Economics Department Newsletter

The College requires CC seniors who register for fewer than 12 credits to show proof that they are on track to complete their program in the Spring semester. After you register for your courses, speak with econ-advising during their office hours. You will show them a completed checklist for your major and a copy of your current transcript. If everything looks good, then econ-advising will email your College dean.

Advisors will hold additional office hours during the advising period. You can discuss with them your major requirements, as well as course selection. Their office hours are posted on the Advisors page in the department website. You may also contact them by emailing them at econ-advising@columbia.edu.

Senior Seminar Lottery

If you plan to take a senior seminar in Spring 2026 then you should participate in the seminar lottery. To join the lottery, you must register by November 21st for GU4911 Section 000, ECONOMICS SEMINAR REGISTRATION.  If you have a HOLD on your registration and are unable to register for GU4911 by November 21st, then you must contact Laura Yan (ly38) by November 21st to let her know. You will be added manually to the Courseworks page for GU 4911 section 0, and will be able to fully participate in the lottery.

To be eligible to participate in the lottery, you must

• be a senior
• be a declared major in economics, financial economics, or economics-math
• have completed all of the prerequisites (UN3211, UN3213 and UN3412)
• not currently be taking, or have previously taken an economics senior seminar.

Details about the senior seminar registration procedure can be found on the department Senior Seminar Registration page.  Students who plan to take a seminar this spring must read the posted information, and participate in accordance to the outlined procedures and deadlines.

Students Not Eligible for the Seminar Lottery

If you are not eligible for the lottery (see criteria above), you may still be able to take a senior seminar, provided that you have satisfied all of the seminar pre-requisites. Beginning the second week of classes, qualified students will be allowed to enroll in any open seminar. See the Senior Seminar Registration page for details.

Joint Majors with Political Science, Philosophy and Statistics

Students in these three joint majors will be contacted directly by Laura Yan about registration.  Students in these joint majors will not be allowed to participate in the seminar lottery. After the Econ-Stats majors are enrolled, any seats that remain in ECON 4918 Econometrics Seminar remaining will be available in the lottery.

Senior Seminar Schedule

Descriptions of seminars are posted at Senior Seminar Descriptions | Columbia | Economics. Financial economics majors may take any section of GU 4911, GU 4913 or GU 4918 to fulfill their seminar requirement. One or two additional seminars may be added to this list.

 

Course	Instructor	Schedule	Topic
GU4911 sec 1	Sunil Gulati	M  2:10 – 4 PM	Sports Economics
GU4911 sec 2	Lena Edlund	T  4:10 – 6 PM	Gender Economics
GU4911 sec 3	Doug Almond	M 10:10 – 12 PM	Environmental Economics
GU4911 sec 4	Graciela Chichilnisky	W 2:10 – 12 PM	Globalization and It’s Risks
GU4911 sec 5	Don Davis	M 12:10 – 2 PM	Cities and Economics
GU4911 sec 6	Pietro Tebaldi	W 4:10 – 6 PM	Health Economics
GU4911 sec 7	Tam Mai	T 12:10 – 2 PM	The Geography and Economics of Segregation
GU4911 sec 8	Rosanne Altshuler	T 2:10 – 4 PM	Economics of Tax Policy
GU4913 sec 1	Matthieu Gomez	M 6:10 – 8 PM	Causes and Consequences of Inequality
GU4913 sec 2	Jaewoo Lee	T 10:10 – 12 PM	International Macroeconomics

Seminars for Joint Majors

Joint Major	Instructor	Schedule	Topic
Political Science	Helene Huber	W 10-10 – 12 PM	TBA
Political Science	Claudia Halbac	R 10:10 – 12 PM	Political Economy of Private Property
Philosophy	Daniel Hausman	M 10:10 – 12	TBA
Statistics	Tom Piskula	W 12:10 – 2 PM	Time Series, Macroeconomics and Financial Markets

Joint Majors Planning Early Graduation

Students in the joint majors with political science, philosophy or statistics who are considering graduating in the Fall of 2026 must take their senior seminar this spring. The seminars for these joint majors will NOT be offered in Fall 2026. You must have completed all of the seminar prerequisites before taking the seminar this Spring.  If you are a joint major planning on graduating in the Fall of 2026, then contact Laura Yan (ly38).

NEW Junior Seminar

The goal of the junior seminars is to strengthen the research and writing skills of our students.  Like senior seminars, the prerequisites of a junior seminar are 3211, 3213 and 3412 and will have a limited number of seats. Unlike senior seminars, a junior seminar will count as an elective course and may be taken for elective credit for the economics, financial economics, or any joint major. A junior seminar does NOT replace a senior seminar.

Students will be admitted to the junior seminar from the wait list and priority will be given to potential thesis writers in economics. A student who successfully completes a junior seminar will be given preference in admission to the honors seminar. To register for a junior seminar, you must sign up for the wait list.

ECON UN 3902: Economics of Public Policy

Instructor: Michael Best

This course has two objectives: First, to develop students’ skills in research and writing. Students will learn how to formulate a research question and place it in the context of existing literature and public policy importance, and how to bring economic and econometric tools to bear to answer such questions. Second, the course provides an introduction to the key issues in the economics of public policy. Broadly, we want to know how, when, and why the government should intervene in the economy. We will explore these questions through the lens of a number of key policy areas, including taxation, redistribution and social insurance, and the provision of public goods and services.

NEW Elective Course

ECON GU 4330 Economics Policy in the Middle East

Instructor: Tali Regev

Pre-requisites: UN 3211, UN 3213 and STAT UN 1201

This advanced elective equips economics majors with the tools to analyze the policy challenges and structural dynamics of Middle Eastern economies. Students will apply macroeconomic models and quantitative methods to understand topics such as oil and gas dependence, fiscal sustainability, inflation, trade, labor markets, demographic transition, institutional development, poverty, and the economics of conflict and reform. They will actively research and present case studies that illustrate the policy challenges in specific country settings. Readings are drawn from leading economics textbooks, research articles, policy reports, and multimedia sources, fostering collaboration, critical thinking, and data-driven discussions on contemporary regional development issues while remaining attentive to the human dimension and to the political economy context in which these policies unfold.

GU4280 CORPORATE FINANCE

Beginning in the Spring of 2026, the Business School will offer a section of Corporate Finance, BUSI GU4300, designated for the students in the Special Concentration in Business. Economics students including Financial Economics students may NOT take this course to fulfill any requirement in their economics program.

The two sections of GU 4280 Corporate Finance offered by the department in the Spring will be open to online registration. Students in the Financial Economics major should register for one of those sections at their earliest opportunity.

Accounting and Finance

Financial Economics majors may take either ECON UN 2261, BUSI UN3013 or IEOR E2261 to fulfill the Accounting requirement of the major.

These courses do NOT fulfill any elective requirements for other economics programs and may not be taken for credit for any other economics program.

College Business Courses

Columbia College offers several business oriented courses. We do not oversee these courses, nor have any information about them. If you have questions about these courses, you should contact BusinessManagement@gsb.columbia.edu.

These courses may NOT be taken for elective credit towards any major in economics other than Financial Economics. Financial economics majors should check the list of elective courses on their checklist to see which of these courses may be taken for elective credit.

5000 and 6000 Level Courses

Graduate level courses in economics (courses numbered 5000 and above) are closed to online registration to undergraduates. All 5000 level courses are limited to Masters students only. Undergraduates wishing to take a 6000 level class must receive approval from both the Director of Undergraduate Studies and the Director of Graduate Studies. Since the first year PhD courses are year-long courses, students may only begin these courses in the Fall semester.

All Spring Elective Courses

The table below lists the pre-requisites of the elective courses offered this Spring. The two columns labeled “Fin Ec Elective” and “Econ-Phil Elective” indicate which electives may be taken to fulfill major requirements in that joint major (see your checklist or the bulletin for more information).

Spring Electives	Prerequisites	Fin Ec Elective	Econ-Phil Elective
UN 2257 Global Economy	UN 1105
UN 3025 Financial Economics	UN 3211, UN 3213, STAT UN 1201
UN 3265 Money and Banking	UN 3211, UN 3213	✔
UN 3902: Economics of Public Policy	UN 3211, UN 3213, UN 3412	✔	✔
GU 4211 Advanced Micro	UN 3211, UN 3213, MATH UN 2010 (MATH UN 2500 or GU 4061)*		✔
GU 4230 Economics of NY City	UN 3211, UN 3213		✔
GU 4251 Industrial Organization	UN 3211, UN 3213	✔
GU 4280 Corporate Finance	UN 3211, UN 3213, STAT UN 1201
GU 4330 Economics Policy in the Middle East	UN 3211, UN 3213, STAT UN 1201	✔	✔
GU 4400 Labor Economics	UN 3211, UN 3213		✔
GU 4415 Game Theory	UN 3211, UN 3213	✔	✔
GU 4465 Public Economics	UN 3211, UN 3213	✔	✔
GU 4480 Gender and Applied Economics	UN 3211, UN 3213		✔
GU 4500 International Trade	UN 3211, UN 3213	✔	✔
GU 4505 International Macroeconomics	UN 3211, UN 3213	✔
GU 4630 Climate Finance	UN 3211, UN 3213, STAT UN 1201	✔	✔
GU 4710 Finance and the Real Economy	UN 3211, UN 3213, STAT UN 1201	✔
GU 4750 Globalization and Its Risks	UN 3211, UN 3213		✔

* These courses are co-requisites. A co-requisite may be taken prior to or concurrently with the class.

The department limits the number of courses that students may take outside of the Columbia Economics Department.

• All majors and joint majors must take a minimum of 5 lecture courses in the Columbia Department of Economics. Concentrators must take a minimum of 4 lecture courses in the Columbia department.
• ECON UN3025 and ECON UN3265 will be considered Columbia department electives regardless of the instructor.
• The remaining credits for economics lecture courses may come from AP, Barnard elective courses (2000 or 3000 level), and transfer credits (either taken before registering at Columbia or study abroad).
• Students must take their senior seminar in the Columbia Department of Economics.
• The department does not have restrictions on the number of non-economics courses taken outside Columbia to fulfill major requirements. For example, a student who has AP or transfer credits for Calculus-I will be able to take the same number of economics courses outside the department as a student who does not have such credits.
• Note that in the case of joint majors, courses taken to fulfill the requirements of the affiliated department are subject to the rules of that department. For example, a joint major with political science must check with the Political Science department on whether or not a particular class taken outside of Columbia is acceptable for the joint major.

All students who plan to take economics courses OUTSIDE of Columbia University in the spring must see Sunil Gulati before leaving to get preliminary approval for these courses.  Please see the Transfer Credit Info page on the departmental website for more information regarding the rules for transfer credits.

Students interested in working as a research assistant should read the Opportunities page on the department website. In January the list of researchers looking for assistants will be posted on the wiki page, Econ Info for Students. There is no November registration for these research positions. See the Registration Information page for more details.

Undergraduate TAs have many of the same responsibilities as the graduate TAs in the department. In late December a list of TA available TA positions will be posted on the WIKI page, Econ Info for Students.