PJ Glandon

This course studies national economic performance. Building upon the microeconomic theories of consumer and producer behavior developed in ECON 101, the course introduces models that focus on the questions of unemployment, inflation and growth. Topics covered include measurement of national income and inflation, macroeconomic models, saving and investment, money and banking, fiscal and monetary policy, and international trade and finance. This course is required for the major. Prerequisite: ECON 101. Offered every spring semester.

This course is a theoretical and applied study of the level of national income and employment. Prices, interest rates, unemployment rates, international trade relations, business cycles and the long-run growth of income significantly affect our standards of living. Diverse schools of macroeconomic thought are distinguished by theoretical concepts, priorities in performance goals, and empirical evidence. The course considers a variety of approaches and emphasizes the microeconomic foundations of macroeconomic theory. Government actively manages both domestic and international aspects of the macroeconomy, and the course considers current public policy issues. This course is required for the major. Prerequisite: ECON 101 and ECON 102, and a college level calculus course or a score of 4 or 5 on the AP calculus exam. This course cannot be taken as pass/D/fail. Offered every spring semester.

This course examines the optimal allocation of an individual's wealth among risky financial assets and the related question of the pricing of these risky assets. After a consideration of various measures of risk and return, modern portfolio theory is used to derive the capital asset pricing model. The empirical performance of the capital asset pricing model is analyzed, and alternative asset pricing models are discussed. Throughout the course, equity shares will be used as a particular application. The remainder of the course is spent on derivative assets, most important, futures and options. Time permitting, options are treated in some detail, concluding with a discussion of the Black-Scholes option-pricing model. While completing assignments, students make fairly heavy use of a spreadsheet program such as Excel. Prerequisite: ECON 101, 102 and a college course in statistics or a 4 or 5 on the AP statistics exam. Generally offered every year.

This seminar studies the empirical testing of economic models. The focus varies depending on the instructor. Possible topics include instrumental variable analysis, time series analysis, panel data analysis and limited dependent variables. Each student undertakes and reports on a research project. This counts toward the seminar requirement for the major. Prerequisite: ECON 101, 102 and 205. Generally offered every other year.

This seminar studies the empirical testing of economic models. The focus varies depending on the instructor. Possible topics include instrumental variable analysis, time series analysis, panel data analysis and limited dependent variables. Each student undertakes and reports on a research project. This counts toward the seminar requirement for the major. Prerequisite: ECON 101, 102 and 205. Generally offered every other year.