This course focuses on macroeconomic analysis and policies in an open-economy setting. It is intended to (i) develop the basis for a thorough understanding on how an open economy works at the aggregate level and (ii) to build a framework that facilitates rigorous analysis of different government policies and shocks on the economy.
This is a Public Health Course. Public Health classes are offered on the Health Services Campus at 168th Street. For more detailed course information, please go to Mailman School of Public Health Courses website at http://www.mailman.hs.columbia.edu/academics/courses
The objective of this course is to provide a review of the uses of mathematics in the study and application of economics. We will approach mathematics as a way of demonstrating relationships and formalizing concepts in economics. By the end of the course you should be familiar with the mathematical tools covered in class and be able to use these tools in formalizing and solving problems in economics.
This course facilitates learning about 1) basic principles related to ecological interactions of life on earth and 2) the causes and consequence of changes in biological diversity. For the first portion of this course, we will focus on how organisms interact with one another and with the non-living environment. For the second portion of this course, we will study the effects of biodiversity at the genetic, population, community, and landscape levels. This course aims to give students an understanding of the ways in which biology can contribute to the solution of environmental problems facing human society and to contribute biological perspectives to an interdisciplinary approach to environmental problem solving.
This course facilitates learning about how ecology can inform land use decisions and applied management strategies of natural resources (e.g. water, air, biodiversity), particularly in urban environments. Towards that end, this course covers topics ranging from applied ecology and conservation biology to sustainable development. It uses a cross disciplinary approach to understanding the nature of ecology and biological conservation, as wells as the social, philosophical and economic dimensions of land use strategies. The course will focus on applications and problem-solving in issues related to urban development. The course will give particular attention to developing skills using geographic information systems (GIS). Students will gain a basic, practical understanding of GIS applications using ArcView GIS 9.3.
Students learn how the atmosphere, oceans, and freshwater systems interact to affect climate. Causes of greenhouse warming, energy production and alternatives are studied. A local case study focuses on planning for climate changes on interannual, decadal, and centennial time scales. A goal of the course is to teach an appreciation of uncertainties and predictability in earth systems. A particular emphasis will be placed on the role of humans, in the last centuries, on the perturbation of the natural climate and how these perturbations can be characterized and discerned from natural fluctuations. Other concepts examined include an integrated view of the Earth's energy budget, structure and circulation of the atmosphere and the ocean, interaction between oceans and atmosphere.
Students are introduced to the hydrologic cycle as well as processes governing water quantity and quality. Students learn how the atmosphere, oceans, and freshwater systems interact to affect the hydrological cycle and climate. This course focuses on basic physical principles (evaporation, condensation, precipitation, runoff, stream flow, percolation, and groundwater flow), as well as environmentally relevant applications based on case studies. Most specifically, students will be exposed to water quantity and issues from global to regional scales and how human and natural processes affect water availability in surface and groundwater systems.
The course teaches basic techniques for getting to know an environment and understand key chemical processes central to environmental science. Students build an understanding of the key chemical processes related to pollution generation and control. The focuses of this course are the processes that affect the fate and transport of specific compounds that act as contaminants on local- to global-scale levels. The behavior of contaminants is influenced by physical, chemical, and biological processes naturally occurring within various ecosystems. This course describes these processes and the extent to which they affect different classes of contaminants. Students learn how to analyze chemical information they will encounter as environmental managers.
This course will explore the effects of different contaminants on the health of all organisms within an ecosystem, with a particular focus on human health. While toxicologists study a wide variety of toxicants, from naturally occurring poisons (venoms) to synthetic chemicals, this course will emphasize anthropogenic toxicants, in the context of how (and whether) exposure to such toxicants should be controlled: risk assessment. The main goal of this course is to foster an understanding of how environmental scientists think and solve environmental issues and most importantly to develop an expertise in assessing the validity of scientific research and its conclusions.
This course is designed for future leaders, activists, and top-level advisors within both governmental and non-governmental (i.e. private for-profit and non-profit) organizations. The goal of the course is to introduce the participants to the basic concepts, skills, and tools of "positive political theory" in policymaking. In effect, a significant portion of the class material will be devoted to the abstract theoretical foundations of strategic political interaction, which will prove instrumental in understanding and predicting patterns of political behavior and outcomes. Although there will be a sizable amount of literature you will be asked to decipher, our approach will not entirely be interpretive. In fact, a significant amount of class time will allocated to the practical application of knowledge gathered from the readings and discussions. Although the core materials will focus on national policymaking in the United States, we will from time to time refer to other sub-national levels (i.e. states and municipal) and countries.
Accounting and Finance covers the basic concepts of accounting and financial management used in decision making. The accounting portion of the course focuses on the role of accounting as an information system and decision tool. An accounting project then applies these concepts to the financial statements of either a publicly-traded corporation, a public enterprise (i.e., Federal Reserve, World Bank), or the US government. The finance portion of the course presents basic corporate finance concepts on valuation and decision analysis. Students are given a brief introduction to financial markets, selected financial products and the theory and rudiments of bond pricing. A finance project reinforces the basic bond concepts with a detailed analysis of a bond offering.
This seminar surveys the defining political economy issues of our time. It explores the interplay between politics and economics in the substantive issue areas of trade, finance, investment, development, and redistribution. The seminar surveys the most provocative, influential contributions in multiple disciplines utilizing a wide range of research methods. Contemporary debates are studied in depth, including the fragmentation of production, causes and consequences of financial crises, growing inequality, economic development challenges, and the determinants of public goods provision. The course equips students with the conceptual and empirical tools to better understand current developments, provides exposure to multiple perspectives, and builds confidence in development one's own point of view.
This course addresses the question of how multilateralism may facilitate policy making in meeting global challenges. The readings, discussions, and guest speakers survey emerging issues in the debate on global governance. Special attention is given to the role of international institutions, including the United Nations, regional organizations, and international financial institutions. Pressing security issues are discussed, including terrorism, weapons of mass destruction, and prospects for peacebuilding in war-torn societies. Attention then turns to global policies on investment and trade, combating poverty, and sustainable development.
This is the first social science course in the earth systems concentration. Its goal is to take a system-level approach to environmental policy problems. Issues presented include defining the environmental problem; the politics of the environment; environmental agenda setting; pollution prevention; U.S. pollution control through regulation, public works, and market incentives; cross-media and cross national environmental problems; and the response of societies, economies, and political systems to environmental issues. The course also discusses international environmental regime development, conflict resolution, and citizen participation in environmental decision-making.
Workshops in Geographic Information Systems present an introduction to GIS theory and application. The course will cover the fundamentals of data storage and introduce analytical techniques. Students will learn to use analytical techniques to create a traditional GIS map as well as a WebGIS presentation (ESRI Story Map).
Prerequisites: Written permission from instructor and approval from adviser.
Formal written reports and conferences with the appropriate member of the faculty on a subject of special interest to the student but not covered in the other course offerings.
Critical factors in national, regional, and urban real estate markets that determine development opportunities. Topics include business and construction cycles, regional and urban growth trends, restructuring of urban space, commercial and industrial location theories, and demographic analysis and projection techniques.
This course examines the origins and evolution of modern terrorism, the challenges posed by terrorist groups to states and to the international system, and strategies employed to confront and combat terrorism. We assess a wide variety of terrorist organizations, and explore the psychological, socioeconomic, political, and religious causes of terrorist violence past and present. We also analyze the strengths and weaknesses of various counterterrorism strategies, from the point of view of efficacy as well as ethics, and look into ways in which the new threat of global terrorism might impact the healthy functioning of democratic states.
What is the UN track record in promoting and protecting human rights? This intense six-week course will examine the UN human rights standards, mechanisms, institutions and procedures established over the past sixty years and question their effectiveness. With a particular focus on the actions (or lack thereof) of the UN Security Council, the UN Human Rights Council and diverse international judicial institutions like the International Tribunal for Rwanda and the International Criminal Court, the course will illustrate, through practical case studies, the inherent challenges associated with the protection of human dignity, the enforcement of human rights and the fight against impunity.
It is now a well known fact that countries embroiled in conflict seldom emerge from it "once and for all." They tend to relapse back into conflict within months or years. The reasons are also well-known: low education and high poverty levels, weak or non- existent institutions, poor governance, exclusion and marginalization of certain groups including women and poor economic prospects certainly in livelihoods. And yet Peace building in the international context is a relatively new concept. It appeared in the in the UN lexicon in the 1980s and has evolved as a normative concept since. Peace building is complex and multi-faceted encompassing security, human rights, development and reconciliation of past differences and ultimately societal transformation. It is before everything else a political exercise. This course will ask: How is Peace building done, who are the actors and stakeholders? What lessons have we learnt since the 1980s? What does it take to build the peace? The course will give an understanding of the evolution of the norm of peace building at the United Nations and discuss the new UN Peace building architecture. Ten years after its creation, has the Peace Building Commission made a difference and why? What have been its challenges? It will look at the many stakeholders on the ground and discuss the issue of coordination and the need for integrated strategies. It will provide examples of countries that have succeeded, analyze the root causes of the conflicts and the tools which were used. It will extract the lessons learned and the conditions for peace building to succeed.
This past year marked the seventieth anniversary of the United Nations (UN) and the year when a new Secretary-General will be selected by the Security Council to succeed Ban Ki Moon. At this critical juncture, the international system is being challenged to provide adequate responses to the rise of violent extremist groups, waves of refugees arriving in Europe, and to -†fewer but deadlier -armed conflicts. As prevention continues to be elusive and recent - mostly intrastate -armed conflicts have proven to be particularly resistant to peaceful settlement whether through mediation, the deployment of peace operations or peacebuilding projects, the question of the relevance of the UN is posed yet again. Has the Security Council been successful in using the tools at its disposal, from prevention to peace operations and enforcement measures? What has become of the Responsibility to Protect? Is a divided Security Council facing a crisis of relevance? What does it mean for peace operations sent where there is no peace to keep? What are the persisting obstacles to effective prevention? What are the lessons from the evolving partnership with regional organizations? How can peace be sustained over the long term? What will have been Ban Ki Moon's legacy? What are the prospects for UN reform and what could it look like? To address these questions and more, the course will examine the evolving role of the world organization in global security, shaped by its member states with different strategic interests and by the broader geopolitical context in which it operates.
This six week course provides an overview of the contribution the United Nations development system has made in the sphere of development. The course traces the historical evolution of the UN's contribution in the areas of development cooperation, poverty reduction, environment and climate, human rights, gender and humanitarian action. It explores the emerging role of non-state actors, in particular the private sector and civil society. The last sessions will examine in detail the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals and Agenda 2030 and the recognition that to be relevant in today's rapidly changing world, the UN must commit itself to major reform. The course will draw extensively from the practical experience of the instructor.
This course explores the unique and distinct foreign policy behavior of different states in the international system. Explanations of state behavior will be drawn from many overarching international relations frameworks including but not necessarily limited to realism, liberalism, and constructivism. The effects of power, culture, institutions and history will be examined.
This course is designed to help students understand the interrelation between economic reasoning and public policy. The objective is to provide students with economic tools of analysis and to use these tools to analyze some of the important public policy issues of today. Calculus is generally not required, but we will review and utilize the fundamental concepts developed in intermediate courses in the economics of public finance and certain parts of macroeconomics.
This course introduces students to the fundamentals of statistical analysis. We will examine the principles and basic methods for analyzing quantitative data, with a focus on applications to problems in public policy, management, and the social sciences. We will begin with simple statistical techniques for describing and summarizing data and build toward the use of more sophisticated techniques for drawing inferences from data and making predictions about the social world.
The process of continuity and change in American cities from the colonial period through the 20th century, covering industrialization, political conflict, reform movements, geographical and ethnic diversity, bureaucratic rationalism, and urban culture-with focus on how physical form responded to or influenced social and political forces over time.
This course examines the foundations, decision-making processes, and substance of American foreign policy, particularly as it has developed over the past fifty years. We explore the role of American political culture, the presidency, Congress, and the foreign policy bureaucracy in helping to determine America's relationship with other states and international organizations. We pay particular attention to the recurring tensions that run through American foreign policy: isolationism v. internationalism, security v. prosperity, diplomacy v. military power, unilateralism v. multilateralism, and realism v. idealism. Each week we will explore a broad theoretical/conceptual theme and then focus on a specific topic that exemplifies a practical application of the theme.
Through a review of major academic literature, lectures, and class discussion, this course examines many of the central concepts, theories, and analytical tools used in contemporary social science to understand international affairs. The theoretical literature is drawn from fields including comparative politics, international relations, political sociology, and economics. The course is designed to enhance students' abilities to think critically and analytically about current problems and challenges in international politics.
This course empowers students to develop a deep understanding of the major issues of East Asian security. We will examine the various challenges to stability in East Asia in the context of power, institutions, and ideas (the three primary factors that impact international relations), including: China’s increasing assertiveness; the North Korean nuclear crisis; historical stigma amongst Japan, South Korea, and China; lingering Cold War confrontations on the Korean Peninsula and across the Taiwan Strait; and an unstable relationship between the US and China. Through a comparison with the West, students will inquire whether a unique approach is required when considering appropriate responses to security issues in East Asia.
This course serves as an introduction to the study of international political and economic relations. We look at the connections between politics and economics as well as markets and governments and relate them to key substantive issue areas such as finance, trade, investment, marketing, income inequality and poverty, and globalization. In examining the issue areas, we shall look both at how scholars think about them and how private and public decision makers analyze and impact them. The teaching is informed by the sharing with students knowledge deriving from multiple disciplines, cultures, and languages to help them gain useful real-world insights.