ECON 100 Principles of Economics

Content: The study of how people make decisions and how these decisions apply to real-world problems. Topics include income inequality within and across countries, the quality of the environment, unemployment, poverty, crime, health care, financial crises, technological change, inflation, and many more issues. Develops the basic concepts that economists use to explore these topics, such as scarcity, supply and demand, costs and benefits, trade-offs, and incentives. This course is a one-semester overview of both microeconomics (the study of choices individuals and firms make) and macroeconomics (the study of the economy as a whole).
Prerequisites: None.
Usually offered: Annually, fall and spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

ECON 103 Statistics

Content: Theory and applications of statistics and probability used in the study of economics. Descriptive statistics, probability, random variables and their distributions, statistical inference. Applications of statistical inference ranging from estimating the mean from a univariate population to multiple regression analysis.
Prerequisites: QR 101 or equivalent.
Usually offered: Annually, fall and spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

ECON 203 Business and Economic Forecasting

Content: Modern quantitative techniques for business and economic forecasting with hands-on experiences in forecasting and evaluating forecasts. Time series visualization, decomposition, regression models, benchmark models, ARIMA models. Use of R, a free and popular language for quantitative analysis and statistical computing to conduct forecasting based on simulated and real data.
Prerequisites: ECON 103, HEAL 200, MATH 105, MATH 255, POLS 201, or PSY 200.
Usually offered: Annually, fall semester.
Semester credits: 4.

ECON 215 Game Theory

Content: The tools of cooperative and noncooperative game theory. Modeling competitive situations, solution concepts such as Nash equilibrium and its refinements, signaling games, repeated games under different informational environments, bargaining models, issues of cooperation and reputation, evolutionary game theory. Application to economics and other disciplines. Emphasis on quantitative modeling and analytical approaches to strategic thinking. Sophomore standing required.
Prerequisites: ECON 100.
Restrictions: Sophomore standing required.
Usually offered: Annually, fall and spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

ECON 220 The Financial System and the Economy

Content: The operation of the financial sector and its interrelationship with the productive sector. The central institutions of money, banks, and finance; the Federal Reserve System and its operation of monetary policy; monetary creation; financial crises.
Prerequisites: ECON 100.
Restrictions: Sophomore standing required.
Usually offered: Annually.
Semester credits: 4.

ECON 223 Economics of Globalization

Content: Recognizing, critically assessing, and engagng in discussions of global economic events. Exploration of the evolution of globalization and international integration. Focus on analysis of the concept of free trade, its advantages and disadvantages. International trade relations viewed through the prism of industrialized and developing nations; variety of international issues, such as environment protection, energy policy, international labor laws and markets, international cooperation, multinational corporations, migration, and inequality. Discussion of international monetary systems, foreign exchange markets, and the role of governments and central banks in shaping fiscal and monetary policies of industrialized and developing nations.
Prerequisites: ECON 100.
Usually offered: Alternate Years, spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

ECON 232 Economic Development

Content: The application of economic principles to reducing global poverty, using a number of perspectives and approaches. Theories and empirical tools for measuring policy effectiveness and better understanding household decisions in the face of poverty. Topics include fertility, health, education, trade, foreign aid, cash transfers, labor, credit markets, and entrepreneurship as they relate to development. Hands-on data analysis using datasets from low-income countries and communities, applications of economic theory to problems of development. Focus on relevance to public policy in poverty reduction.
Prerequisites: ECON 100.
Restrictions: Sophomore standing required.
Usually offered: Annually, fall semester.
Semester credits: 4.

ECON 235 Labor Economics

Content: The operation and political economy of labor markets: current labor issues, employment and unemployment, supply of and demand for labor, employment wages and earnings under various market structures, discrimination, labor mobility, the role of trade unions, the nature of work. Sophomore standing required.
Prerequisites: ECON 100.
Restrictions: Sophomore standing required.
Usually offered: Alternate Years, spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

ECON 244 Practicum

Content: Opportunities for well-prepared students to put academic concepts and techniques to work in the private or public sector. Specific activities vary; usually involve work with a public agency or private group. Credit-no credit. May be repeated for credit.
Prerequisites: ECON 100 or ECON 210.
Restrictions: Sophomore standing and consent required.
Usually offered: Annually, fall and spring semester.
Semester credits: 1-4.

ECON 250 Radical Political Economics

Content: Critical connections among different economic structures and dynamics on the one hand, and political strategies and struggles for change on the other. Economic crisis theory, theories of the state, class and class consciousness, power relationships, labor, and social-movement struggles. Sophomore standing required.
Prerequisites: ECON 100.
Restrictions: Sophomore standing required.
Usually offered: Alternate Years, fall semester.
Semester credits: 4.

ECON 255 Technology, Institutions, and Economic Growth

Content: Emergence of modern economic growth in Europe. The roots of the Industrial Revolution over the very long term, 1000 to 1750, through the application of basic economic theory. Causes and consequences of very long-term economic growth. Specific attention paid to technology, institutions, geography, and culture as sources of economic growth. While the geographic focus is European, important cross-sectional work, especially with regard to China, is undertaken. Sophomore standing required.
Prerequisites: ECON 100.
Restrictions: Sophomore standing required.
Usually offered: Every third year, spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

ECON 256 The Industrial Revolution

Content: Europe's transition from an agricultural to an industrial society in the 18th century. The roots of modern economic growth in preindustrial Europe, the contributions of science and technology, trade, government, and population. Consequences of industrialization for living standards, both long-run improvements and short-run hardships. Rise of European power abroad and colonial contributions to growth. Focus on the British Industrial Revolution. Sophomore standing required.
Prerequisites: ECON 100.
Restrictions: Sophomore standing required.
Usually offered: Every third year, spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

ECON 260 Environmental and Natural Resource Economics

Content: An analysis of environmental and resource problems ranging from hazardous-waste disposal to air pollution, species extinction to global warming, from an economic perspective. The property-rights basis of pollution problems, environmental ethics, benefit-cost analysis, regulatory policy, clean technology, population growth and consumption, sustainable development. Sophomore standing required.
Prerequisites: ECON 100.
Restrictions: Sophomore standing required.
Usually offered: Annually, spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

ECON 265 Pacific Northwest Policy Issues

Content: Basic economic analysis to explore issues facing the Pacific Northwest. Diagnosis of the problem motivating a policy and evaluation of the merits of the policy solution. Potential issues: financing public education, promoting economic development, protecting natural resources, designing mass transit, providing public support for professional sports, responding to gentrification. Sophomore standing required.
Prerequisites: ECON 100.
Restrictions: Sophomore standing required.
Usually offered: Every third year, spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

ECON 270 Economic Crises and Financial Contagions

Content: Theories and quantitative analysis of recent and past macroeconomic crises and financial contagions. Bank runs and panics; asset price bubbles; business cycle fluctuations; balance of payments, sovereign debt, liquidity, and currency crises; systemic risk and global financial contagions. The role of macroeconomic and macroprudential policies in creating and counteracting crisis episodes.
Prerequisites: ECON 100.
Usually offered: Alternate Years, spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

ECON 299 Independent Study

Content: Opportunities for well-prepared students to design and pursue a substantive course of independent learning. Details determined by the student and the supervising instructor. May be repeated for credit.
Prerequisites: None.
Restrictions: Sophomore standing and consent required.
Usually offered: Annually, fall and spring semester.
Semester credits: 1-4.

ECON 301 Intermediate Microeconomic Theory

Content: An analysis of markets and the potential sources of market failure. Demand theory, production theory, market structure, factor pricing, general equilibrium. Principles governing production, exchange, and consumption among individual consumers and firms. Sophomore standing required.
Prerequisites: ECON 100. MATH 131.
Restrictions: Sophomore standing required.
Usually offered: Annually, fall semester.
Semester credits: 4.

ECON 302 Intermediate Macroeconomic Theory

Content: Theories and policies of classical, Keynesian, new classical, and new Keynesian economists; national income accounting; IS-LM analysis; aggregate supply and demand; money, interest rates, and investment; government spending and taxation; fiscal and monetary policy. Sophomore standing required.
Prerequisites: ECON 100. MATH 131.
Restrictions: Sophomore standing required.
Usually offered: Annually, spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

ECON 303 Econometrics

Content: The theory and practice of analyzing and interpreting data. Investigation and use of methods economists use to test theories, evaluate and establish causal relationships, and conduct economic forecasts. Design and evaluation of empirical work in the social sciences. Application of acquired skills through a final research project that integrates research, economic theory, and econometric analysis. Hands-on approach with application of econometric methods to real-world data, coding, and analysis. Sophomore standing required.
Prerequisites: ECON 103, MATH 105, PSY 200, or MATH 255. ECON 301 or ECON 302. MATH 131.
Restrictions: Sophomore standing required.
Usually offered: Annually, fall and spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

ECON 310 Behavioral Economics

Content: Incorporates recent observations of human behavior into economic analysis, including prosocial (as opposed to selfish) behavior, mental shortcuts (as opposed to complete benefit-cost analysis), and cognitive biases such as present bias, the endowment effect, the gambler's paradox, and the decoy effect. Explores the role of natural selection in shaping modern human behavior with respect to cooperation, sharing, risk-taking, and intertemporal choice.
Prerequisites: ECON 301.
Usually offered: Alternate Years, fall semester.
Semester credits: 4.

ECON 312 Global Health Economics

Content: Theory of health economics, microeconomic tools, health behavior, demand for health care, health insurance markets, health care financing. A seminar-style section will include heavy readings on topics in global health to gain an understanding of diseases, health systems, and health behavior. Students will use empirical research in global health economics and Demographic and Health Survey Data (DHS) data to write papers on chosen topics in health economics. Sophomore standing required.
Prerequisites: ECON 301. ECON 303. (May be taken concurrently.)
Restrictions: Sophomore standing required.
Usually offered: Annually, fall semester.
Semester credits: 4.

ECON 314 International Finance

Content: How international financial transactions and government policies affect exchange rates, interest rates, inflation, balance of payments, sovereign debt, income, and wealth. Theory and application of foreign exchange markets (spots, forwards, arbitrage, covered and uncovered interest parity); balance of payments accounting, measures of government deficits and debts; open-economy macroeconomic modeling, applications, and issues. Sophomore standing required.
Prerequisites: ECON 103. ECON 302.
Restrictions: Sophomore standing required.
Usually offered: Annually, spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

ECON 320 Modern Money, Banking, and the Macroeconomy

Content: Monetarily sovereign governments are not constrained in the same way as economic units that use a currency. Mechanics of monetary sovereignty and their implications for public finances and economic stability. Public debt, taxes, and monetary financing. Real vs. financial constraints and policy choices. Differences between sovereign and nonsovereign governments. Sophomore standing required.
Prerequisites: ECON 302.
Restrictions: Sophomore standing required.
Usually offered: Alternate Years, spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

ECON 332 Urban Economics

Content: Economic aspects of urban areas. Why cities exist and how they interact within a regional economy; the pattern of land use in modern metropolitan areas; the economic forces behind urban problems such as poverty, crime, congestion, and sprawl; evaluation of the merits of alternative policy responses to urban problems. Sophomore standing required.
Prerequisites: ECON 301.
Restrictions: Sophomore standing required.
Usually offered: Alternate Years, fall semester.
Semester credits: 4.

ECON 340 History, Theory and Praxis of Monetary Systems

Content: Origins and development of monetary systems from Ancient Egypt to the present day. Focus on the Western European monetary system with some study of North America, China, Africa, and the Middle East. Historical analysis of system functions; monetary debates of the time.
Prerequisites: ECON 302.
Usually offered: Alternate Years, fall semester.
Semester credits: 4.

ECON 348 International Economics

Content: Introduction to international economics with emphasis on international trade theory and policy. Study of the cross-border movements of goods and services, as in international trade, tourism, and outsourcing; capital/money, as in foreign direct investment (FDI) and international aids; or people, as in immigration. Topics may include why countries trade with each other, what goods and services they trade, who gains and who loses from international trade, and how governments intervene to regulate cross-border trade flows.
Prerequisites: ECON 301.
Usually offered: Annually.
Semester credits: 4.

ECON 360 Advanced Environmental and Natural Resource Economics

Content: Application of intermediate microeconomic theory to contemporary environmental and natural-resource problems such as air and water pollution, climate change, land use, and biodiversity. Use of utility maximization to derive the demand for environmental goods, revealed preferences to value changes in environmental quality, and discounting theory to determine optimal resource use over time. Focus on the theory of environmental and natural-resource policies, such as pollution standards and fees, permit markets, and land use regulations, as well as their implementation in practice. Sophomore standing required.
Prerequisites: ECON 301.
Restrictions: Sophomore standing required.
Usually offered: Alternate Years, spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

ECON 365 Public Economics

Content: The role of government in a primarily market economy. Microeconomic issues: the provision of public goods; externality problems; the incidence, efficiency, and broader impacts of taxation policy; different approaches to defining fairness in income distribution; economic theories of public choice. Pressing current public-policy issues including health care and education policy, welfare reform, campaign finance, the social security system, defense spending. Sophomore standing required.
Prerequisites: ECON 301.
Restrictions: Sophomore standing required.
Usually offered: Alternate Years, fall semester.
Semester credits: 4.

ECON 401 Seminar in Microeconomics

Content: Microeconomic strengths and weaknesses of market-directed economic activity. Industrial policy, discrimination in labor markets, impact and role of trade unions, welfare economics. Sophomore standing required.
Prerequisites: ECON 301.
Restrictions: Sophomore standing required.
Usually offered: Annually, fall semester.
Semester credits: 4.

ECON 402 Senior Seminar in Macroeconomics

Content: Topics beyond intermediate macroeconomics including alternate theories of consumption and investment, inflation, economic growth, financial instability, the role of expectations, problems with macro measurements. Sophomore standing required.
Prerequisites: ECON 302.
Restrictions: Sophomore standing required.
Usually offered: Alternate Years, fall semester.
Semester credits: 4.

ECON 403 Seminar in Econometrics

Content: Advanced empirical research in economics. Critical review and presentation of empirical literature. Development of an original empirical research question and empirical estimation strategy. Compilation of dataset and statistical estimation. Oral presentation of research paper to students and faculty. Sophomore standing required.
Prerequisites: ECON 301 and ECON 303.
Restrictions: Senior standing required.
Usually offered: Annually, spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

ECON 404 Seminar in Mathematical Economics

Content: Mathematical models of economic behavior. Mathematics of microeconomic theory and macroeconomic theory, economic optimization, equilibrium and disequilibrium analysis, probability models, growth theory, dynamic economic modeling. Sophomore standing required.
Prerequisites: ECON 103, MATH 105, PSY 200, or MATH 255; ECON 301 or ECON 302; MATH 131.
Restrictions: Sophomore standing required.
Usually offered: Alternate Years.
Semester credits: 4.

ECON 444 Practicum

Content: Same as ECON 244 but requiring more advanced work. Credit-no credit. May be repeated for credit.
Prerequisites: ECON 103, MATH 105, PSY 200, or MATH 255. ECON 301. ECON 302.
Restrictions: Sophomore standing and consent required.
Usually offered: Annually, fall and spring semester.
Semester credits: 1-4.

ECON 499 Independent Study

Content: Same as ECON 299 but requiring more advanced work. May be repeated for credit.
Prerequisites: None.
Restrictions: Sophomore standing and consent required.
Usually offered: Annually, fall and spring semester.
Semester credits: 1-4.