Economics PPE Option Courses

Analysis of efficiency, equity, and growth issues in the economy and their links to environmental quality and natural resources availability. Case studies of global warming, world hunger, etc. Prereq: ECON 401 and 402. Writing intensive.

Study of interest rates, financial markets, financial institutions, monetary institutions, the supply of money, the demand for money, monetary theory, and monetary policy. Prereq: ECON 401 and 402.

Alternative prescriptions and explanations concerning the role of government in contemporary market economies. General principles of public expenditure analysis. Selected case studies of public spending programs, e.g., welfare, defense, education. Analysis of various federal, state, and local taxes. Prereq: ECON 401; 605;/ or permission.

Theoretical and empirical analysis of the U.S. health care delivery sector. Topics include health insurance markets and their effects on patient demand, uninsured populations and their access to health care services, breakdowns in the principal/agent relationship between patient and providers, competition in the medical sector, technology, pharmaceuticals and the scope and effect of government involvement in the delivery of health care. Prereq: ECON 402. (Also listed as HMP 642.)

Mergers, competition, monopoly, and the regulated industries. Prereq: ECON 402.

Functioning of labor markets from theoretical and policy perspectives. Labor demand and supply, wages and employment. Welfare programs, human capital, discrimination in the labor market, unions, wage differentials. Prereq: ECON 401; ECON 402; ECON 605 recommended.

The availability and use of inanimate energy resources and their relation to economic activity. Investigates energy demand, energy supply, the relation of energy to economic growth, and energy policy. Prereq: ECON 605 or permission.

Explores the basic issues of public sector economics and emphasizes the use of economic theory in predicting the effects of public policy on individual behavior and the overall economy. Specific topics include market failures, collective decision making, cost/benefit analysis, and an evaluation of tax and transfer programs. Writing intensive.

Special Topics Course