Covers basic elements of microeconomic and marcoeconomic reasoning at an introductory level. Topics include Individual Constraints and Preferences, Production by Firms, Market Transactions, Competition, The Distribution of Income, Technological Progress and Growth, Unemployment and Inflation, the Role of Government in the Economy. Note: Students cannot get credit for ECON BC1003 if they have taken the Columbia introductory course ECON W1105 Principles of Economics.
Covers basic mathematical methods required for intermediate theory courses and upper level electives in economics, with a strong emphasis on applications. Topics include simultaneous equations, functions, partial differentiation, optimization of functions of more than one variable, constrained optimization, and financial mathematics. This course satisfies the Calculus requirement for the Barnard Economics major. NOTE: students who have previously taken Intermediate Micro Theory (ECON BC3035 or the equivalent) are *not* allowed to take Math Methods for Economics.
This course will introduce the fundamental concepts of accounting and finance to economics students. The accounting component of the course will focus on financial accounting, and the finance component of the course will focus on issues relating to corporate financing Whenever possible, the discussion of each concept encountered in the course will include an examination of real-world examples of firms’ financial statements and decisions. Students’ learning objectives are:
the preparation and interpretation of financial statements for external decision makers
understanding the capital structure and dividend policies of firms
the valuation of financial instruments
capital budgeting (strategies and analytical methods for the evaluation of investment projects)
This course examines big themes in economic and social history-population history and human well-being, inequality and poverty, and gender differences. Using these themes, it adopts a hands-on data-driven approach to introduce tools and concepts of empirical reasoning. Datasets related to each theme create opportunities for learning by doing.
Prerequisites: ECON BC3033 or ECON BC3035, and ECON BC2411 or STAT W1111 or STAT W1211, or permission of the instructor. Specification, estimation and evaluation of economic relationships using economic theory, data, and statistical inference; testable implications of economic theories; econometric analysis of topics such as consumption, investment, wages and unemployment, and financial markets.
Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213 and STAT UN1201 Institutional nature and economic function of financial markets. Emphasis on both domestic and international markets (debt, stock, foreign exchange, eurobond, eurocurrency, futures, options, and others). Principles of security pricing and portfolio management; the Capital Asset Pricing Model and the Efficient Markets Hypothesis.
The course is an introduction to the economic developments that gave rise to capitalist economies and economic globalization from 1500 to the 20th century. We apply economic and empirical reasoning to examine many transformations that have shaped the economies of the modern era—demographic, technological, and institutional changes. We compare the rise of Europe and other Eurasian civilizations, especially China. We examine the role of slavery and imperialism in global economic integration. We examine how the rise of modern capitalism influenced human material well-being and conflict and has led to the convergence and divergence of nations in the global economy.
Prerequisites: An introductory course in economics and a functioning knowledge of high school algebra and analytical geometry or permission of the instructor. Systematic exposition of current macroeconomic theories of unemployment, inflation, and international financial adjustments.
Prerequisites: An introductory course in microeconomics or a combined macro/micro principles course (ECON BC1003 or ECON W1105, or the equivalent) and one semester of calculus or ECON BC1007, or permission of the instructor. Preferences and demand; production, cost, and supply; behavior of markets in partial equilibrium; resource allocation in general equilibrium; pricing of goods and services under alternative market structures; implications of individual decision-making for labor supply; income distribution, welfare, and public policy. Emphasis on problem solving.
Prerequisites: ECON BC3033. Introduction to balance of payments and exchange rate theory; capital mobility and expectations; internal and external adjustment under fixed and flexible exchange rates; international financial markets; capital mobility and expectations; international policy coordination and optimum currency areas; history of the international monetary system.
Prerequisites: An introductory course in economics or permission of the instructor. Intellectual origins of the main schools of thought in political economy. Study of the founding texts in classical political economy, Marxian economics, neoclassicism, and Keynesianism.
This course deals with topics in both monetary theory and monetary policy and is designed for students interested in monetary economics and/or those aiming at working in policy institutions such as central banks. Monetary economics examines the relationship between real economic variables at the aggregate level and nominal variables (such as the inflation rate, nominal interest rates, nominal exchange rates, and the supply of money). Therefore, monetary economics overlaps significantly with macroeconomics. However, students in this class learn the "Money View" framework as their analytical tool as it provides a more in-depth treatment of money and central banking than is customary
in standard macroeconomics textbooks.
Health economics is an expansive and growing field within the larger microeconomic literature. From examining the impact of Medicaid on health care utilization to the public health consequences of marijuana legalization, health economics offers a variety of profound economic insights and policy recommendations. This course uses many familiar concepts from microeconomic theory and econometrics in order to better understand health and healthcare—with students engaging economic models describing the demand for health, addiction, medical care, health insurance, and risky behaviors in addition to interpreting important empirical evidence within these spaces.
Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor and completion of all courses (except for the senior requirement) required for the economics track, political economy track, or economics and mathematics majors. Exceptions to these prerequisites may be granted by the chair of the department only. Tutorials and conferences on the research for and writing of the senior thesis. This is the 2nd semester of a two-semester course sequence.
Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor and the completion of all courses (except for the senior requirement) required for the economics track, political economy track, or economics and mathematics majors. Exceptions to these prerequisites may be granted by the chair of the department only. Seminar sections are limited to 15 students. A topic in economic theory or policy of the instructors choice. See department for current topics and for senior requirement preference forms.
Must be supervised by a faculty member approved by te program adviser. This is the 2nd semester of a two-semester course sequence.
Claims of causality are nearly ubiquitous in scholarly work spanning the social sciences, journalistic products from media outlets, policy circles, and other social spaces. However, many of these claims are often subject to some of the well-documented econometric concerns of bias—including omitted variable bias, simultaneity, and other confounding influences. This course will introduce students to the fundamental concepts of causal inference and expose them to several contemporary econometric tools employed in an effort to make some of the aforementioned claims more credible. With randomized controlled trials (RCTs) serving as the gold standard for empirical work, students will learn how many econometric techniques and “natural” experiments attempt to emulate the best characteristics of well-executed RCTs.
In addition to problem sets and an in-class midterm exam, students will carry out a group research project on a topic of their choosing (in consultation with the professor) in order to demonstrate their proficiency in several key course concepts. This project remains critical to learning the scholastic (and practical) challenges in making rigorous causal claims, navigating the logistics of group collaboration, and learning how to critically evaluate empirical work.
Prerequisites: Instructors permission Provides students with the experience of participating in the research process by matching them to a faculty mentor who will put them to work on one of his or her current research projects.
Independent study