Game Theory and Strategic Interactions
Addresses contemporary issues in game theory and the micro-foundations of economic institutions.
 
ECON 703 - Introduction to Economic History
Introduction to economic history. Topics: transition from feudalism to capitalism in Europe; slavery and the southern U.S. economy; rise of large-scale firms; depression and instability in the 20th century. 
Syllabus: Carol Heim Fall 2021
 
ECON 705, 706 - Macroeconomic Theory I & II
Systematic development of static and dynamic theories of aggregative economic behavior and their applications. 
Syllabi: Gerald Epstein Fall 2021 | Leonce Ndikumana Spring 2023
 

ECON 707 - History of Economic Thought
Alternative concepts of economics and radically different economic theories have always contested for hegemony within economics. Examines pre-classical, classical, Marxian, neo-classical, and Keynesian theories to stress their differences and conflicts.

ECON 708 - Political Economy I
Marxian theory. Topics include historical materialism, class, value and surplus value, the labor process, and accumulation and crisis. Additional topics vary with instructor. 
 
ECON 709 - Political Economy II
This course will investigate hierarchal identity-based power structures in capitalist societies from a Marxian-Feminist perspective. We will focus on the roles of households, markets, and states in social provisioning and the social reproduction of labor-power. 
Syllabus: Katherine Moos
 
ECON 710 - Political Economy III
Advanced treatment of contemporary theoretical and empirical research in Marxian political economy. Topics include: debates in the labour theory of value; the so-called transformation problem; circuit of capital model; theories of exploitation; theory of finance capital and imperialism; distribution of surplus value - interest, commercial profit, rent; profitability and capital accumulation; theories of capitalist crisis.
Syllabus: Nancy Folbre Spring 2023
 
ECON 711 - Money, Credit, and Financial Markets
Considers a range of questions in which financial structures play a central role, including monetary theory and financial regulation; the politics of central bank policy; and the theory of saving and investment.
 
ECON 715 - Money, Power, and Elites
The political economy of financial power and the study of elites. The course aims to generate foundational knowledge within the study of a few different areas within political economy scholarship: the political economy of financial regulation, interest group mobilization, business conflict, elite networks, the relationship between money and the state, the creation of central banks, the role of money as an instrument in political lobbying, the discipline of international finance on policymaking, the governance of international and transnational institutions that shape the world of money, and the deepening role that money plays in affecting contemporary political culture.  (Formerly Econ 797MT)
Syllabus: Kevin Young
 
ECON 716 - Behavioral and Structuralist Macro Models
Introduction to formal macroeconomic models within a broadly behavioral and structuralist tradition, including Keynesian and neo-Marxian theories.  (Formerly Econ 797N)
Syllabus: Peter Skott Spring 2022
 
ECON 717 - Modeling Growth and Distribution
Formal modeling of growth and distribution with an emphasis on work within a broadly Keynesian and/or neo-Marxian approach. Topics include: Keynesian and Kaleckian one-sector models, neo-Marxian models, models of cumulative causation and uneven development, mainstream theories of endogenous growth.  (Formerly Econ 797K)
Syllabus: Peter Skott
 
ECON 721 - International Finance
Analysis of properties of foreign exchange markets, adjustment mechanisms, speculation, capital flows, transfer problems and relationship between balance of payments correctives and domestic policy goals. 
Syllabus: Gerald Epstein Fall 2021
 
ECON 722 - International Trade Theory
Pure theory of international trade.  Reasons for trade, gains from trade, factor price equalization, commercial policy, trade and economic development, and customs unions. 
Syllabus:  Arslan Razmi Spring 2021
 
ECON 723 - Open Economy Macroeconomics
Examines linkages between growth, distribution, real exchange rates, prices, interest rates, development, and related macroeconomic phenomena. Studies the political economy of trade and investment liberalization using mainstream and heterodox models. Develops the tools required to analyze macroeconomic issues in an open economy context.  (Formerly Econ 797L)
 
ECON 726 - The Political Economy of the Environment
Application of political economy to management of natural resources and environmental quality. Topics include distribution, valuation, property rights, globalization, and selected policy issues.  (Formerly Econ 797EV)
 
ECON 727 - Ecological Macroeconomics
The focus of this course is on two fundamental challenges: 1) how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and especially carbon dioxide emissions, sufficiently to stabilize the climate; and 2) to accomplish this goal in a way that also supports rising living standards for economies at all levels of development.  (Formerly Econ 797EM)
Syllabus: Robert Pollin Spring 2022
 
ECON 736 - Survey of Feminist Economics
This course surveys a range of topics in feminist economics including gender and macroeconomics, gender and development, and micro-level approaches to households and bargaining. The course will primarily focus on the feminist economics literature, although critical engagement with neoclassical approaches will also be part of the class. Although the course will focus on issues of economics and gender, topics relating to other socially constructed groups (based on race, ethnicity, nationality, etc.) will also be explored.  (Formerly Econ 797FE)
Syllabus: James Heintz Fall 2021
 
ECON 737 - Gender, Sexuality, Work, and Pay
An overview of the empirical research on gender and sexuality inequality in the labor market. Draws primarily on empirical research that addresses theoretical predictions from economics and sociology, as well as research on policies designed to reduce inequality.  (Formerly Econ 797GS)
 
ECON 751 - Mathematical Methods for Economics
Develops mathematical skills required in macroeconomics, microeconomics, econometrics, and most fields of applied economics. Includes optimization techniques and dynamics.  Mastery of mathematical reasoning is reinforced by extensive problem solving.
 
ECON 753 - Applied Econometrics
Examines econometric techniques by observing how practitioners have utilized econometrics as a tool for analyzing substantive questions. 
Syllabus: Michael Ash & Robert Pollin Fall 2021
 

ECON 754 - Applied Time Series Analysis
This course will introduce students to the study of applied time series analysis and encourage them to apply time series techniques to investigating interesting and policy-relevant issues in heterodox macroeconomics, radical political economics, and development economics. The course will cover two broad areas of time series analysis: (a) analysis of stationary time series processes (both univariate and multivariate); and (b) analysis of non-stationary time series processes (both univariate and multivariate).  (Formerly Econ 797W)

ECON 755 - Empirical Methods in Labor Economics
Survey of empirical methods used in contemporary labor economics in particular and applied microeconomics more generally. Econometric foundations of various empirical strategies. Applications in practical research.  (Formerly Econ 797B)
 
ECON 763 - History of Capitalist Development in Europe and the World Economy
This course examines the emergence and evolution of capitalist forms of economic organization, and their interaction with noncapitalist forms. It begins with the Atlantic economy, dispossession of Indigenous land, the slave trade, and global trade networks, then turns to industrialization in Britain, France, Germany, Russia, Mexico, and South Africa. Emphasis is placed on the role of the state in industrial development. The next readings, which include areas in both the center and periphery of the world economy, are organized by topic: trade and the international division of labor; international finance, foreign investment, and imperialism; migration and settler colonialism, and global inequality. Special attention is paid to ways in which capitalist development has been uneven across space, time, and economic groups or classes. 
Syllabus: Carol Heim Spring 2023
 
ECON 764 - United States Economic History
Evolution of the U.S. economy from colonial times, including slavery, the development of capitalism, large corporations, trade unions, the Great Depression, and the changing role of the state.
Syllabus: Gerald Friedman Fall 2021
 
ECON 765 - Economic Development: Structural Problems
Concept of economic development and structural changes needed in underdeveloped countries to permit development.
 
ECON 766 - Economic Development: Policy Issues
This is one of two graduate courses provided as introduction to the field of development economics. The focus will be on (1) the evolution of economies and the political economy of development; and (2) contemporary issues facing developing economies, including the international context.
 
ECON 767 - African Economic Development
This course offers a survey of key structural and policy issues in African economic development. It is intended to provide retrospective and prospective views of African economies, taking into account domestic, regional and global dimensions. The themes covered include: growth; structural transformation; institutions; macroeconomic frameworks; human development, poverty and inequality; gender and development; foreign aid and financing for Africa's development; capital flight from Africa; conflicts and policies for post-conflict recovery; unemployment and labor markets; migration and remittances; domestic financial systems. 
Syllabus: Leonce Ndikumana
 
ECON 768 - Behavioral Foundations for Development and the Environment
This course provides an approach to the current challenges in the interactions between development and the environment, using the lens of the current tools of behavioral sciences. By looking at the micro-foundations of how economic agents interact through their behavioral and institutional restrictions and incentives, we will tackle the questions that today many societies around the world face regarding their attempts to lift people out of poverty, eliminate injustices and preserve the natural base for future generations. The course will have a strong emphasis on empirical studies involving experiments from the laboratory, the field and random-controlled trials that can illuminate the barriers and potentials for finding a path for a more ecologically sustainable, feasible and fair path for societies, within their biological and cultural diversity.  (Formerly Econ 797BF)
Syllabus: Juan-Camilo Cardenas Spring 2022
 
ECON 769 - The Political Economy of Urban Development
The world that we live in today is predominantly urban--a phenomenon that is of recent origin. Indeed in much of the developing world, there is also a rapid urbanization of inequity as oppressed rural majorities migrate permanently or temporarily, and form the excluded urban majorities. This course provides perspectives from which the current urban moment in both the developed and developing worlds can be understood, analyzed, and critiqued. At the same time, cities are potential sites of resistance and emancipation, a theme that will be discussed in the course.  (Formerly Econ 797UD)
 
ECON 773 - Comparative Economic Systems
Theory of alternative economic systems, of national economic planning, and of resource allocation under different systems.
 
ECON 775 - Comparative Capitalisms
This is a course in comparative capitalism.  It will review important debates and frameworks that have been advanced to understand the variations in the economic systems of different capitalist economies.  We will review some classical work from Marx and Weber, as well as the distinction between liberal, coordinated and state-led systems.  We will examine a number of case-studies, including the U.S., Sweden, France, Japan, South Korea and Russia.  (Formerly Econ 797CS)
 
ECON 781 - Labor Economics
Theoretical and empirical analysis of labor market issues primarily using tools developed in microeconomics and econometrics. A general survey of neoclassical, institutionalist, and Marxian theories and empirical work on wage determination.
 
ECON 782 - Topics in Labor Economics
Theoretical and empirical analysis of labor market issues primarily using tools developed in microeconomics and econometrics. An intensive analysis of selected topics.
 
ECON 783 - Economics of Identity, Discrimination and Immigration
This course examines the theoretical and empirical research literature related to inequality and unequal treatment in the market. In particular, we will examine the following issues: 1) identity and discrimination; 2) labor market effects of immigration; 3) male employment and labor force participation; and, 4) empirical effects of minimum wage.  (Formerly Econ 797SE)
 
ECON 787 - The Political Economy of Agrarian Change
Political economy of rural change as societies transform from preindustrial forms to industrial. Topics include mode of production debates, creation of wage labor, rural class configurations, gender in transition, transition and accumulation, and agricultural class relations worldwide in the context of globalization.  (Formerly Econ 797T)
Syllabus:  Mwangi wa Githinji Fall 2021
 
ECON 788 - Imperialism: Theories and Histories
Global Capitalism, since its inception, has created and relied on hierarchical relational structures across different spatial units in the world, including importantly the divide between the Global North and South. The capitalist classes in the Global North have been able to exploit people and resources in the Global South, while imposing unequal exchange relations with nations/spatial units in the Global South. States in the Global North have formed an alliance with their capitalist classes to achieve and maintain economic and political dominance over the peoples of the Global South. In this course, we will provide an overview of various theories and histories including perspectives from both the Global North and the Global South that help us understand the emergence and consequences of these relations. There have been a few pivotal moments in the history of this Imperialist capitalist world when potential transformations of global hegemony become visible. We might be witnessing such potentialities at this moment - this course will engage with the contemporary moment and its manifest complexities.  (Formerly Econ 797MP)
 

ECON 789 - The Political Economy of Public Health
This is a survey course in the political economy of public health, an emergent research stream that seeks to understand the distal political and economic causes of population health in advanced capitalist countries, primarily the United States. It builds on and extends the social determinants of health framework in that it moves even further “upstream” to the political and economic determinants of the social determinants of health. In other words, this approach examines macro-level societal forces that contribute to the (re)production of social patterns in human health. This represents a return to the origins of public health, captured by Rudolph Virchow’s famous dictum: “Medicine is a social science, and politics is nothing more than medicine on a grand scale." (Formerly Econ 797P)
Syllabus: Larry King Spring 2022

ECON 790P - Political Economy of Corporations
This course will answer several key questions: how economic innovation occurs (i.e., what are the social conditions for innovation) and how production processes change over time; to whom do the benefits of innovation go; and how decision-making is structured, in terms of how power is exercised and what the policies and jurisprudence are that govern corporate action. The course will analyze different theoretical answers to these questions, from the neoliberal theory of shareholder primacy, stakeholder corporations, and the theory of the innovative enterprise. The course will consider these questions from a historical and empirical perspective, enabling students to participate in current research and policy debates regarding the role of corporations in the economy today.
Syllabus: Lenore Palladino Spring 2023

ECON 800 - Dissertation Workshop
The dissertation workshop is open to doctoral students who are at the stage of developing a dissertation prospectus. The goal of the workshop is to help students build skills and develop research practices, and to provide a collaborative forum for the purpose of putting together a dissertation prospectus. Through the course of the semester, students are expected to develop a research plan and timeline, share and comment on each other's writings and research ideas, and make significant progress on writing the prospectus.  (Formerly Econ 797S)
 
ECON 891LD - Seminar: Decolonial Reconstellations: Reframing the Present
This interdisciplinary seminar serves as a core course of the Decolonial Global Studies Certificate (DGS). Students from all disciplines are welcome whether or not you are pursuing the Certificate. Focusing on non-eurocentric, non-androcentric analyses of world political economy and culture, we will engage with diverse emancipatory and critical approaches, including decolonial, postcolonial, Indigenous, intersectional, queer, Marxist, speculative, transnational, and inter-imperial. We will particularly tackle the Eurocentric paradigm of "modernity," which has severely distorted historical legacies and narrowed conceptions of past, present, and future. Several readings will address long-historical data, deep time perspectives, and pluriversal epistemologies. The course will also emphasize decolonial and relational practices. Co-taught by a Humanities and a Social Science professor, the seminar aims to model decolonial interdisciplinary methods while widening the horizons within which students conceive their research and their aspirations. The course will likewise encourage collaborative thinking and invite experimental or creative projects, including some that complement students' projects in teaching, research, activism, art, or other engagements. We anticipate that the interdisciplinary mix of students in the class will enable you to widen your campus community and enhance your understanding of decolonial practice.