Course Information

ECONOMICS DEPARTMENT


Course: FE210
Title: INTRODUCTORY ECONOMICS
Credits: 3-0-3
Description: A course in elementary economic theory with applications to contemporary problems. Topics include determination of GDP, price theory and market equilibrium, monetary and fiscal policy, unemployment, inflation and international trade.
Offered: Spring 2013-2014
Requisites: Prereq: None.
Course: FE220
Title: ACCOUNTING
Credits: 3-0-3
Description: This course provides an introduction to the basic principles of accounting. This course will emphasize how general-purpose financial statements communicate information about the business corporation¿s performance and position for users external to management. Approximately half of the course emphasizes how the accountant processes and presents the information and includes exposure to recording transactions, adjusting balances, and preparing financial statements for service and merchandise firms according to established rules and procedures. The remainder of the course examines major elements of the statements of the cash, receivables, inventory, long-lived assets, depreciation, payroll, bonds, and other liabilities and stocks. FE220 is designed for the student who has no prior exposure to accounting. The course covers a wide range of accounting topics. The central objective of the course is to assist students in developing an understanding and appreciation for basic accounting. Cannot be taken for Humanities/Social Science elective.
Offered: Fall 2013-2014, Spring 2013-2014
Requisites: Prereq: None.
Course: FE301
Title: FINANCIAL ANALYSIS
Credits: 3-0-3
Description: A study of the theory and techniques of financial analysis applied in the federal government and industry.
Offered: Fall 2013-2014, Spring 2013-2014
Requisites: Prereq: FE210.
Course: FE310
Title: ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY
Credits: 3-0-3
Description: Economic Geography provides a systematic understanding of economic growth and the issue of finite limits to improve living standards around the world. The course studies population growth, economic development in underdeveloped countries, pollution and resource depletion, food production and agriculture, patterns of land use, economic justice, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), social development, the role of government and multinational/international commerce. The course will develop an understanding of the link between the world economy and geography in relation to globalization and economic development.
Offered: Fall 2013-2014, Spring 2013-2014
Requisites: Prereq: FE210 or permission of department chair.
Course: FE311
Title: HISTORY OF ECONOMIC THOUGHT
Credits: 3-0-3
Description: Traces the evolution of economic doctrine from the ancients to modern day with emphasis on the period since the 18th century. Reviews the contributions to economic knowledge by Smith, Malthus, Ricardo, Marx, Mill, Marshall, Keynes and others. Various schools of thought, including mercantilism, classical, neo-classical, historical, institutionalism and Keynesianism are examined.
Offered: Spring
Requisites: Prereq: FE210.
Course: FE312
Title: MACROECONOMICS
Credits: 3-0-3
Description: A course on the theories of the aggregate level of income, employment and the price level. Includes discussion of determinants of economic growth, the interaction of the domestic economy with the world economy, and the formulation and impact of monetary and fiscal policy.
Offered: Fall 2013-2014, Spring 2013-2014
Requisites: Prereq: FE210.
Course: FE314
Title: INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND POLICY
Credits: 3-0-3
Description: Study of trade policy, institutions that shape trade policy and the impact of those policies on actual trade patterns, international capital flows and economic conditions and growth in different countries. Covered topics include: different exchange rate regimes and international monetary systems, role of the World Bank and the IMF, protections policies in the form of tariffs, quotas, voluntary exchange restraints and anti-dumping duties, multilateral free trade agreements and regional trade agreements and unions such as NAFTA, APEC and the European Union. (Spring.)
Offered:
Requisites: Prereq: FE210 or FP210 or permission of the Economics department chair.
Course: FE315
Title: ECONOMICS OF DEVELOPING NATIONS
Credits: 3-0-3
Description: Study of the economic characteristics, problems and policies of developing nations, covering economic growth patterns in low income nations, their changing role in the international economic order and the different economic routes being employed toward economic progress. Individual country case studies may also be presented and differences between countries will be analyzed.
Offered: Spring
Requisites: Prereq: FE210 or permission of the department chair.
Course: FE320
Title: COST ACCOUNTING
Credits: 3-0-3
Description: A study of concepts and techniques of cost accounting. Primarily concerned with the derivation of production cost arising from materials, labor, services employed and overhead. Cannot be taken for HUM/SS credit. Not offered every year.
Offered:
Requisites: Prereq: FE220.
Course: FE321
Title: COMPARATIVE SYSTEMS AND TRANSITIONAL ECONOMIES
Credits: 3-0-3
Description: The study of the structure and performance of alternative forms of economic organization, capitalist, socialist/communist, and mixed economic systems, and the study of the conversion of socialist systems to capitalism with particular focus on eastern European countries and the former Soviet republics. Not offered every year.
Offered:
Requisites: Prereq: FE210.
Course: FE331
Title: ECONOMIC STATISTICS
Credits: 2-2-3
Description: Survey of descriptive and inferential statistical techniques involving more than one variable. Strong emphasis on regression analysis and use of computers.
Offered: Fall 2013-2014, Spring 2013-2014
Requisites: Prereq: FE210 and (SM230 or SM239 or SM219).
Course: FE334
Title: FINANCIAL MARKETS AND INSTITUTIONS
Credits: 3-0-3
Description: A study of financial institutions and instruments covering their development and role within the economy and financial system. The forces creating the rapid changes of financial institutions and instruments in the 1980s and 1990s are explored, as well as the regulation of financial institutions and markets.
Offered: Spring 2013-2014
Requisites: Prereq: FE210 or approval of department chair.
Course: FE335
Title: ECONOMICS OF NATIONAL DEFENSE
Credits: 3-0-3
Description: The application of economic analysis to defense decision-making and the consequences of defense decisions for weapons; volunteers vs. conscription; leaders vs. resource managers; competitive vs. monopoly contractors; pay vs. non-pay factors in reenlistment.
Offered: Spring 2013-2014
Requisites: Prereq: FE210 or approval of department chair.
Course: FE337
Title: ECONOMICS OF THE DEFENSE INDUSTRIAL BASE
Credits: 3-0-3
Description: Application of economic principles to issues relating to military procurement and contracting, conversion of military industrial capacity to peacetime uses, wartime mobilization of industrial capacity, strategic stockpiling and economic warfare.
Offered: Spring
Requisites: Prereq: FE210.
Course: FE341
Title: MICROECONOMICS
Credits: 3-0-3
Description: This course builds upon the fundamentals of microeconomics introduced in FE210, with a particular focus on the optimizing behavior of both firms and individuals. Focus will be not only on learning key microeconomics models, but also applying these models to public policy issues.
Offered: Fall 2013-2014, Spring 2013-2014
Requisites: Prereq: FE210 or permission from Department Chair.
Course: FE342
Title: ECONOMIC METHODS FOR ENGINEERS
Credits: 3-0-3
Description: Application of microeconomic principles and analytical tools to the costing of investment projects in both private and public/military contexts.
Offered: Spring
Requisites: Prereq: FE210.
Course: FE345
Title: ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICS
Credits: 3-0-3
Description: This course develops guiding economic principles for decision-making in the environmental arena. Important topics include population growth and the environment, the economics of pollution control, measuring environmental benefits, use and management of renewable and non-renewable resources, environmental justice, and the politics of environmental policy. Not offered every year.
Offered: Spring 2013-2014
Requisites: Prereq: FE210 or permission from Department Chair.
Course: FE354
Title: DEVELOPMENT OF THE U.S. ECONOMY
Credits: 3-0-3
Description: Economists, politicians, and the news media often draw conclusions about policies today based on their opinions of what happened in the past. This course will use the tools of economics to rigorously analyze the development and evolution of the United States' economy, markets, insitutions, and standard of living. Topics to be studied may include the American Revolution, slavery, the Civil War, Westward expansion, and the Great Depression.
Offered: Fall
Requisites: Prereq: FE210 or approval of department chair.
Course: FE400
Title: ADVANCED MICROECONOMIC THEORY
Credits: 4-0-4
Description: Advanced topics in modern microeconomics. Topics may include dynamic analysis, risk and decision making under uncertainty, general equilibrium analysis, welfare economics, game theory and strategic behavior, principal-agent problems, collective action and social dilemmas, and rational and "irrational" choice.
Offered: Fall 2013-2014
Requisites: Prereq: FE331, FE341.
Course: FE405
Title: ADVANCED MACROECONOMIC THEORY
Credits: 4-0-4
Description: This course is designed as an advanced treatment of modern macroeconomics and policy analysis.  Throughout the course we emphasize the role that imperfections play in the labor, product and financial markets in short, medium, and long run macroeconomics.  The players in the economy -- the central bank, governments, employers, employees, and financial market institutions ¿ operate strategically within a set framework.  The model that we will develop and use is a mainstream monetary macro model used in current research and central banks for policy analysis.
Offered: Fall
Requisites: Prereq: FE312, FE331, FE341.
Course: FE411
Title: ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND GROWTH
Credits: 3-0-3
Description: This course provides a rigorous study of the current issues facing developing countries on both the individual and aggregate level. Discussed topics include economic models of growth, impact of physical and human capital investment, poverty and population growth, trade and globalization, government institutions, international capital flows, foreign aid , growth during times of structural change and reconstruction investment in war-torn societies. Individual country case studies may also be presented and social, political and historical differences between countries will be analyzed.
Offered: Spring 2013-2014
Requisites: Prereq: FE312.
Course: FE412
Title: INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND FINANCE
Credits: 3-0-3
Description: A rigorous examination of current international issues in a theoretical and empirical framework. Topics include motivations for trade; trade versus protectionism; the multinational enterprise; exchange rate issues and the international monetary systems and the role of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.
Offered: Fall 2013-2014, Spring 2013-2014
Requisites: Prereq: FE312 or FE341.
Course: FE422
Title: LABOR ECONOMICS
Credits: 3-0-3
Description: This course analyzes theories of labor markets and evidence on whether and how labor market theories successfully analyze outcomes. The core material explores labor demand by profit-maximizing firms, labor supply decisions made by rational workers, and equilibrium patterns of employment and wages. Topics may include: the analysis of human capital, migration, the economics of discrimination, effects of unions on employment and wages, effects of legislation (such as minimum wages and payroll taxes) and recent trends in wage inequality.
Offered: Fall 2013-2014
Requisites: Prereq: FE341.
Course: FE431
Title: PUBLIC FINANCE
Credits: 3-0-3
Description: This course examines the role of government in a market economy including the use of government expenditures and taxation to change the allocation of resources and/or to change the distribution of income. Emphasis is given to the formation and analysis of public policies in education, health care, social security, welfare, and the environment. Proposals for tax reform and how to address long-term fiscal challenges are analyzed. This course counts as a 400-level elective for economics majors (FEC) and as an economics major elective for the quantitative economics major (SQE).
Offered: Fall 2013-2014, Spring 2013-2014
Requisites: Prereq: FE341.
Course: FE435
Title: MACROECONOMIC FORECASTING
Credits: 3-0-3
Description: As a forward-looking discipline, economists use forecasting as the basis for private sector decision making. Moreover, businesses and governments forecast future revenues and costs. Macroeconomic Forecasting examines the modern, quantitative, statistical-econometric techniques of producing and evaluating forecasts of macroeconomic variables. The course introduces the fundamental techniques to analyze trend, seasonality and cyclical fluctuations, univariate times series methods,and the development of econometric models of the economy.
Offered: Spring 2013-2014
Requisites: Prereq: FE312 and (SM219 or SM230).
Course: FE436
Title: BUSINESS CYCLES
Credits: 3-0-3
Description: An advanced treatment of the empirical and theoretical issues surrounding business cycles. Topics include empirical regularities of cycles, models of inventory cycles, labor and credit markets, technology shocks, and the international transmission of cycles. Simulation-based methods of analyzing such models, and the role of fiscal and monetary policy in economic stabilization, are included.
Offered: Fall 2013-2014
Requisites: Prereq: FE312.
Course: FE437
Title: MONETARY THEORY AND POLICY
Credits: 3-0-3
Description: An advanced study of topics in monetary economics and their application to macroeconomic issues. Consideration of the role of money as a medium of exchange in commodity and fiat systems. Theories of money demand and empirical measures of the money supply. Development of macroeconomic models of money and the effect of monetary policy on inflation, unemployment and economic growth.
Offered: Spring 2013-2014
Requisites: Prereq: FE312.
Course: FE438
Title: ECONOMICS OF FINANCIAL CRISES
Credits: 3-0-3
Description: This course explores in depth the causes and consequences of economic and financial crises in general, the contagion of such crises into other countries, and the policies used or proposed to prevent similar crises in the future. It examines numerous historical crises, both theoretically and empirically, in hopes of drawing parallels that may help to guide future economic policy. The course critically examines comments made by so called ¿market experts¿ concerning the crisis and the government¿s response. It also provides a framework for understanding the likelihood of future crises and potential solutions.
Offered: Spring 2013-2014
Requisites: Prereq: FE210 or FE210Q; FE341 or FE341Q; FE312 or FE312Q.
Course: FE445
Title: ECONOMETRICS
Credits: 3-0-3
Description: Quantification of basic economic theory; multiple regression, correlation and identification techniques for the construction and testing of economic models and a study of selected alternative models of particular economic interest.
Offered: Fall 2013-2014
Requisites: Prereq: FE341, Calculus II, and (FE331 or SM339).
Course: FE450
Title: GAME THEORY
Credits: 3-0-3
Description: Game theory is the study of strategic behavior in situations where decision makers are aware of the interdependence of their actions. While game theory is widely applicable in social and biological sciences, this course introduces the basic notions of game theory with emphasis on economic applications such as auctions, oligopoly pricing, and entry deterrence. In particular, the course introduces students to the fundamental problems and solution concepts of non-cooperative game theory by examining both simultaneous and sequential move games, static and dynamic games, and games with imperfect, and asymmetric information. This course counts as a 400-level elective for economics majors (FEC) and as an economics major elective for the quantitative economics major (SQE).
Offered: Fall 2013-2014
Requisites: Prereq: FE341.
Course: FE460
Title: PUBLIC POLICIES TOWARD BUSINESS
Credits: 3-0-3
Description: An examination of public regulation of private enterprise in the U.S. with emphasis on the rationale for and application of antitrust policy and direct regulation.
Offered: Spring
Requisites: Prereq: FE341.
Course: FE461
Title: INDUSTRIAL ORGANIZATION
Credits: 3-0-3
Description: Industrial organization is the study of industry and firm behavior. Using microeconomic and game theory tools, this course explores the relationships among firms in an industry or across industries by examining the nature of strategic interaction among firms. The course will utilize available computer software to study theoretical models and empirical evidence for a wide variety of market phenomena such as price wars, patent races, price-fixing conspiracies, mergers, and advertising campaigns. It will consider public policies that affect the structure of markets and the behavior of firms, particularly antitrust laws, which try to create a balance between the benefits of coordination and consolidation and the detriments of market power. This course counts as a 400-level elective for economics majors (FEC) and as an economics major elective for the quantitative economics major (SQE).
Offered: Spring 2013-2014
Requisites: Prereq: FE341.
Course: FE462
Title: INFORMATION ECONOMICS
Credits: 3-0-3
Description: An exploration of the basic theory of information in economics, with special reference to the valuation of information. Students apply microeconomics in solving problems in the allocation, distribution, storage, and transportation of information. Students learn the unique features of markets for information, and the institutional and regulatory environment within which information markets function.
Offered: Fall
Requisites: Prereq: FE341 or FE341Q.
Course: FE475
Title: RESEARCH SEMINAR IN ECONOMICS
Credits: 3-0-3
Description: The Research Seminar in Economics is an introduction to the practical work done by professional economists. Each student applies his/her knowledge of economic theory and quantitative methods to formulate a hypothesis in economic terms, investigate previous research in the specific topice, statistically test its validity, and interpret the policy implications of the results. As the final course in the economics major sequence, the Research Seminar helps to integrate material from several courses, introduces students to the sources of the relevant economics literature, provides practice in reading and critically evaluating quantitative research results, develops competence in use of the computer, and provides a forum for presenting and evaluating the results of student projects.
Offered: Fall 2013-2014, Spring 2013-2014
Requisites: Prereq: FEC major or permission of department chair.
Course: FE500
Title: HONORS RESEARCH SEMINAR I
Credits: 2-0-2
Description: Examination of techniques and methodology of social science research; students will choose topics for development in FE506.
Offered: Fall 2013-2014
Requisites: Prereq: 1/C FECH major.
Course: FE506
Title: HONORS RESEARCH PROJECT
Credits: 1-6-4
Description: Directed independent research on topics chosen in FE500. Emphasis on empirical work using microcomputers.
Offered: Spring 2013-2014
Requisites: Prereq: 1/C FECH major.