Economics (ECON)

Professor Nechyba, Chair (213 Social Sciences); Professor Arcidiacono, Director of Graduate Studies (201A Social Sciences); Research Professor Becker, Director of Master's Program (138 Social Sciences); Associate Professor Khan, Director of Graduate Admissions (221B Social Sciences). Primary Appointments: Professors Bollerslev, Burnside, De Marchi, Goodwin, Grabowski, Graham, Hoover, Hotz, Kelley, Kimbrough, Kranton, Kuran, Lewis, McElroy, Nechyba, Sloan, Tauchen, Taylor, Thomas, Tower, Weintraub; Associate Professors Abdulkadiroglu, Arcidiacono, Bayer, Fang, Khan, Peretto, Rossi, Rubio-Ramirez, Timmins, Yildirim; Assistant Professors Beresteanu, Ellickson, Leventoglu, Sweeting, Tarozzi, Weinke; Professors Emeriti Blackburn, Kreps, Treml, Vernon, Wallace; Research Professors Becker, Toniolo; Research Scholar Boyd; Professor of the Practice Leachman; Associate Professors of the Practice Connolly and Fullenkamp; Assistant Professor of the Practice Rasiel; Secondary Appointments: Professors Anton, Bansal, Clotfelter, Cohen, Cook, Gallant, Hsieh, Kramer, Ladd, Munger, Viswanathan; Associate Professors Conrad, Hamilton, Pfaff, and Vigdor; Assistant Professors Ananat, Bellemare, Conitzer, Khwaja, Lopomo, Ridley, Rigotti, Smith; Research Professor Darity

The Department of Economics offers graduate programs leading to the AM and PhD degrees. Students preparing to enter these programs will find an undergraduate background in mathematics, statistics, and economics to be very helpful. Requirements for the PhD degree in economics include obtaining high grades in the first year classes of microeconomics, macroeconomics, and econometrics. Advanced study is offered in economic theory, macroeconomics, applied microeconomics (including industrial organization, labor economics, public economics, and development economics), history of political economics, and certain fields outside the economics department such as finance. The standard time to completion of the PhD is five years.

205. Microeconomic Theory. Topics include theory of consumer choice, demand, uncertainty, competitive and imperfectly competitive firms, factor markets, producer theory, and general equilibrium. Intended for master's students. Prerequisites: Intermediate microeconomics and multivariate calculus necessary. Matrix algebra and differential equations useful. Instructor: Becker, Kranton, or Nechyba. 3 units.

207S. Models of Conflict and Cooperation. Cooperative and non-cooperative game theory with applications to trading, imperfect competition, cost allocation, and voting. Extensive use of quantitative models requiring familiarity with multivariate calculus, optimization, and probability theory. Prerequisite: Economics 105D. Instructor: Graham. 3 units.

208S. Economics of the Family. Economic functions of families including home production gains from marriage, the demand for children, marriage and divorce, child support and alimony, labor supplies of women and men, the distribution of resources within families ('rotten kid theorems' and cooperative and noncooperative games). Applications to marriage and divorce law, day care, United States welfare policy, mortality, and farm efficiency in developing nations. Research project required. Prerequisite: Economics 105D; Economics139D; and Statistics 101, 103, 104, 112, 113 or 114, or Mathematics 135 or 136. Instructor: McElroy. 3 units. C-L: Women's Studies 208S

210. Macroeconomic Theory. Micro-founded dynamic general equilibrium models have become the standard tool for macroeconomic analysis. Course provides guidance on how to work with these models. Our baseline New Keynesian model will feature sticky prices combined with monopolistic competition. We will show that the result in framework is appealing from an empirical point of view and we will use it to assess the desirability of alternative arrangements for the conduct of monetary policy. Prerequisite: Economics 205. Instructor: Weinke or staff. 3 units.

220. Time Series Econometrics. Empirical research in macroeconomics and international finance, providing students with a series of econometric tools for empirical analysis of time-series and an introduction to the current empirical research in macroeconomics, international finance, and forecasting. Small project and simple empirical research required. Consent of instructor required. Instructor: Rossi. 3 units.

230S. Economics of Creative Good. Creative industries (especially the arts, entertainment) often distinguished by peculiarities of product (for example, non-durable), by special nature of financing and contracting (for example, option contracts), and by challenges they present to conventional analysis of pricing and consumption. Research report required. (Taught only in the Duke-in-Venice Program.) Similar to Economics 130S but intended for M.A. students. Instructor: De Marchi. 3 units.

233. Economic History and Modernization of the Islamic Middle East. Economic development of the Middle East from the rise of Islam to the present. Transformation of the region from an economically advanced area into part of the underdeveloped world. Role of religion in economic successes and failures. Obstacles to development today. Topics: Islamic economic institution, economic roles of Islamic law, innovation and change, political economy of modernization, interactions with other regions, economic consequences of Islamism. Consent of instructor required. Instructor: Kuran. 3 units.

237. Philosophy of Economics. Foundations, aims, and methods of economics, including game theory, nature and limits of welfare economics, economic approach to political and social institutions, relationship of economic theory to empirical evidence, and role of models. Similar to economics 137, but intended for M.A. students. Instructor: Hoover. 3 units.

239D. Introduction to Econometrics. Data collection, estimation, and hypothesis testing. Use of econometric models for analysis and policy. (Same as Economics 139D but requires additional term paper; not open to students who have taken Economics 139D.) For Economics majors only. Prerequisite: Economics 2, 2D, 52D or 55D; Mathematics 103 (co-requisite); Statistics 101, 103, 104, 112, 113 or 114 or Mathematics 135 or 136. Instructor: Beresteanu, Ellickson or Tarozzi. 3 units.

241. Applied Econometrics in Macroeconomics. Basic econometric methods useful in empirical economic research and forecasting. Topics include multiple regression analysis under nonstandard conditions; probit, logit, and other limited dependent variables; count data; simultaneous equation systems; and models with panel data. Focus on macroeconomic applications. (Same as economics 141, but requires additional paper; not open to students who have taken Economics 141.) Prerequisite: Economics 139D or 239D. Instructor: Rossi. 3 units.

242. Applied Econometrics in Microeconomics. Empirical research in microeconomics, with emphasis on three main sub-fields: labor economics, public economics, and industrial organization. Focus on current empirical research in these areas and student independent analysis of current research using statistical software. Same as Econ 142, but additional work required. Not open to students who have taken Economics 141B, 142 or 241B. Prerequisite: Economics 139D or 239D. Instructor: Beresteanu. 3 units.

245. Urban Economics. Introduction to urban and spatial economics. Neoclassical monocentric city spatial model, patterns of land values, property prices, residential density and impact of distressed communities on broader development. Systems of cities and regional growth, role of cities in economic development. United States urban features: ethical and socio-economic effects of housing segregation and implications for discrimination. Tradeoffs between efficiency and fairness in housing resource allocation. Business location theory, impact of innovations in transportation, and technology's effect on work patterns. Same as Economics 145, but requires additional work. Not open to students who have taken Economics 145. Instructor: Becker. 3 units.

248. History of Economic Thought. Approaches to economic problems from Aristotle to Keynes, emphasizing certain models and doctrines their origins, relevance, and evolution. Readings from Mun, Quesnay, Adam Smith, Malthus, Ricardo, Marx, Walras, Veblen, and Keynes. (Similar to Economics 148, but requires an additional assignment. Not open to students who have taken Economics 148.) Prerequisite: Economics 55D. Instructor: Goodwin. 3 units.

252. Economic Growth. Old and recent developments in search for broader, sharper explanations of variation in market structure, technological development and living standards observed across time, countries, and industries. Historical study of writings of Smith, Ricardo, Marx, Malthus and Schumpeter. Study of modern growth theory and its implications. Background in intermediate macroeconomics and microeconomics recommended. Instructor: Peretto. 3 units.

255. Labor Economics. Demand for and supply of labor, including human fertility, human capital, hours of work, and labor force participation. Effects of family structure, marriage laws, taxes and transfers (welfare, earned income tax credit) on labor supply and the distribution of income across families and individuals. Labor market discrimination, unions, Background in microeconomics and econometrics recommended. Similar to Economics 155, but intended for MA students. Instructor: Arcidiacono, McElroy, or Sloan. 3 units.

257. Financial Markets and Investments. Same as Economics 157, but requires an additional paper. Not open to students who have had Economics 158/258 before Fall 1998. Prerequisite: Economics 105D; Economics 110D; and Statistics 101, 103, 104, 112, 113 or 114, or Mathematics 135 or 136. Instructor: Bollerslev or Tauchen. 3 units.

258. Applied Financial Economics. Same as Economics 158, but requires additional work. Not open to students who have had Economics 158/258. Prerequisite: Economics 105D; Economics 110D; and Statistics 101, 103, 104, 112, 113 or 114, or Mathematics 135 or 136. Instructor: Staff. 3 units.

264. The History of Modern Macroeconomics from Keynes to the Present. Examination of key developments in macroeconomics from the 1930s through the present. Case studies of the evolution of macroeconomics in political and social context. Topics include the theory of unemployment in the Great Depression; growth theory and the rise of business cycle modeling in the aftermath of World War II; the trade-off between inflation and unemployment in the 1950s and 1960s; the debate over monetarism in the age of stagflation; and the rise of the New Classical Macroeconomics in its aftermath. Not open to students who have taken Economics 164. Instructor: Hoover. 3 units.

266S. International Monetary Economics. Financial aspects of growth and income determination, and macroeconomic policy in open economies. Applications to exchange rate determination, capital markets, fluctuations in the trade balance and current account, monetary and fiscal policies in open economies, currency crises, and monetary reform. Significant research component required. Prerequisite: Economics 55D. Instructor: Kimbrough. 3 units.

268. Asset Pricing & Risk Management. Pricing models for major asset classes including bonds and equities, as well as derivative securities including futures and options on equity indices, currencies and commodities. Portfolio risk analysis speculation and hedging techniques. Instructor: Raisel. 3 units.

268S. Current Issues in International and Development Economics. Issues of income distribution within and between countries, vehicles for growth, regional development, the role of politics in economic policy, multinational institutions. Cross-country and cross-time comparisons. Emphasis on individual research projects. Prerequisite: Economics 105D; and Economics 110D. Instructor: Tower. 3 units. C-L: International Comparative Studies 201BS

276. Mathematical Economics. Topics include a review of differential and integral calculus; overview of matrix algebra, comparative statics, constrained optimization; introduction to differential equations and difference equations. Prerequisite: basic knowledge of differential and integral calculus. Instructor: Rubio-Ramirez or staff. 3 units.

277. Game Theory. An introduction to non-cooperative game theory with emphasis on both games of complete information and games of incomplete information. Application from economics, biology, law, and political science. Offered only in the summer. Prerequisite: Economics 205. Instructor: Taylor. 1.5 units.

284S. Financial Development and History. Development of financial institutions and markets across civilizations and time. The political, economic, and institutional factors which influenced that evolution and the theoretical implications for contemporary emerging markets. Prerequisite: Economics 151, 181 or consent of instructor. Instructor: Toniolo. 3 units.

285. Economics of Global Health. Application of economic methods to examine key emerging issues in global health, with focus on health disparities. Emphasis on using economic models to better understand global health challenges and using econometric methods to empirically test hypotheses that seek to explain global health disparities. Discuss measurement o of health and data quality. Explores individual, family and society-level determinants of health; impact of health on economic and social prosperity; demand and supply of health care. Discuss policy implications in each case. Instructor: Thomas. 3 units.

288. Competitive Strategy and Industrial Organization. Foundations of the field of industrial organization, including the theory of the firm, models of competition, market structure, pricing and dynamic models. Emphasis on theory with support from specific industries, including telecommunications, retail and airlines. Similar to Economics 188, but requires additional assignment. Not open to students who have taken Economics 188. Instructor: Beresteanu, Khan, or Yildrim. 3 units.

289. Applied Econometrics II. Time series analysis, non-linear and systems modeling, limited dependent variables, and hazard models. Probability and distribution theory, and statistical inference. Issues of functional form, qualitative form, qualitative choice models, pooled time series and cross-sectional data, and more advance time series topics. Offered only in the summer. Instructor: Staff. 3 units.

290S. The Development of Modern Economic Thought. Selective survey of the development of economic thinking in the twentieth century, with emphasis on the construction of economics as a science. Research papers required. (Similar to Economics 190, but requires an additional assignment. Not open to students who have taken Economics 190). Prerequisite: Economics 55D. Instructor: Weintraub. 3 units.

291. European Economic History. Covers period since the late eighteenth century. Topics include: modern economic growth in historical perspective, the industrial revolution, the standard-of-living debate, patterns of European growth (with case studies of France, Germany, Italy, and Russia), the classical gold standard, the economic consequences of World War II, the great depression, postwar reconstruction, and the European ''miracle'' of the 1950s and 1960s. Prerequisites: Economics 105D; and Economics 110D. Instructor: Toniolo. 3 units.

293. Research Independent Study. Individual research in a field of special interest under the supervision of a faculty member, the central goal of which is a substantive paper or written report containing significant analysis and interpretation of a previously approved topic. Consent of instructor and director of graduate studies or MA program director required. Instructor: Staff. Variable credit.

294. Independent Study. Individual non-research, directed reading, or individual project in a field of special interest under the supervision of a faculty member. Consent of instructor and director of graduate studies or MA program director required. Instructor: Staff. Variable credit.

297S. Economic Science Studies. Application of techniques of science and technology studies to problems in the history, philosophy, methodology and sociology of economics. Addresses modern economics as a illustrative case of issues arising in Studies of Scientific Knowledge. What counts as "fact" in economics? Who decides, and by what processes of negotiation? Does accepting that knowledge in economics as a construct reduce the usefulness of that knowledge and affect the notion of progress in economic science? Why has mathematical economics enjoyed such success in recent decades? Close readings in texts across the sciences and in modern economics, and the history of mathematics, culminating in a research project. (Similar in context to Economics 197S, but requires an additional assignment. Not open to students who have taken Economics 197S or Sociology 187S.) Prerequisites: Economics 105 or 149; and Economics 110 or 154; and consent of instructor. Instructor: Weintraub. 3 units.

301. Microeconomic Analysis I. Review of contemporary theory relating to consumer choice, production, the firm, and income distribution in competitive and imperfectly competitive markets. Restricted to PhD students in economics except with consent of instructor and director of graduate studies. Instructor: Abdulkadiroglu or Bayer. 3 units.

304. Advanced Macroeconomics. Advanced topics in macroeconomics with some emphasis on computation and econometric analysis. Topics include real business cycle theory, endogenous growth theory, monetary theory, optimal monetary and fiscal policy and time consistency. Instructor: Peretto. 3 units.

309. Trade and Development Theory. Theory of international trade and trade policy as it affects the structure and growth of individual economies, with emphasis on developing countries. Comparative advantage, factor proportions explanation of trade, infant industry and other arguments for protection, interactions of exchange rate and trade policy, and special issues relating to primary commodities are examined. Instructor: Staff. 3 units.

311. History of Political Economy. A detailed review of the development of economic theory, the tools of economic analysis, and economics as a science, together with an analysis of the circumstances affecting this development. Instructor: De Marchi, Goodwin, or Weintraub. 3 units.

312. History of Political Economy. A detailed review of the development of economic theory, the tools of economic analysis, and economics as a science, together with an analysis of the circumstances affecting this development. Instructor: De Marchi, Goodwin, or Weintraub. 3 units.

320. Macroeconomic Analysis I. Intertemporal models of consumption and labor supply; implications of these models for the behavior of macroeconomic aggregates, fiscal policy, and monetary policy; money demand and inflation; economic growth. Restricted to PhD students in economics except with consent of instructor and director of graduate studies. Instructor: Burnside and Peretto. 3 units.

326. Stochastic Macroeconomics. Final course in the graduate macroeconomics sequence, dealing with advanced topics and frontier research. Development of a framework for the analysis of the positive and normative implications of dynamic, stochastic general equilibrium models. Objectives are to clarify the central role that optimal intertemporal decision making under uncertainty plays in modern macroeconomics, and to familiarize students with the methods and problems discussed in recent literature. Focus on models of open economies, recognizing the high degree of international integration of goods and services markets, and the importance of international financial flows. Instructor: Weinke. 3 units.

327. Empirical Methods in Macroeconomics and Forecasting in Time Series Analysis. Examine the models and statistical techniques used to study time series data with special emphasis to application in macro. Three objectives: equip students who anticipate using times series data in doctoral research with tools for state-of-the-art empirical research; lay out econometrics theory for time series analysis, with emphasis on recent developments; to analyze selected recent work in theoretical macro modeling with emphasis on empirical implication and analysis. Instructor: Rossi. 3 units.

328. Internship. Open to students engaging in practical or governmental work experience during the summer or a regular semester. A faculty member in the department will supervise a program of study related to the work experience, including a substantive paper on an economics-related topic, maintaining significant analysis and interpretation. Consent of director of graduate studies required. Instructor: Staff. 1 unit.

329. Public Finance: Economics of the Environment. Component of public finance sequence divided into two sections: (1) externality theory and Pigouvian policy tools and (2) theory and empirical methods for valuing non-market commodities. Includes extended problem set distributed throughout semester, referee report on unpublished paper, and short final exam. Problem set contains both theoretical and empirical component and is intended to build familiarity with programming tools and numerical techniques. Instructor: Timmins. 3 units.

341. Econometrics I. Matrix algebra, probability theory, and statistics used to develop methods for multiple regression analysis. Covers material up to generalized least squares estimation. Restricted to PhD students in economics, except with consent of instructor. Instructor: Bayer and Rossi. 3 units.

343. Econometrics III. Asymptotic theory for finite dimensional parametric models. Topics include nonlinear maximum likelihood, nonlinear regression, extremum estimators, aspects of computation, hypothesis testing, and models with limited dependent variables. Prerequisite: Economics 342. Instructor: Beresteanu or Tauchen. 3 units.

345. Applied Econometrics. Applications of current econometric methodology to empirical problems with an emphasis on applied microeconomics. Topics include limited dependent variable, longitudinal and panel data analysis, and duration models. Prerequisites: Economics 341 and 344. Instructor: Tarozzi. 3 units.

349. Empirical Methods in Finance/Financial Econometrics. Selected current empirical research topics in finance and related econometric methods. Focus on testing theories of asset price determination, exploring the interplay between economic theory, statistical assumptions about returns, and the relevant econometric techniques. Prerequisite: Economics 304 and 347, or equivalent course work with consent of instructor. Instructor: Bollerslev or Tauchen. 3 units.

350. Econometrics of Macroeconomic Time Series. Statistical analysis of economic time series. The temporal dependence in such data and the formulation of dynamic economic models combine to present some unique problems and consequently require the application of specialized methods. Focus on applications rather than on proving theorems. Different econometric methodologies applicable to specific problems in macroeconomics, monetary economics, and finance. Prerequisite: Economics 302, 322; corequisite: Economics 345. Instructor: Bollerslev. 3 units.

351. Empirical Microeconomics. Covers recent research in empirical microeconomics. Particular attention will be paid to applications that exploit insights from game theory, information economics, imperfect competition and other recent developments in microeconomics theory. Examples from industrial organization, public finance and labor economics will be discussed. Students will engage in an empirical research project as part of the course requirements. Prerequisite: Economics 303, 341, 342, 343. Instructor: Staff. 3 units.

354. Seminar: Labor and Economics of the Family. Theory and empirical applications of decision making when individuals within groups have conflicting interests. For households include all outcomes over which household members have preferences (allocations of time to home production, market work and leisure, expenditures on goods; investments in children's education, daycare, and health; transfers within and across generations. Matching models and search (or marriage/divorce) markets) and consequences for intra- and extra-household distributions, including the intra-family distribution of income, child support, health and mortality, births out of wedlock and productivity over life cycle. Emphasis on influence of legal frameworks (family law, taxes and transfers). Related courses Econ 355, 385A. Consent of instructor required. Instructor: McElroy. 3 units.

356. Graduate Health Economics I. Survey course designed for students considering PhD research in health economics. Topics will include demand for health insurance, moral hazard, health as an investment, technological change, the principal-agent problem, occupational entry, and the supply of physician services. Prerequisite: Economics 243 and 301. Instructor: Sloan. 3 units.

357. Seminar in Health Economics. Conceptual and empirical analysis of demand for health, medical services, and insurance; decisions by physicians and hospitals about price, quantity, and quality of services; technological change; and structure and performance of the pharmaceutical industry. Prerequisite: Economics 243 and 301. Instructor: Becker and Sloan. 3 units.

358. Seminar in Labor Market and Related Analysis. A survey of several topics in modern labor economics including human capital, signaling, static and dynamic labor supply, household production, labor contracts, search, the theory of equalizing differences, and discrimination. Instructor: Arcidiacono. 3 units.

360. Vocational Skills for Empiricists. Practical skills necessary to do empirical work. Emphasis on effective programming in STATA, Matlab, and other higher programming languages. Management of data sets, including trade-offs empirical economists make when analyzing data. Assignment to attempt replication of the results of a paper published on a top economics journal. Intended for students who have completed the first year of the PhD program in Economics. Instructor: Staff. 3 units.

370. Real Analysis for Economists. Topics include metric spaces, continuity, convexity, fixed point theory and normed linear spaces. Intended for students who have completed the first year of the PhD program in Economics. Instructor: Graham or Staff. 3 units.

380. Graduate Economics Workshops. May be taken for multiple credit. Sections: .01 Applied Microeconomics; .02 International Economics; .03 Field-specific Applied Microeconomics; .04 Applied Macroeconomics; .05 Economic History; .06 History of Political Economics; .07 Trade Dynamics Macroeconomics; .08 Econometrics; .09 Microeconomic Theory; .10 First-year Research. Instructor: Staff. 3 units.

385A. Research Seminar in Applied Microeconomics. For students anticipating working on thesis in area of Applied Microeconomics. Emphasis on reading and critiquing state of the art empirical work in microeconomics and presenting ongoing graduate student research. Students expected to contribute to discussion and present on regular basis. Prerequisite: Econ 380 concurrently. Instructors: Arcidiacono, McElroy, Nechyba, Sloan, and Tarozzi. 1.5 units.

385E. Research Seminar in Mircoeconometrics. Facilitate research in applied microeconomics. Students and faculty present paper by leading research. Emphasis places on those papers that combine sophisticated techniques from econometrics and that integrate theory and empirical work. Participants encourages to present early version of own research. Prerequisite: Economics 380 taken concurrently. Instructors: Beresteanu and Ellickson. 1.5 units.

385F. Research Seminar in Financial Econometrics. For students anticipating working on thesis in the area of financial econometrics. Emphasis on research that combines sophisticated statistical and econometric techniques with current ideas and issues in asset pricing finance. Students expected to contribute to discussions and present ongoing research on a regular basis. Prerequisites: Field Examinations in Econometrics and Finance, Econ 380 taken concurrently. Instructors: Bollerslev and Tauchen. 1.5 units.

385M. Research Seminar in Macro and International Finance. Discuss and analyze in detail recent papers on Macroeconomics and International Finance. Serves as formal environment in which students present and evaluate research on a regular basis. Participants required to make presentations as directed by instructor and play active role in discussions. Prerequisite: Economics 380 taken concurrently. Instructors: Burnside, Connolly, Kimbrough, Peretto, Rubio-Ramirez, and Weinke. 1.5 units.

385T. Research Seminar in Economics Theory. Student's own field and research papers will be used as basis for developing modeling skills in microeconomic theory including Contract Theory, Decision Theory, Game Theory, General Equilibrium, Industrial Organization, Mechanism Design, political economy, and Public Economics. Explore and develop methods and techniques for deriving economically interesting implications of assumptions on primitives. Write and refine original research papers, present work, and evaluate fellow students in route to dissertation prospectus. Prerequisite: Economics 380 taken concurrently. Instructors: Besharov, Graham, Kranton, Taylor, and Yildirim. 1.5 units.

389. Empirical Industrial Organization. Intended for PhD students interested in conducting research in empirical IO. Discuss estimation and applications of several broad classes of models: 1. Models of product differentiation 2. Static games of imperfect competition 3. Dynamic games of imperfect competition 4. Auctions 5. Principal agent models. Special attention will be paid to most recent research so students are exposed to papers on research frontier. Goal is to provide students with set of tools to write original research in empirical IO. Instructor: Staff. 3 units.

2008-09 Bulletin of the Duke University Graduate School

2008-09 Bulletin of the
Duke University Graduate School