Independent reading course. Full course.

Fall and spring semesters. The Department.

In this course, we study the role that financial markets play in allocating savings and investment. The study includes the fundamental pricing of stocks and bonds, the efficient markets hypothesis and the effect of asset prices on firms’ investment decisions. We then turn to derivative securities and how these securities are priced differently, based upon the absence of arbitrage. Finally, we show how the insights from derivative pricing can be incorporated into firms’ investment decisions.

This course uses microeconomic analysis to examine economic relationships among countries. Issues addressed include why nations trade, the distributional effects of trade, economic growth, factor mobility, and protectionism. Also included are discussions of the special trade-related problems of developing countries and of the history of the international trading system.

Requisite: ECON 111/111E. Limited to 35 students. Fall semester. Professor Knudsen.

Inequality is arguably one of the primary issues of our time. In this course, we will focus on understanding the particular manifestations of inequality in health and individual well-being that derive from inequality in environmental conditions. We will start with the canonical models of public economics, studying the role of government and paying particular attention to how failures of standard assumptions of rationality, perfect information, and perfect competition will lead to inefficiencies and inequities.

This course studies the labor market: forces that change how much people want to work, how easily they find a job, and the determinants of wages. We consider historic trends in the labor market, current conditions, and the role of public policy. We will focus particularly on sources of earnings inequality and changes in earnings and employment over booms and recessions and over workers’ lives.

Requisite: ECON 111 or ECON 111E. Limited to 35 students. Professor Dillon. Fall semester.

(Offered as ECON 108 and STAT 108) This course will provide a rigorous presentation of fundamental statistical principles and ethics. We will discuss standards for relationships between statisticians and policy makers, researchers, the press, and other institutions, as well as the standards for interactions between statisticians and their employers/clients, colleagues and research subjects.

Independent reading course.

Fall and spring semesters. The Department.

Independent reading course.

Fall and spring semesters. The Department.

This course addresses the design and analysis of computer algorithms. Topics include: set algorithms such as sorting and searching, graph algorithms, string algorithms, and matrix algorithms. Algorithm design paradigms, including the divide-and-conquer, dynamic programming, and greedy paradigms, will be emphasized. The course will end with a discussion of the theory of NP-completeness and its implications.

Requisite: COSC 112 and COSC 211. Fall semester. Professor Gardner.