ECONOMICS - EC

EC 201Principles of Microeconomics3(3-0-0) F,S,Sum
Scarcity, production possibilities, and opportunity cost. Supply and demand analysis, free markets, the price system, and government policy. Microeconomic analysis of business decisions in competitive and noncompetitive markets. Labor markets, capital, and natural resource markets, and externalities. Market breakdown, income redistribution, and role of government. Free trade, tariffs, and gains from international trade. Credit will not be given for both EC 201 and either ARE 201 or EC 205.
Course Offerings: fall sum1 sum2 sprg WolfWare Info


EC 202Principles of Macroeconomics3(3-0-0) F,S,Sum
Preq: EC 201 or ARE 201
Aggregate economic analysis emphasizing current public policy issues. Determinants of level and rate of growth of total output. Causes of unemployment and business cycles, inflation, and exchange rate fluctuations. Effects of monetary policy (money supply) and fiscal policy (government spending, taxes, deficits) on these problems. Trade surpluses/deficits and impact of international events and policies on national economies. Credit will not be given for both EC 202 and EC 205.
Course Offerings: fall sum1 sum2 sprg WolfWare Info


EC 205Fundamentals of Economics3(3-0-0) F,S,Sum
Fundamental ideas in economics: scarcity, substitution, opportunity cost, marginal analysis, gross domestic product, real and nominal magnitudes. Supply and demand analysis. Microeconomic analysis of pricing in competitive and noncompetitive markets. Macroeconomic analysis of production, employment, the price level, and inflation. Monetary and fiscal policy and the stabilization of the economy. Comparative advantage and international trade. Credit will not be given for both EC 205 and either EC 201 or ARE 201. Credit will not be given for both EC 205 and EC 202.
Course Offerings: fall sum1 sum2 sprg WolfWare Info


EC 301Intermediate Microeconomics3(3-0-0) F,S,Sum
Preq: MA 121 or 131; EC 201 or EC 205 or ARE 201
Functioning of the market economy, role of prices in determining the allocation of resources, the functioning of the firm in the economy, forces governing the production and consumption of economic goods. Credit not allowed for both EC(ARE) 301 and 401.
Course Offerings: fall sum1 sum2 sprg WolfWare Info


EC 302Intermediate Macroeconomics3(3-0-0) F,S,Sum
Preq: EC 201 or EC 205 or ARE 201; MA 121 or MA 131
Applied, analytical course in aggregate economics: business cycles, stabilization policy, inflation, costs of disinflation, international trade, and economic growth. Interaction of consumers and businesses with government economic policies; unemployment, interest rates, and output growth. Impacts of government deficits, trade deficits, and monetary policies.
Course Offerings: fall sum1 sum2 sprg WolfWare Info


EC 303Markets and Governments3(3-0-0) F,S,Sum
Preq: EC 201 or EC 205 or ARE 201
Social benefits of markets and the price system. Market failures and the rationale for government intervention in the economy. Government spending and taxing. Government failures. Applications to policies concerning the environment, labor markets, health care, antitrust, and economic growth.


EC 304Introduction to Financial Markets and Institutions3(3-0-0) F,S,Sum
Preq: EC 201 or EC 205 or ARE 201
Financial assets, markets and institutions. Stock and bond markets. Measurement and determination of rates of return on financial assets. Banks and other financial intermediaries including their management and regulation. Roles of the Federal Reserve System and monetary policy in determining interest rates, economic activity and foreign exchange rates. Credit will not be given for both EC 304 and EC 404.
Course Offerings: sprg WolfWare Info


EC 305A Closer Look at Capitalism3(3-0-0) F
Preq: EC 201 or EC 205 or ARE 201
Comparison of market allocation to government allocation. Criteria for evaluating economic systems. How markets create value. Relationship of economic freedom to political freedom and economic growth. Applications to policies such as antitrust policy, education policy, and environmental policy.
Course Offerings: fall


EC 310Managerial Economics3(3-0-0)
Preq: EC 201 or EC 205 or ARE 201
Microeconomic principles applied to decision-making in the firm. Present value analysis. The relationship between accounting and economic concepts of cost. Criteria and procedures for decision-making under uncertainty. Economic allocation by markets and the price system. Sources of market power and competitive advantage. Applications to product pricing and advertising.
Course Offerings: fall


EC (ARE) 336Introduction to Resource and Environmental Economics3(3-0-0) S
Preq: ARE 201 or EC 201 or EC 205
Application of basic economic tools to understand and evaluate environmental/resource policies. Concepts such as property rights, non-market goods, allocation over time, externalities, and public goods. Current policy issues such as global climate change, evaluating natural resource damages from oil spills, reducing the costs of regulations, protecting estuaries, and dealing with non-point source pollution.
Course Offerings: fall


EC 348Introduction to International Economics3(3-0-0) F,S,Sum
Preq: EC 201 or EC 205 or ARE 201
Application of basic economic analysis to international economic events and policies. Gains from trade, impacts of trade restrictions, international systems of payments, global capital markets, and balancing international with domestic macroeconomic policies. Current policy issues such as economic integration (customs unions and free trade areas), a common European currency, and the role of international trade in economic growth and development.
Course Offerings: fall sprg WolfWare Info


EC (ST) 351Data Analysis for Economists3(3-0-0) F
Preq: BUS/ST 350
Tools for describing and analyzing data as used in economics. Probability, random variables, sampling, point and interval estimation. Hypothesis testing and regression analysis with emphasis on economic applications.
Course Offerings: fall WolfWare Info


EC 372Evolution of American Business3(3-0-0) F,S
Preq: EC 201 or EC 205 or ARE 201
Historical development of modern business enterprise from the Colonial Era through World War II. Emphasis on the transformation of business practices in response to technological change, evolution of capital markets, growth of international trade, changes in distribution techniques, entrepreneurship, and the influence of government regulation.


EC 375Comparative Economic Systems3(3-0-0) F,S
Preq: EC 201 or EC 205 or ARE 201
Comparative Economic Systems contrasts market-type economies with other types of economic systems, particularly collectivist or planned economies in order to analyze their relative economic efficiency. The collapse of the Soviet economy will be analyzed as well as the attempts to convert the newly established republics into market economies.


EC 377The Political Economy of the Market Process3(3-0-0) S
Preq: EC 201 or 205 or ARE 201
The institutional, philosophical and economic foundations of markets. Social and political implications of private property, voluntarism and the forms of social cooperation derived from markets. The effects of public policies intended to alter the economic outcomes of markets. The morality of markets, legal and institutional settings, cooperation and the nature of exchange, the social function of prices.
Course Offerings: fall


EC (ARE) 401Economic Analysis for Nonmajors3(3-0-0) F,S
Preq: EC 201 or EC 205 or ARE 201
Intermediate economic theory of firm, household and market behavior. Demand, production and cost theory, market equilibrium under competitive and non-competitive conditions, and problems of economic efficiency. (EC (ARE) 401 is primarily for graduate students desiring an economics minor at the master's level. Students completing intermediate microeconomics and calculus should elect ECG 501, Price Theory, instead.). Not open to undergraduates majoring in the College of Management or Department of Agriculture and Resource Economics. Credit not allowed for both EC(ARE) 301 and EC(ARE) 401.


EC 404Money, Financial Markets, and the Economy3(3-0-0) F,S
Preq: EC 302, BUS/ST 350
Roles of money, credit, and financial institutions in the modern economy. Determination of level and structure of interest rates and exchange rates, determination of security prices. Management and regulation of financial institutions. Federal Reserve System and monetary policy. Statistical analysis of financial and monetary data. Credit will not be given for both EC 304 and EC 404.
Course Offerings: fall sprg WolfWare Info


EC 410Public Finance3(3-0-0) F,S
Preq: EC(ARE) 301
A micro-economic analysis of the rationale for public expenditure and taxation. Externalities, pollution and public policy, income redistribution and public welfare, public goods, collective choice and political institutions, public budgeting techniques and cost-benefit analysis, taxation and tax policy, state-local finance and fiscal federalism.
Course Offerings: fall WolfWare Info


EC 413Competition, Monopoly and Public Policy3(3-0-0) S
Preq: EC(ARE) 301
Current theories of industrial organization with specific reference to such topics as cartels, industrial concentration, vertical integration, franchise contracts, ownership and control of firms, multipart and discriminatory pricing, and tie-in sales. Economic aspects of antitrust law and government regulation of industry.
Course Offerings: fall WolfWare Info


EC 431Labor Economics3(3-0-0) F,S
Preq: EC(ARE) 301
An economic approach to the labor market and its problems including unemployment and the determination of wages, hours and working conditions under various labor market structures. The economic effects of trade unions. Introduction to human capital theory.
Course Offerings: sprg WolfWare Info


EC 435Urban Economics3(3-0-0)
Preq: EC(ARE) 301
Application of land use and location theory to urban structure and centralized economic activity. Analysis of trends in urbanization and suburbanization. Urban poverty, housing, transportation, pollution and local public finance.


EC (ARE) 436Environmental Economics3(3-0-0) S
Preq: EC(ARE) 301
Usefulness of economics in understanding pollution, congestion, conservation and other environmental problems. Relevant economic tools such as pricing schemes, abatement cost curves, damage functions and benefit-cost analysis. Pollution taxes, regulations, marketable permits and subsidies considered in designing alterations, in the incentive system. Current public policy alternatives in the context of non-market decision-making.


EC 437Health Economics3(3-0-0) F,S
Preq: EC(ARE) 301 or EC(ARE) 401
Application of micro-economic tools to the analysis of public and private policy issues concerning health care financing and delivery in the United States.
Course Offerings: fall WolfWare Info


EC 442Evolution of Economic Ideas3(3-0-0) F,S
Preq: EC(ARE) 301
General development of economic ideas from ancient times through the post-Keynesian period. Emphasis on the classical school and developments thereafter. The evolution of economic ideas in the context of the changes in technology and the increasing complexity of economic activity.


EC 448International Trade3(3-0-0) F,S
Preq: EC(ARE) 301
Determinants of commodity composition of trade and analysis of tariffs, quotas, and transport costs. Treatment of international investment including multinational corporations. Analysis of the effects of tariffs and quotas. Relationship between international trade and economic growth.
Course Offerings: sprg WolfWare Info


EC 449International Finance3(3-0-0) F,S
Preq: EC(ARE) 301
Study of international markets and their effects on firms, investors and national economics. Topics include: futures and options in foreign exchange, management of foreign exchange risk, exchange rate determination, and macroeconomic policy in an open economy.
Course Offerings: fall WolfWare Info


EC 451Introduction to Econometrics3(3-0-0) F
Preq: EC(ARE) 301, EC 302, EC 351
The measurement, specification, estimation and interpretation of functional relationships through single equation least-square techniques. Applications of simple and multiple regression, curvilinear regression and various transformations to demand, cost, production, consumption and investment relationships.
Course Offerings: sprg WolfWare Info


EC 452Forecasting for Business and Economics3(3-0-0) S
Preq: EC 351
The use of statistical tools to develop forecasts for business and economics. Data collection problems and types of data. Time series approach to forecasting. Use of regressions and surveys for forecasting. Forecast evaluation and presentation of forecasts.


EC 470The Japanese Economy3(3-0-0) S
Preq: EC(ARE) 301
Growth and development of the Japanese economy. Issues arising from Japan's integration with the world economy. Analysis of contemporary Japanese economic institutions and business practices. Economics of Japanese government policies.
WolfWare Info


EC 471Evolution of the American Economy3(3-0-0) S
Preq: EC(ARE) 301
Relationship of modern economic development to the history of America. Analysis of contemporary problems and issues with reference to their origins in the historical growth of the economy.
Course Offerings: sprg WolfWare Info


EC 472The Rise of Industrialism3(3-0-0) F,S
Preq: EC(ARE) 301
Historical development of the modern industrial economy from origins in medieval and early modern Europe. The industrial revolution in England and its diffusion throughout the western world and beyond.


EC 474Economics of Financial Institutions and Markets3(3-0-0) S
Preq: MA 121 and [BUS 320 or EC 302]
Management, development and regulation of U.S. financial markets and institutions. Management of major financial intermediaries and their historical development. Analysis of major financial assets and their markets. The role and history of the Federal Reserve and other financial regulators.
Course Offerings: sprg WolfWare Info


EC 480Introduction to Economic Research3(3-0-0) S
Preq: EC 301, ST/BUS 350, Computer Proficiency
Finding economic data. Critically analyzing newspaper and journal articles using economic reasoning. Developing, writing, and presenting economic analysis.
WolfWare Info


EC 490Research Seminar in Economics3(3-0-0) F,S
Preq: EC(ARE) 301, EC 302, ST(BUS) 350
The final course for students completing the undergraduate programs in economics. Students study a selected economic issue, make classroom presentations related to the seminar topic, and write research papers.
Course Offerings: fall sprg WolfWare Info


EC 491Economics of Business Strategy3(3-0-0) S
Preq: EC 351
Capstone course for students in the business economics concentration. Application of analytical economics to strategic decisions in business. Students will analyze and present case studies of strategic issues.


EC 495Special Topics in Economics1-6
Preq: Departmental approval required
Examination of special topics in economics not normally treated in other courses, or offering of new courses on a trial basis.
Course Offerings: fall sprg


EC 498Independent Study in Economics1-6 F,S,Sum
Preq: Departmental approval required
Detailed investigation of topics of particular interest to advanced undergraduates under faculty direction on a tutorial basis. Credits and content determined by faculty member in consultation with Associate Department Head.
Course Offerings: fall sum1 sum2 sprg WolfWare Info