Public Economics
Fall 2020&2021 - Syllabus
Public economics is the study of economic issues concerning the public sector (government) and its interface with the private sector (including households, businesses, and markets). Public economics mainly studies the government’s role in promoting economic efficiency and equality in the distribution of income and wealth. The course is organized around six main chapters. In the first chapter, we will learn about some basic concepts and tools of public economics that will enable us to study the chapters ahead. The next chapters will review market failures and preferences for income redistribution to answer questions such as: When should the government intervene in the economy? How might the government intervene? What are the effects of those interventions on economic outcomes? And, how do societies agree on policies? Topics include inequality, income taxation, externalities, insurance programs, and political economy.
Advanced Macroeconomics (Graduate)
Fall 2020&2021 - Syllabus
The stability of the labor share of income has been one of the building blocks of modern macroeconomics. However, recent literature has documented a downward trend in the percentage of income that goes to workers. Given its central importance for income/wealth distribution and economic outcomes, a large body of recent research has been devoted to understanding the responsible mechanisms. This course is organized around a critical reading of the said literature. The course goals are multifold: To introduce students to the research frontier in macroeconomics, familiarize them with the cutting-edge tools utilized in explaining the decline, and, most importantly, inspire them to come up with novel ideas that will possibly culminate in original research.
Macroeconomics
Spring 2020 - Syllabus
Macroeconomics is the study of the performance, structure, and behavior of the entire economy. We will use this approach to study issues such as economic indicators and forecasting (where are we headed?); economic growth (why are some countries more productive than others?); business cycles (why do we have booms and recessions?); fiscal and monetary policy (how does policy affect macroeconomic performance?). Macroeconomics is an exciting discipline with first order importance on day to day life.
Principles of Economics
Summer 2017 - Syllabus
The goal of this course is to give students an understanding as to what constitutes good "economic thinking". This thought process is grounded in the construction and use of economics models. Drawing on issues in both microeconomics and macroeconomics, fundamental principles are shown to transcend particular examples and allow the field to be seen as a coherent, unified whole.
