Graduate courses in Economics

The theory core of the Ph.D. consists of the following courses:

ECON 803 Microeconomic Theory II
This course covers the fundamental topics of decision theory and game theory, including: behavior under uncertainty, expected utility theorem, simultaneous move games, dynamic games, adverse selection, signaling, and screening.
Standard text: Mas-Colell, A., Whinston, M.D. and Green, J.R., Microeconomic Theory, Oxford University Press, 1995.
Prerequisite: ECON 802 or equivalent.

ECON 804 Advanced Topics in Microeconomic Theory
This course covers selected advanced topics including general equilibrium, social choice, and mechanism design.
Standard text: Mas-Colell, A., Whinston, M.D. and Green, J.R., Microeconomic Theory, Oxford University Press, 1995.
Prerequisite: ECON 803.

ECON 808 Macroeconomic Theory
This course provides an overview of the core topics in macroeconomics, including recursive methods, growth theory, real business cycle theory, and search theory.
Standard text: L. Ljungqvist and T. Sargent, Recursive Macroeconomic Theory, 2nd ed., 2004, MIT press.
Prerequisites: ECON 403 and ECON 798 (or equivalent).

ECON 809 Advanced Macroeconomic Theory
This course will deal with selected topics in advanced methods and issues. Topics include the computation and calibration of macroeconomic models with heterogeneous agents, and recursive contracts.
Standard text: Various textbooks and readings.
Prerequisite: ECON 808.

ECON 831-4 Mathematical Economics
Various equilibrium models of micro and macro theory will be examined with emphasis on their solution, stability conditions and the uniqueness of solutions.
Prerequisite: ECON 331.

ECON 837 Econometric Theory I
This course deals with estimation and inference using economic models and economic data with a focus on the theoretical underpinnings of applied econometrics.  Topics will include an introduction to mathematical statistics and inference, linear regression, an introduction to asymptotic theory and inference, maximum likelihood estimation, generalized least squares, simultaneous equations models, nonlinear models, and the generalized method of moments.
Standard text: Greene, Econometric Analysis (5th ed.) MIT.
Prerequisite: ECON 835 (or equivalent).

ECON 838 Econometric Theory IIA
This is an advanced time series econometrics course with an emphasis on model building, estimation, inference and forecasts in finance and macroeconomics.  Univariate and multivariate models on stationary and nonstationary time series in the time domain and frequency domain will be studied.  The topics will cover ARMA Models, Autocorrelation Functions, Impulse-Response Functions, Wold Representation, Vector Autoregressions, Frequency Domain Methods, Unit Roots, Cointegration, Extreme Value Analysis, Long-Memory Models, Structural Change, High Frequency Finance and Wavelets.
Standard textbook: Time Series Analysis, 1994, James D. Hamilton, Princeton: New Jersey.
Prerequisite: ECON 837.

OR

ECON 839 Econometric Theory IIB
A brief review of asymptotic theory, followed by a study of general approaches to nonlinear estimation: M-estimation, maximum likelihood, GMM and minimum distance estimation. A number of special topics will be introduced, including: discrete response models, censored regression models, sample selection, treatment effects, and duration models; as well as bootstrap and semiparametric methods.
Standard textbook: Econometric Analysis of Cross-Section and Panel Data, (2002), by Jeffrey M. Wooldridge, MIT Press.
Prerequisite: ECON 837.