Economics and Finance Courses
SPECIAL UPPER-DIVISION CORE ELECTIVES
The following courses are specifically designed for use as core electives. They carry no prerequisites and are particularly accessible, therefore, to students who have no previous background in economics.
Credits earned in these courses may not be used to satisfy any of the departmentês major or minor requirements.
Ec210 Contemporary Microeconomic Issues
An issues-oriented approach to microeconomics. The practical application of economic principles to production, pricing, the allocation of resources, income distribution, regulation, and a variety of social problems.
Ec215 Contemporary Macroeconomic Issues
Exploration of major macroeconomic issues, policies, and problems. Topics will include inflation, unemployment, tax policy, the changing role of the U.S. in the world economy, etc.
INTRODUCTORY LEVEL COURSES
Ec100 Introduction to Economics
A course designed to acquaint students with the basic structure, evolution, and scope of economics as a social science and the nature and uses of microeconomic and macroeconomic analysis. Not for Economics or Business majors. No prerequisites.
Ec101 Macroeconomic Principles
Definition of economics and its methodology. Scarcity and the resulting macroeconomic problems. Measurement and determination of the level of macroeconomic activity (size and components of GNP, full employment, growth); stabilization problems (unemployment and inflation) and policies. No prerequisites.
Ec102 Microeconomic Principles
Scarcity and the resulting microeconomic problems. Demand and supply analysis and applications. Production and cost functions. Market structures, industry and firm conduct and performance. Resource markets. Prerequisite: Ec101.
Ec220 Personal Financial Management
Survey of the economic and financial concepts and institutional arrangements involved in the handling of personal finances. Topics include: taxes, insurance, investments and securities, debt, savings, annuities, estate planning, budgeting.
Ec225 The Global Economy
Survey of selected international economic issues, including: foreign debt, European Economic Community, emergence of new world powers, collapse of the socialist system, protectionism vs. free trade, and growth and development.
Ec230 Urban Economic Problems
Social and economic conditions and policies in America's major cities in the 1990s and beyond. The application of economic principles to contemporary urban problems and public policy.
REQUIRED UPPER-DIVISION COURSES FOR ECONOMICS MAJORS
Students in any of the departmentês major programs are required to complete the following upper-division courses. Students may also apply these courses toward the completion of a minor in economics, if they wish. Prerequisites for these courses are Ec101-102. Additional prerequisites, if any, are noted in the course descriptions.
Ec251 Intermediate Microeconomics
The fundamentals of microeconomic theory. Consumer demand theory including the classical utility and indifference curve approach to consumer equilibrium. Firm behavior under various types of market structures. General equilibrium.
Ec252 Intermediate Macroeconomics
Models of national income determination. Inflation, unemployment, and the role of monetary and fiscal policy.
Ec300 Statistics for Business and Economics
Introduction to the use of statistics in describing and solving economic and business problems. Frequency distributions, measures of central tendency and dispersion. Basic probability theory and acceptance sampling. Confidence interval estimation and hypothesis testing. Simple regression and correlation analysis. Prerequisites: Ma105-106 or Ma123-124.
REQUIRED UPPER-DIVISION COURSES FOR MATHEMATICAL ECONOMICS MAJORS
Students majoring in mathematical economics are required to complete the following courses. (Note: Mathematical Economics majors may substitute Ma382 for Ec303 below.) These courses may also be used as upper-division economics electives by other economics majors and by those minoring in economics.
Ec301 Mathematical Economics
The main applications of mathematics to economic concepts and problems. Maximization, minimization problems. Simultaneous equations, calculus, linear algebra. Prerequisite: Ec300.
Ec302 Elements of Econometrics
The application and limitations of statistical techniques in testing economic theory. Simple and multiple regression analysis. Time series and cross section analysis. Problems encountered in regression. Multicollinearity, serial correlation. Prerequisite: Ec300.
Ec303 Linear Programming for Economics
Algebraic and geometric prerequisites, the simplex method, transportation problems, network flows, application to industrial problems, and economic theory. Prerequisites: Ec251-252; Ma218.
UPPER-DIVISION ELECTIVES IN ECONOMICS AND FINANCE
All of the following elective courses have Ec101-102 as prerequisites. Additional prerequisites, if any, are noted in the course descriptions.
Ec295 Cooperative Education See Center for Experiential Learning
Ec350 History of Economic Thought
The development of economic ideas from 1500 to present. Analysis and evaluation of the contributions of major writers and schools - orthodox and heterodox.
Ec351 American Economic History
The formation and transformation of the American economy from colonial times to the present, with particular emphasis on the post-Civil War period.
Ec352 Managerial Economics
The application of economic principles to managerial decisions in the areas of production, costs, demand, pricing, and advertising.
Ec353 Labor Economics
Labor aspects as a factor of production. Concept and changing composition of the labor forces; competing theories of wage determination; employment insecurity; institutional and political developments consequent upon the emergence of the labor force as a separate economic entity.
Ec354 Industrial Organization
Structure of American industry. Considers concentration ratios, barriers to entry, efficiency, research and development levels, industry conduct and performance, policy implications.
Ec355 Government and Business
The nature and scope of the governmentês antitrust and regulatory policies and the impact of those policies on business and industry. Topics include: the legal basis, limitations, instruments and targets of control; benefits versus costs of regulation; evaluation of relevant governmental agencies and bodies (FDA, EPA, FCC, SEC, etc.).
Ec/As356 Urban Economics
Inquiry into the growth and development of urban areas; the location, form and structure of cities; current urban problems and policies.
Ec/As357 The Economics of Human Resources
The economic dimensions of basic decisions made by individuals and families over their life cycles and the policy implications of those choices. Topics include: economic determinants of marriage, family size and migration; labor supply and alternatives to working (public assistance or crime); investment in human capital (education, training, health); income inequality, poverty and discrimination.
Ec358 Public Finance
An analysis of the role of government in the economy. The efficiency and equity of government expenditures and tax programs.
Ec401 Introduction to Corporate Finance
The financial problems and policies of business corporations: formation and capitalization; types of securities; consolidation, reorganization and liquidation; recent legislation; scope and functions of U.S. financial institutions. Cannot be taken by anyone who has taken Ec410. Prerequisites: Ma105-106 or Ma123-124.
Ec410 Business Finance
Provides the analytical foundation for applied courses in finance, investments, and financial institutions. Topics include: discounted cash flow analysis; theory of valuation for corporate securities; concepts of risk and rate of return; the capital asset pricing model; financial forecasting; working capital policy. Prerequisites: Ac331-332.
Ec411 Financial Management
Builds on the conceptual framework developed in Ec410. Topics include: capital budgeting; cost of capital, leverage and dividend policy; long-term financing decisions involving common stock financing, long-term debt, and corporate restructuring. Prerequisite: Ec410.
Ec412 Investment Analysis
Survey of the operations of securities markets; the analytical methods and theory underlying the appraisal of corporate stocks and bonds and portfolio selection. Prerequisite: Ec410.
Ec415 International Finance
Analysis of foreign exchange and foreign exchange markets, balance of payment, disequilibrium and adjustment, exchange risk management and investment decisions.
Ec420 Money, Credit, and Banking
Analysis of money and banking system. The impact of deregulation and the changing nature of the financial system in a domestic and international setting. The structure and role of the Federal Reserve system. Keynesian, monetarist and rational expectations views on money and economic activity.
Ec450 International Trade
Trade theories: traditional and modern approaches. International resource allocation, trade flows, tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade, free-trade agreements, multinational corporations, location theory.
Ec451 Comparative Economic Systems
Structure, organization, and practice in factor allocation, pricing and distribution for market economies, socialist economies, mixed economies, and centrally planned economies.
Ec/As452 Economic Development
Measurement and income distribution - obstacles, constraints, factors, and theories of economic development. Aid, planning, and actual experiences. New consideration to the development process.
Ec454 The Political Economy of Latin America
Survey of historical, cultural and political events. A contemporary study of economic development, debt crisis, trade, financial and stabilization policies.
Ec/As490 Seminar: Current Economic Problems
Course designed to allow the student to engage in intensive investigation, research, and reporting on specific problems in economics.
Ec493 Seminar: Macroeconomic Policy
Case-study approach to U.S. macroeconomic problems and policies and their international repercussions. The interplay of political institutions and market forces in the shaping of macroeconomic policy.
Ec494 Seminar: Unions and Collective Bargaining
The nature and economic significance of labor unions in the U.S. Topics include: the historical development of the American labor movement; the structure of labor relations; collective bargaining procedures and strategies; the impact of unions on wages and working conditions.
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