Course Descriptions

The market system and alternative mechanisms for determining prices and allocating resources. Economic analysis of monopoly, cartels, wage and price controls, pollution, and other contemporary problems. The role of government in promoting economic efficiency. Prerequisite: 01:640:111, or 115, or calculus placement. (Credit not given for both this course and 11:373:121).

Determinants of aggregate employment and national income; evaluation of government policies to alleviate inflation and unemployment. Money, banking, and monetary policy. International trade and finance, and the prospects for world economic development. Prerequisite: 01:640:111, or 115, or calculus placement. (Credit not given for both this course and 11:373:122).

Households and firms as maximizing agents; implications for demand and supply of goods and productive services in competitive and monopolistic markets; general equilibrium; welfare economics. Prerequisites: 01:220:102; 01:640:135 or 151. (Credit not given for both 01:220:320 and 203).

Modern and classical theories of income determination, stabilization, and economic growth; emphasis on unemployment and inflation. Prerequisites: 01:220:102, 103; 01:640:135 or 151. (Credit not given for both 01:220:321 and 204).

Introduction to the application of statistical methods for the estimation, testing, and prediction of economic relationships. Emphasizes ordinary least squares regression and problems in its application. Extensive use of microcomputers. Special topics may include limited dependent variable models, simultaneous equation methods, and time-series methods. Prerequisites: 01:220:102, 103; 01:960:211 or 285 or equivalent; 01:640:135 or 151. (Credit not given for both this course and 01:220:326.)

Introduction to data collection, visualization, analysis, and presentation; introduction to basic linear regression methods, hypothesis testing, and interpretation of estimates; use of Microsoft Excel and Regressit, an Excel ad-in, throughout. This course is equivalent to the 210-211 sequence. Prerequisite: 01:640:026 or placement into higher level mathematics. Not available for economics major credit. Course does satisfy the statistics pre-requisite for 01:220:322.

Application of contemporary economic theory to managerial decisions and to public policy affecting business. Prerequisites: 01:220:102, 103. This course may not be used for major credit. Students cannot get minor credit for both 01:220:308 and 14:540:343.

Real aspects of international trade, including comparative advantage, tariffs and quotas, economic integration, and the role of international trade in economic development. Monetary aspects of international trade, including international capital movements, the foreign exchange market, concept and measurement of balance of payments, alternative means of correcting disequilibrium in the balance of payments, and international monetary arrangements.  Lower level elective.

Economic significance of money; structure, history, and present state of the American monetary system; credit, banking, and Federal Reserve; instruments of credit control; Federal Reserve and treasury policies; monetary reform, monetary theory and policy. Prerequisites: 01:220:102, 103.

Economic analysis of crime and the criminal justice system, criminal behavior, law enforcement, crime prevention, sentencing, capital punishment, organized crime, and the war on drugs. Prerequisites: 01:220:102, 103.

Rational-choice approaches to understanding political behavior and institutions. Spatial models of direct and representative democracy; strategic behavior of political actors; ideal voting systems; selected applications in U.S. and other political systems. Cross listed with 01:790:390 in Political Science.

Economic rationale and consequences of legal rules. Contracts, compensation, property rights, liability rules, crime, safety, monopoly, discrimination, health care, pollution, public interest law. Prerequisites: 01:220:102, 103.

Supervised internship in economics-related position. Approval of the director of undergraduate studies and semester paper required. Prerequisites: 01:220:102, 103. Each student is limited to one internship in economics. Students are responsible for finding internships. Majors only. Graded Pass/No Credit.

Independent research supervised by a faculty member. Prerequisites: 01:220:102, 103. By permission of instructor and department. Maximum of two independent study courses in economics allowed.

Economic decisions involving engineering alternatives; annual cost, present worth, rate of return, and benefit-to-cost; before and after tax replacement economy; organizational financing; break-even charts; unit and minimum-cost public sector studies.Open to all Rutgers New Brunswick students.

Introduction to basic accounting concepts, business and reporting, and accounting; emphasis on measuring and recording transactions and interpreting financial statements.Not open to first-year students. This course is offered through the Rutgers Business School. 

Introduction to basic concepts of management accounting with emphasis on decision making and controlling operations through the use of budgets and forecasting models, cost and activity analyses, and various financial and nonfinancial performance measures.Prerequisites: 33:010:272. Course is offered through the Rutgers Business School. 

The firm's labor demand, the household's labor supply, and wage determination in competitive and noncompetitive markets. Economics of unions. Human capital, occupational choice, wage structure, and unemployment. Prerequisites: 01:220:320 and 322. (Credit not given for both this course and 01:220:302)

Use of models of household and firm behavior and equilibrium analysis to study macroeconomic issues. Competing theories of aggregate fluctuations, including real business cycle theory and the New Keynesian model. Effects of fiscal and monetary policy on rhe economy in both the short and long run. Recommend for students interested in pursuing graduate study in economics. Prerequisites:  01:220:320, 321 and 322; 01:640:136 or 152. Credit not given for both this course and 16:220:586.

Financial crises from an historical perspective; survey of the history of banking, currency and debt crises across the world for the past century and a half; in-depth discussion of the 2008 crisis in the US, and the Euro-zone crisis of 2010-2013; Seminar. Prequisites: 01:220:320, 01:200:321, and 01:220:322.

Role of money and the monetary system in determining income, employment, and price level; techniques of monetary policy; relation of monetary and fiscal policy; international policies. Prerequisites: 01:220:321 and 322.

Analysis of financial decision making; capital budgeting; capital structure; economic forecasting. Prerequisites: 01:220:320 and 322. (Credit not given for both this course and 01:220:393)

Computational tools and custom-designed data collection methods for economic research; self-contained primer in building computational tools; use of computational tools in adapting tightly specified and general theoretical models to more complex and realistic settings; Primer in research design with emphasis on efficient collection of data to test theory.  Prerequisites: 01:220:320, 321 and 322; 01:640:136 or 152.

Application of forecasting to private- and public-sector decisions. Emphasis on time-series models with microeconomic and macroeconomic applications and computer exercises. Prerequisites: 01:220:320, 321, and 322.

Topics in cross-sectional and panel econometrics, with a basic introduction to time series econometrics. Fixed effects, panel data, instrumental variables,simultaneous equation methods, limited dependent variable models, and duration models.  Prerequisites: 01:220:320, 321, and 322, and 01:640:136 or 152. Open to students doing honors research, and others by special permission. (Credit not given for both this course and 01:220:401.)

Application of multivariate time series methods to economics and finance. Upper level elective. Prerequisites: 01:220:320, 321, and 322, and 01:640:136 or 152.  Open to students doing honors research, and others by special permission.  (Credit not given for both this course and 01:220:400.)

Advanced regression and classification methods applied to economic research questions; consideration of linear, graphical, kernel and neural network methods; emphasis on Bayesian methods for research design; consideration of broader social and distributional implications of the use of these methods. Upper level elective. Prerequisites: 01:220:320, 321, and 322, and 01:640:136 or 152. 

Economic basis of problems of air and water pollution and general environmental quality. Issues relating to externalities and public goods. Economic solutions to problems of environmental quality. Prerequisites: 01:220:320 and 322. (Credit not given for both this course and 01:220:332 or 11:373:363).

Medical care costs; production of health; demand for health care and insurance; health services personnel; physician and hospital behavior; cost containment; review and evaluation of public programs. Prerequisites: 01:220:320 and 322. (Credit not given for both this course and 01:220:433 (formerly 417) or 10:832:332.)

Theories analyzing the gains from and causes of the international exchange of goods and services. The impact of commercial policy and other government policies on these gains and resource allocation. Prerequisites: 01:220:320, 322. Major credit may be earned for only two of the three options: (i) 01:220:300, (ii) 01:220:335 or 435), (iii) 01:220:336 or 436. (Credit not given for both this course and 01:220:335)

Theory of the balance of payments and balance-of-payments adjustment. International financial system, foreign exchange market, determinants of the trade balance and capital accounts, and the impact of government financial policies in the open economy. Prerequisites: 01:220:320, 321, and 322. Major credit may be earned for only two of the three options: (i) 01:220:300, (ii) 01:220:335 or 435), (iii) 01:220:336 or 436.(Credit not given for both this course and 01:220:336)

Economic theory applied to educational policy issues. The nature of education and its relation to personal and societal development from economic perspectives. Upper-level elective. Prerequisites: 01:220:320 and 322.

Theories and experience of qualitative and quantitative changes involved in the process of raising living standards in less-developed countries. Prerequisites: 01:220:320, 321, and 322. (Credit not given for both this course and 01:220:339)

Theories of firm and market behavior. Evidence on relationships between structure, conduct, and performance. Includes pricing, profitability, innovation, and advertising. Prerequisites: 01:220:320 and 322. (Credit not given for both this course and 01:220:341)

Rationale for the public sector; public expenditure theory; economics of political process; expenditure structure and growth; incidence and incentives of specific taxes; fiscal incidence; stabilization. Prerequisites: 01:220:320 and 322. (Credit not given for both this course and 01:220:360)

Structure of U.S. tax system. Effects on the allocation of resources and economic growth; distribution of the burden of taxation across income groups. Prerequisites: 01:220:320 and 322. (Credit not given for both this course and 01:220:363)

Theoretical and empirical study of the interrelations between population change and economic change in developed as well as less-developed countries. Prerequisites: 01:220:320, 321, and 322. (Credit not given for both this course and 01:220:377)

Critical examination of the behavioral critique of economic theory; Methodological questions about the nature of knowledge and discovery in economics, and the role of observation and econometric methods, including analysis of data from controlled experiments, in evaluating existing theory. Prerequisites: 01:220:320, 01:220:322, 01:640:136 or 01:640: 152. Credit not given for both this course and 01:220:404.

Measurement of risk, attitudes toward risk, decision making under uncertainty, Bayesian decision theory, applications to asset markets. Prerequisites: 01:220:320; 01:960:211 or 285; 01:640:136 or 152.Credit not given for both this course and 01:220:405.

Expected utility theory, zero and nonzero sum games, cooperative and noncooperative games, bargaining models, supergames, oligopoly, core market games, strategy-proof systems. Prerequisites: 01:220:320; 01:960:211 or 285; 01:640:136 or 152. Credit not given for both this course and any of the following: 01:220:406, or 01:640:355.

Private and asymmetric information, moral hazard with optimal contracts, adverse selection with applications to signaling and screening, and incentive mechanisms such as auctions and tournaments. Prerequisites: 01:220:320; 01:960:211 or 285; 01:640:136 or 152.(Credit not given for both this course and 01:220:407)

Consumer and producer theory, general equilibrium analysis, and game theory; Emphasis on rigorous mathematical approach to economics; Recommended for students interested in graduate level study in economics. Prerequisites:  01:220:320, 321 and 322; 01:640:136 or 152. Credit not given for both this course and 16:220:585.

Specialized research supervised by a faculty member. Prerequisites: 01:220:320, 321, and 322. Open to juniors and seniors by permission of instructor and department. Maximum of two independent study courses in economics allowed.

Workshop in which students, in conjunction with faculty advisers, formulate and develop individual research projects and present and discuss their research findings. Prerequisites: 01:220:320, 321, and 322. Pre- or corequisite: 01:220:401. Open to sophomores, juniors, and seniors by permission of department.

Workshop in which students, in conjunction with faculty advisers, complete individual research projects begun in 01:220:493 or in a research-oriented economics elective course and present and discuss their research findings. Prerequisites: 01:220:320, 321, 322. Pre- or corequisite: 01:220:401. Open to sophomores, juniors, and seniors by permission of department.

Readings, analysis, and discussion of topics announced in advance each semester. Open to juniors and seniors by permission of department.