Course Descriptions
Economics Courses
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ECN 1000 Introduction to Economics
ECN 1000 Introduction to Economics
Credit Hours: 3
An introduction to economic way of thinking covering a survey of micro and macro economics including basic data sources. This course is normally offered every fall and winter semester.
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ECN 2950 Microeconomic Principles
ECN 2950 Microeconomic Principles
Credit Hours: 3
This course introduces the principles of Microeconomics. It examines how producers, consumers, and resource owners, acting through the market, determine prices and the output of goods, the allocation of productive resources, and the distribution of incomes. The market system is seen as a network of interrelated decisions, with prices communicating information among various decision-makers and entrepreneurs. The decisions and interactions of consumers and businesses by which prices and quantities are determined in a market-setting are explored, as well as the market structures of perfect competition, imperfect competition, oligopoly, and monopoly. Additionally, markets for labor and other factors of production will also be studied. This course will help students become better informed decision-makers who can use analytical tools to understand today's microeconomy and make quality managerial decisions involving economic and/or financial transactions. This course is normally offered every fall and winter semester.
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ECN 2960 Macroeconomic Principles
ECN 2960 Macroeconomic Principles
Credit Hours: 3
In this course, students are introduced to the principles of Macroeconomics - the study of how a country's economy works. The course examines aggregate economic activity which affects the decisions of households, businesses, and policymakers. The overall economy will be analyzed, with special emphasis on the measurements and determinants of a nation's standard of living, gross domestic output (GDP), gross national output (GNP), inflation and deflation, unemployment, economic growth, the money supply, national income, economic policies of the government, business cycles, and the pivotal role of the Federal Reserve. The saving, consumption, investment, and international economic influences, along with monetary and fiscal policies, that affect national output will also be studied. This course encourages students to think about the national and global issues, consider competing views, and draw conclusions from various perspectives and alternative analytical tools. This course is normally offered every fall, winter, and summer semester.
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ECN 3050 Wealth Management and Financial Markets
ECN 3050 Wealth Management and Financial Markets
Credit Hours: 3
This introductory course in wealth management is designed for students who want to learn the fundamentals of making successful personal financial decisions with economic sense. Through class lectures and discussions, students will gain an understanding of risk and return, the role and functions of financial markets, yield curve strategies, and learn how to use economic indicators on making investment and financial decisions. Business cycles and their effect on the economy will also be examined along with macroeconomic policies. This course will also address the importance of building a long-term portfolio and formulating strategies for wealth creation in the context of budgeting, taxation, insurance, securing a mortgage or a loan, understanding credit card risk, and estate and retirement planning for an individual. This course is normally offered every winter semester.
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ECN 3150 Intermediate Microeconomics
ECN 3150 Intermediate Microeconomics
Credit Hours: 3
Intermediate Microeconomics is a core theory course that uses microeconomic tools and models to study economic issues including supply and demand theories, taxes and subsidies, consumer theory (indifference curves, utility function), production theory (production function, isoquants), the various market structures, and the markets for production factors. This course is designed to further the student's ability to critically apply analytical tools to analyze economic decision-making by individuals and firms, and to understand the ways that government interventions can improve or impair the functioning of markets. This course is normally offered every winter semester.
Prerequisites:
- ECN 2950 (Minimum Grade of D, May not be taken concurrently) AND
- ECN 2960 (Minimum Grade of D, May not be taken concurrently)
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ECN 3160 Intermediate Macroeconomics
ECN 3160 Intermediate Macroeconomics
Credit Hours: 3
This is a course in Macroeconomics theory at the intermediate level. Macroeconomics is concerned with an understanding on the workings of an entire economic system that is made up of vast numbers of consumers and firms interacting in multiple markets. This course provides a rigorous examination of the modern macroeconomic reasoning toolkit, as widely employed by banks and financial institutions, central banks, treasury departments and economics consulting firms. The topics include finding and selecting relevant information, analysis of the goods and services markets, the IS-LM model, the AD-AS model, government budgets, growth models, central banks, and macroeconomic policies. After completing the course, students will acquire the economics reasoning skills along with quantitative and qualitative analytical tools to address issues at the level of real-world complexity. This course is normally offered every fall semester.
Prerequisites:
- ECN 2950 (Minimum Grade of D, May not be taken concurrently) AND
- ECN 2960 (Minimum Grade of D, May not be taken concurrently)
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ECN 3440 International Economics
ECN 3440 International Economics
Credit Hours: 3
A survey course of international trade and international finance. Class discusses problems such as comparative advantages, tariffs, quotas, balance of payments and exchange rate systems.
Prerequisites:
- ECN 2950 (Minimum Grade of D, May not be taken concurrently) AND
- ECN 2960 (Minimum Grade of D, May not be taken concurrently)
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ECN 3910 Washington Seminar
ECN 3910 Washington Seminar
Credit Hours: 3
A required course taken in conjunction with the Washington Center Internship. Classes are offered through the Center one evening a week in Congressional studies, policy evaluation, law, and justice studies.
Corequisites:
- ECN 3940
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ECN 3940 Washington internship
ECN 3940 Washington internship
Credit Hours: 1 TO 12
Full-time placement in government agencies, public interest law firms, congressional committees, foreign affairs lobbies, and the public communications media. Arranged through the Washington Center in the area of the student's interest. Open to Majors and non-majors with second semester sophomore status and 2.5 QPA. Only nine hours count toward the major although all count toward graduation. Admission at the discretion of the political science faculty. Shorter seminars available for reduced credit. Summer sessions available for 7 credits.
Corequisites:
- POL 3910
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ECN 3945 Internship in Economics Field
ECN 3945 Internship in Economics Field
Credit Hours: 1 TO 9
Open by permission to select undergraduates with 12 or more credits in economics and/or business. Students are offered an opportunity to correlate classroom material with practical experience in a broad range of economic and business related positions. The intern working 20 hours a week or less for 14 weeks may earn up to three hours of academic credit a semester. The intern working 30 hours a week for 14 weeks may earn up to 6 credits. The undergraduate intern who works full-time for 14 weeks may earn up to nine hours per semester. See department advisor for further information.
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ECN 3950 Directed Reading and Research
ECN 3950 Directed Reading and Research
Credit Hours: 1 TO 6
Reading and research in economics in an area elected by the student and supervised by a faculty member of the students choice. The reading and research program must be presented in writing by the student and his/her faculty supervisor to the department chair for approval within two weeks after the first day of classes in the term.
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ECN 4001 Science and Data
ECN 4001 Science and Data
Credit Hours: 3
This course is designed to introduce students to data science and analytics with attention given to understanding how to apply critical reasoning to the analysis and interpretation of data. The course provides coverage of scientific reasoning as applicable to a wide range of disciplines, research and data acquisition methodologies, ways of evaluating data quality, and ethics related to the responsible development, completion, and utilization of data analytic projects. This course is normally offered every fall and winter semester.
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ECN 4100 Data Analytics Foundations
ECN 4100 Data Analytics Foundations
Credit Hours: 3
This course provides rigorous coverage on the fundamentals of data analytics. The purpose of this course is to give empirical content to economic relations. The focus will be on data visualization, data analysis, aspects of experimental design, and the decision-making process regarding the importance of estimation results. Students will gain an understanding of a variety of data analytics tools and develop skills in using them along with an exposure to statistical software packages such as STATA and Python. Students will learn about the essentials of data analytics theory and acquire skills to extract simple relationships and make valuable inferences in the presence of data. This course is normally offered in the winter semester.
Prerequisites:
- STA 2250 (Minimum Grade of D, May not be taken concurrently) OR
- MTH 2140 (Minimum Grade of D, May not be taken concurrently)
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ECN 4150 Econometrics I
ECN 4150 Econometrics I
Credit Hours: 3
Examines the following topics: ordinary least squares, multi-collinearity, dummy variables, specification error, auto-correlation and the Durbin-Watson test, the heteroscedasticity problem, and the distribution lag model.
Prerequisites:
- ECN 3160 (Minimum Grade of D, May not be taken concurrently) AND
- STA 2250 (Minimum Grade of D, May not be taken concurrently)
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ECN 4160 Advanced Money and Capital Markets
ECN 4160 Advanced Money and Capital Markets
Credit Hours: 3
Advanced course in money and capital market. This course examines new processes and products in the financial system such as securitization and financial derivatives.
Prerequisites:
- ECN 3580 (Minimum Grade of D, May not be taken concurrently)
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ECN 4200 Labor Economics
ECN 4200 Labor Economics
Credit Hours: 3
Examines the following topics: determinants of the demand for and supply of labor; the changing labor force; time-allocation models; wage structure; occupational, industrial and geographical wage differentials; the wage-price unemployment problem; the impact of unionism; the implications of wage-price policies; structural unemployment; the problems of maintaining full employment.
Prerequisites:
- ECN 2950 (Minimum Grade of D, May not be taken concurrently) AND
- ECN 2960 (Minimum Grade of D, May not be taken concurrently)
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ECN 4300 Performance of United States Industry
ECN 4300 Performance of United States Industry
Credit Hours: 3
An application of microeconomic theory to the analysis of market structure, conduct and performance of American industries. Examines topics such as: size and efficiency of firms, competitive behavior and market entry, product differentiation and advertising, integration and merger, the behavior of conglomerates, market power, coordination and administered prices, innovation, technological development and investment, the impact on resource allocation, consumer satisfaction and income distribution.
Prerequisites:
- ECN 2950 (Minimum Grade of D, May not be taken concurrently)
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ECN 4305 History of Economic Thought
ECN 4305 History of Economic Thought
Credit Hours: 3
A critical overview of some of the most influential thinkers in the history of economic doctrine.
Prerequisites:
- ECN 2950 (Minimum Grade of C, May not be taken concurrently) AND
- ECN 2960 (Minimum Grade of C, May not be taken concurrently)
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ECN 4350 Economic History of United States
ECN 4350 Economic History of United States
Credit Hours: 3
A survey of the economic development of the United States. Course topics include: the geographical setting, the economy of the colonial period, the impact of political independence and the industrial revolution, the development of monetary and financial institutions, capital accumulation, advancement in technology and business organization, the growth of large scale production, the labor movement, business concentration, instability, the growing economic role of government, and contemporary trends and problems in their historic context.
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ECN 4355 Comparative Economic Systems
ECN 4355 Comparative Economic Systems
Credit Hours: 3
An inquiry into the relative efficiencies, merits and demerits of the most typical institutions, structure, functioning and performance of diverse economic systems. The economic systems studied include the capitalistic free-market, market-socialistic and centralized-planned. Economic models are then applied to a study of representative economies such as the U.S., U.K., France, Norway and Sweden, the former USSR and China. Deals with fundamental economic problems, such as choices between goals, the allocation of resources, the maintenance of full and stable employment and production, capital accumulation, technological advancement, income distribution, and consumer welfare. This course is normally offered every fall and winter semester.
Prerequisites:
- ECN 2950 (Minimum Grade of C, May not be taken concurrently) AND
- ECN 2960 (Minimum Grade of C, May not be taken concurrently)
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ECN 4400 Economics of The Public Sector
ECN 4400 Economics of The Public Sector
Credit Hours: 3
An in-depth examination of the role of the public sector in a market-based and market-driven economy like the U.S. Course topics include: efficiency criteria in public decision-making; budgeting; priority setting; economic analysis of the incidence and economic effects in particular, on resource allocation and income distribution as well as the intricate issue pertaining to the relations in inter-governmental agencies. This course is normally offered every summer semester.
Prerequisites:
- ECN 2950 (Minimum Grade of D, May not be taken concurrently)
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ECN 4460 Money and Capital Markets
ECN 4460 Money and Capital Markets
Credit Hours: 3
This course is to introduce students to the different aspects of the financial system in the U.S. Detailed discussions include financial institutions, financial instruments, the structure of U.S. financial markets in the presence of asymmetric information, and the monetary policies of the Central Bank. Applied microeconomic techniques will be employed to study the determination of the equilibrium and movements of the federal funds rate and the short-term exchange rate. The course will also cover the law of purchasing power parity in the foreign exchange market, the essentials of bank management, and bank performance measurements. The course is normally offered every fall semester.
Prerequisites:
- ECN 2950 (Minimum Grade of C, May not be taken concurrently) AND
- ECN 2960 (Minimum Grade of C, May not be taken concurrently)
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ECN 4480 Business Forecasting
ECN 4480 Business Forecasting
Credit Hours: 3
Introduction to the techniques of business forecasting. Class examines short run models and aggregate forecasts for major sectors of the economy, with applications to particular industries and long run predictions.
Prerequisites:
- STA 2250 (Minimum Grade of D, May not be taken concurrently) OR
- MTH 2140 (Minimum Grade of D, May not be taken concurrently)
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ECN 4640 Financial Economics
ECN 4640 Financial Economics
Credit Hours: 3
This course provides rigorous introduction to the fundamentals of financial economics theory and its practical applications. The questions within financial economics are typically framed in terms of "time, uncertainty, options, and information". The key topics include ratio analysis on financial statements, tools for measuring and coping with risk, resource allocation over time, the selection and pricing of risky assets, project evaluation, the nature and application of derivatives, law of one price and arbitrage practices, and capital structure decisions of a firm. This course is normally offered every other winter semester.
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ECN 4650 Economics of International Trade
ECN 4650 Economics of International Trade
Credit Hours: 3
A study of the foundation, advantages, problems of international specialization/trade and the accelerated pace of globalization process among world economies. Course topics include: the rise of multinational and transnational firms, absolute and comparative advantages in production, distribution and consumption, differences in cost and price relations among countries, foreign exchange rates, the terms of trade and trade balances, international cartels and commodity agreements, import quotas and bilateral or multilateral agreements, tariffs, and relations between domestic and international economic policies.
Prerequisites:
- ECN 2950 (Minimum Grade of D, May not be taken concurrently) AND
- ECN 2960 (Minimum Grade of D, May not be taken concurrently)
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ECN 4660 International Finance
ECN 4660 International Finance
Credit Hours: 3
An analysis of the monetary and financial framework of international trade. Course topics include: international payments methods and money markets; fluctuations in foreign exchange rates, devaluation, and exchange control; capital movements, international borrowing, and debt; balance of payments problems and gold flows; the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank; plans for international monetary reform. This course is normally offered every winter semester.
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ECN 4700 Special Problems in Economics
ECN 4700 Special Problems in Economics
Credit Hours: 1 TO 9
An intensive study of some special problems in economics, directed by members of the regular faculty or visiting professors.
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ECN 4705 Economic Development
ECN 4705 Economic Development
Credit Hours: 3
This course explores the relationship among economic growth, poverty, inequality, sustainability, and human development. The study is built upon the economics of growth and welfare. Students will examine the factors contributing to economic growth and human capabilities. The goal is to apply a more dynamic approach to understand the impacts of economic development on a set of human development measurements such as human capital, poverty, and educational opportunities. The roles of medicating variables relating to an individual's culture, age, and gender, and government policies will also be examined. This course is normally offered every other winter and summer semester.
Prerequisites:
- ECN 2950 (Minimum Grade of C, May not be taken concurrently) AND
- ECN 2960 (Minimum Grade of C, May not be taken concurrently)
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ECN 4750 Natural Resource Economics
ECN 4750 Natural Resource Economics
Credit Hours: 3
Examination of the economic principles and theories of the production and uses of natural resources. It analyzes the impossibility/probability/likelihood of resource repletion as based on economic rationale. Both renewable and non renewable resources such as land, water, mineral, energy, food, the environment as well as the topic of population growth are studied for economic growth/development, both in developing and developed countries.
Prerequisites:
- ECN 2950 (Minimum Grade of D, May not be taken concurrently) AND
- ECN 2960 (Minimum Grade of D, May not be taken concurrently)
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ECN 4850 Monetary and Fiscal Policy
ECN 4850 Monetary and Fiscal Policy
Credit Hours: 3
An analysis of the expected consequences of monetary and fiscal policies on investment, production, employment, pricing, balance of payments and economic growth. The course also covers some of the structural, allocational and political constraints. This course is normally offered every fall semester.
Prerequisites:
- ECN 2950 (Minimum Grade of C, May not be taken concurrently) AND
- ECN 2960 (Minimum Grade of C, May not be taken concurrently)
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ECN 4990 Senior Seminar
ECN 4990 Senior Seminar
Credit Hours: 3
This course is designed to provide the student with an opportunity to integrate a specific contemporary social problem with the field of Financial Economics. It will focus on particular moral, political and social controversies that are created and/or addressed by the application of financial economic policies and theories. The course requires intensive research and reading of a particular theme or topic. The specific problem addressed in the course varies from semester to semester.
Prerequisites:
- ECN 2950 (Minimum Grade of D, May not be taken concurrently) AND
- ECN 2960 (Minimum Grade of D, May not be taken concurrently)