COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

ECN 2010 - Principles of Microeconomics 

Description: Provides an introduction to key microeconomic concepts. Examines operations of markets, theory of consumer demand, elasticity, organization of the firm, production and cost in the long and short runs, competition, externalities, market failures, legal and regulatory environment of business and international economics. 

ECN 3030 - Managerial Economics

Description: Explores microeconomic theory and its application to managerial decision making. Examines consumer behavior, cost and output estimation, optimization, pricing issues in competitive and non-competitive markets, decision making under uncertainty and capital budgeting.

ECN 3670 - Economics of Health Care

Description: Application of tools of economic analysis to the health care industry and government health care policy. Examines the impact of the special characteristics of health care and the medical services industry on the pattern of health care produced, its distribution and resource allocation within the industry. 

ECN 4090 - Urban and Regional Economics

Description: Explores the applications of microeconomic theory and empirical analysis to: residential choice and location of economic activities; migration patterns within and across states and metropolitan areas; major urban problems such as quality of life, transportation and optimum city size; urban sprawl; and Michigan’s economy. 

ECN 4180- Using "BIG" Data for Economic Problems 

Description: Examines how "big data" can be used to understand and solve some of the largest social and economic problems of our time. Students will learn what economics has to say about important topics such as equality of opportunity, education, health care, climate change, and crime. Students will also learn the data-driven techniques economists use to answer questions surrounding these topics. 

ECN 4560 - Public Finance 

Description: Studies the role and impact of the public sector in a market economy. It examines government spending programs and taxes within the context of efficiency and equity. There is a strong emphasis on current policy issues. 

EMBA 5210 - Strategic Thinking and Competitive Analysis 

Description: A manager's most important goal is to enhance profitability. Therefore, understanding how a firm's production decisions, pricing decisions, and competitive advantage are influenced by its internal and external economic environment is critical to effective managerial decision-making. This course is designed to apply the fundamentals of microeconomic theory to management decision-making. Topics covered include economic boundaries (analyzing the make vs. buy decision, economies of scale and scope, mergers and acquisitions); understanding customers, pricing, competitors, and competitive advantage; and information economics and agency theory. 

Introduction to Statistical Analysis for Appraisers (ASFMRA) 

Description: This course provides an introduction to statistics and valuation modeling. In addition to learning the basics of statistical analysis, including terminology, participants will learn to use Excel to analyze real world case studies with simple and multiple regression techniques. This course is not meant to make you a statistician, but to familiarize the use of statistics in the appraisal world.

Econ 466 - Applied Econometrics (Allegheny College)

Description: This course examines econometric methods used in modern empirical economic research by asking three key questions: 1) What is the causal relationship of interest? 2) What is the ideal experiment to measure the causal relationships? 3) What is an appropriate identification strategy given the data? These questions will first be answered using basic regression techniques learned in Econ 203. After, we will examine two serious problems applied econometricians often face (omitted variable bias and simultaneity) and re-approach the three questions with tools for correcting these problems (with emphasis on cross-sectional and panel data techniques). 

The purpose of this course is to discuss some econometric models and methods likely to be useful for the Senior Project and subsequent research (e.g. graduate studies, policy analysis, etc.). At the end of this course, students should be able to read applied economic research, and independently plan and execute their own empirical project. Specifically, students should be able to analyze economic questions by setting up the ideal experiment, collecting data, and using appropriate regression techniques.