Senior Seminars Description

SPRING 2012

Seminars listed below are only open to CC and GS undergraduate economics majors. All prerequisites (Econ W3211, W3213, W3412) must be completed before the seminar may be taken—not after and not concurrently, otherwise the seminar will not count towards the major. Check the CC/GS bulletin for all seminar prerequisites and details.

W4911 (Sec. 1) Seminar in MICROECONOMIC Theory
Instructor: R. Findlay
Thurs. 4.10-6 pm
Topic: Applications of Economic Theory to Problems of the World Economy
This seminar will be devoted to applications of economic theory to real world situations chosen in the light of individual students' interests; topics in economic development, international trade and political economy in the current global context are particularly welcome.

W4911 (Sec. 2)
Instructor: Prof. C. Musatti
Wed. 2.10-4.00 pm
Topic: Poverty and Inequality in High-Income Countries
The seminar looks into the nature, causes and consequences of poverty and inequality in high-income countries. The topics that will be covered include: Who are the poor, and how does poverty affect their outcomes? How have income and wealth inequality evolved over the past twenty years? What economic forces explain this evolution? What policies have been enacted for income redistribution and poverty relief in the US and Europe? Particular emphasis is also given to the complex interplay between health and income outcomes and the distributional effects of the healthcare reform.

W4911 (Sec. 3)
Instructor: Prof T. Dang and J. Quigley
Wed. 11.00-12.50 pm
Topic: Private Equity and Venture Capital Investing
This seminar satisfies the seminar requirement for the financial economics major.
**Strongly Recommended: Corporate finance knowledge
Selected topics in private equity and venture capital investing: special emphasis will be placed on the implications for private equity finance of asymmetric information, agency problems, corporate governance and contracting theory. In addition, this seminar introduces the key concepts, tools and skills used by both private equity investors and those seeking capital, with particular attention to valuation, pricing and structuring of transactions. The seminar will also look at private equity and venture capital as a distinct asset class and its performance and evolution both cross industries and cross countries. Students are expected to write a seminar paper on a topic related to the course material (perhaps focusing on the evaluation of a deal, either real or hypothetical) and give presentations of the topic chosen and the final project.

W4911 (sec. 4)
Instructor: Prof Francesco Brindisi
Mon 6.10-8.00 pm
Topic: The Political Economy of Urban Economic Development
This seminar satisfies the seminar requirement for the financial economics major.
Local governments are concerned with increasing the value of one of the most productive and scarce assets in the world: real estate in cities. Urban economic development is the collection of policies designed to attract population and increase the amount of market activity in a city. While economics provides the principles and intuitions of how cities work and what benefits them, urban economic development is also shaped by conflicting political and economic interests as well as by institutions, influencing policy choices and ultimately affecting the prosperity of cities. The seminar provides an introduction to urban economic development and develops selected topics in urban economics. The seminar also analyzes policy design and implementation in the fields of commercial and residential real estate   development, financial assistance programs to leverage private sector investment, unionization and wage policies, taxation and redistribution.

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W4913 Seminar in MACROECONOMIC Theory (Sec. 1)
Instructor: Prof S. Davidson
Wed. 9.00-10.50 am
Topic: The Financial Crisis, Financial Markets and Official Interventions
This seminar satisfies the seminar requirement for the financial economics major.
We will look at the causes of the financial crisis, focusing on the links in the chain of the securitization process.  Disturbances in the financial markets will be examined, along with official interventions in those markets and future challenges for policy makers, especially large, complex financial institutions.  We will also examine financial regulations adopted in response to the crisis.
 

W4913 (Sec. 2)
Instructor: Prof R. Mundell
Mon. 9.00-10.50 am
Topic: Global Macro Disequilibrium
This seminar satisfies the seminar requirement for the financial economics major.
Global Macroeconomic Disequilibrium: Competing Theories of Macroeconomics: Classical, Keynesian, New-Classical, Supply-Side Economics; International Macroeconomics: Mundell-Fleming model; Global Equilibrium and Disequilibrium; Special Role of the Dollar and US Monetary Policy in the World Economy; Stages and Alternative Approaches to the Balance of Payments; the Creation of the Euro; Making a World Currency.
 

W4913 (Sec. 3)
Instructor: Prof R. Clarida
Tues 4.10-6.00 pm
Topic: International Macroeconomic Policy
This seminar satisfies the seminar requirement for the financial economics major.
This seminar will cover selected topics in international macroeconomics, including but not limited to: monetary policy in the global economy pre and post crisis, global imbalances and international adjustment under fixed and flexible exchange rates, exchange rates and inflation, self fulfilling crises.  A prior course in international economics is not a requirement.

W4913 (Sec. 4)
Instructor: Prof J. Onochie
Thurs 6.10-8.00 pm
Topic: Understanding Dynamics of Key Macroeconomic Variables
This seminar satisfies the seminar requirement for the financial economics major.
This seminar will explore the time series properties of key macroeconomic variables including GDP, Inflation, Interest Rates, Exchange Rates and Employment and will examine the impact of important explanatory variables, such as energy price volatility, on the dynamics of macroeconomic variables.  Recent movements in energy prices coupled with crisis-induced changes in global economies have rekindled an interest in examining demand/supply, transmission mechanisms and ultimate effects of movements in energy prices on the real and financial sectors of the macro-economy. As a group, we will build on recent research in this topical area and explore alternative theoretical models and empirical approaches that have been used to date.  In the context of recent developments, we will also discuss policy implications for energy and commodities, in general.  We will build upon and leverage knowledge gained in the macroeconomics courses that participants have been required to take as part of their undergraduate curriculum.  Participants will learn how to translate theory into empirical work using appropriate macro-econometric models and techniques they have learned.  They should then begin to appreciate the feedback from theory to practice and back to theory.  We will critique empirical works that apply, in a rigorous way, relevant methodology to macroeconomics. Each participant will be required to write a paper.

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W4918 ECONOMETRICSSeminar
Instructor: Prof. Phoebus Dhrymes
Tues. 4.10-6.00 pm
Topic: Event Studies in Financial Markets
This seminar satisfies the seminar requirement for the financial economics major.
This seminar aims to explore empirically certain aspects of financial markets, and will be based chiefly on Chapters 4, 5, 6, of The Econometrics of Financial Markets, (1997) by Campbell, J.Y., A. W. Lo and A. Craig MacKinlay, Princeton: Princeton University Press; and journal papers that may be assigned from time to time. (Chapter 4 deals with Event Studies, Chapter 5 with the Capital Asset Pricing Model and Chapter 6 with Multifactor Models.) Certain theoretical aspects will of necessity be dealt with, such as the CAPM issues related to measurement and tests, the design of event studies, and extensions of CAPM such as the Arbitrage Pricing Model and its related multifactor models. However, the emphasis will be mostly empirical, the theory only being necessary to guide (the proper) econometric practice.

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W4921 (sec. 1) POLITICAL ECONOMY Seminar
Instructor: Prof. M. Morelli
Fri. 11.00-12.50 pm
Topic: The Political and Economic Geography of Natural Resources and Conflict
*NOTE: Priority given to senior econ-political science majors - Closed to general sign up from Jan 17th – 23rd.
Additional Prerequisites: Econ W4370 Political Economy
The geography of natural resources, together with the distribution of ethnic groups and religious groups across and within countries, affect conflict onset, the type and duration of conflicts, the incentives to develop democratic institutions, and the pattern of economic development.  The objective of this seminar is to first learn what the literature says, in political science and economics, on the various effects of natural resources, and then write papers on the role of natural resources in as many case studies as the number of students in the class.


W4921 (sec. 2)
Instructor: Prof. S. O'Halloran
Thurs. 6.10-8.00 pm
Topic: The Non-Market Business Environment
*NOTE: Priority given to senior econ-political science majors - Closed to general sign up from Jan 17th – 23rd.
Additional Prerequisite: Econ W4370 Political Economy
This seminar will apply the lessons of political economy to study the non-market environment within which businesses operate. Topics include lobbying, regulation, media relations, and international trade.