PhD Economic Analysis and Policy Courses
MGTECON 600. Microeconomic Analysis I
This course provides an introduction to the foundations of modern microeconomic theory. Topics include choice theory, with and without uncertainty, consumer and producer theory, dynamic choice and dynamic programming, social choice and efficiency, and fundamentals of general equilibrium.
MGTECON 601. Microeconomic Analysis II
This course studies the roles of information, incentives and strategic behavior in markets. The rudiments of game theory are developed and applied to selected topics regarding auctions, bargaining, and firms' competitive strategies; information economics; and contracting and market design.
MGTECON 602. Auctions, Bargaining, and Pricing
This course covers auction theory, matching, and related parts of the literature on bargaining and pricing. Key papers in the early part of the course are Myerson and Satterthwaite on bargaining, Myerson on optimal auctions, and Milgrom and Weber's classic work. We then turn to markets in which complicated preferences and constraints, limitations on the use of cash, or variations in contract details among bidders play an important role. Emphasis is on matching markets such as the National Resident Matching Program and asset auctions such as the spectrum auctions.
MGTECON 603. Econometric Methods I
This is the first course in the sequence in graduate econometrics. The course covers basic probability and statistics and, accordingly, is most appropriately viewed as a background course in these topics in preparation for taking up econometrics in 604. Prerequisites are a strong background in undergraduate calculus, linear algebra and probability and statistics. Topics covered in the course include random variables, distribution functions, functions of random variables, expectations, conditional probabilities and Bayes' law, convergence and limit laws, hypothesis testing, confidence intervals, linear regression and maximum likelihood estimation.
MGTECON 604. Econometric Methods II
This course is exclusively for PhD students at the GSB. This course presents a comprehensive treatment of econometric methods for linear models. Among the topics covered are: the classical linear regression analysis, linear simultaneous equations systems, panel data models, generalized method of moments. This course assumes working knowledge of undergraduate econometrics basic linear algebra, basic probability theory, and statistics that are covered in MGTECON 603. Those who did not take MGTECON 603 or ECON 270 (by Hansen and Hong in the economics department) should see the instructor.
MGTECON 605. Econometric Methods III
This course completes the first-year sequence in econometrics. The course develops the theoretical and practical aspects of maximum likelihood, quasi-maximum likelihood, GMM and non-linear estimators in detail. The instructor will discuss how these methods are used in practice. Time permitting, we will briefly consider more advanced topics and applications, including: semiparametric, nonparametric estimators and simulation estimators.
MGTECON 606 Microeconomic Theory for Non-Economist PhDs
This course will be a first quarter PhD course in microeconomic theory, aimed at PhD students who do not plan to become professional economists. Relative to a course geared to economics PhDs the class will differ in two important ways. First, there will be almost no emphasis on proofs. Second, the topics covered will be broader than the standard set covered in say Econ 202.
MGTECON 608. Multiperson Decision Theory
Students and faculty review and present recent research papers on basic theories and economic applications of decision theory, game theory and mechanism design. Applications include market design and analyses of incentives and strategic behavior in markets, and selected topics such as auctions, bargaining, contracting, and computation.
MGTECON 609. Applied Econometrics and Economic Research
The primary objective of this course is to prepare students to evaluate and produce research in empirical microeconomics. The emphasis will be on the overall process of conducting such research: from defining a clear research question, to collecting suitable data, to selecting and executing an appropriate mode of econometric analysis. Students will be expected to read and discuss papers covering a variety of applied topics. Methodological issues will be discussed in depth wherever they arise, and especially where they are central to understanding a paper's implications, but methodology will not be the central focus of the course.
Some of the topics to be covered in the course include: nonlinear pricing in imperfectly competitive markets; innovation and the diffusion of innovations; the economics of advertising; consumer information and product-market outcomes. Other topics will be selected based partly on student input.
MGTECON 610. Macroeconomics
This course covers various topics in macroeconomics and is designed to expose students to macroeconomic methods, classic papers in the field, and the latest research at the frontier. The current focus is on economic growth. Using theoretical and empirical tools, we consider questions like: How do we understand long-run growth in per capita income? Why are some countries so much richer than others? Other topics include misallocation as a source of TFP differences, the direction of technical change, growth and the environment, the rise in health spending, patenting, and international trade.
This course satisfies the GSB PhD macro requirement.
MGTECON 611. Open Economy Macroeconomics
The goal of this course is to teach students how to use the tools of open economy macroeconomics to connect to the burgeoning literature on institutions in a way that helps them to frame interesting research questions in the area of stabilization, reform, and growth in developing countries.
The growth rate of total factor productivity (TFP) plays an essential role in economic growth. In turn, two principal forces drive TFP growth: (1) changes in ideas (i.e. technological change) and (2) changes in institutions. This course will employ the tools of open economy macroeconomics to study the second of these two forces. Recent contributions in the literature focus on the impact of cross-country differences in initial institutions on long-run growth and development. Prominent examples of such institutional differences include the nature of the legal origins and property rights bequeathed to a country by its colonial masters.
This is a PhD course in economics, but it is open to students from any discipline (i.e. Political Science, History, International Relations) who are willing to make the analytical investment that is necessary to understand and debate the issues in a logical, coherent, and systematic fashion.
MGTECON 613. Game Theory
This course studies topics in non-cooperative game theory. Sample topics and results covered include: Modeling incomplete information (Mertens & Zamir existence of a universal type space), Learning (Blackwell's approachability and merging theorems), Reasoning and solutions (Aumann, Aumann and Brandenburger epistemic conditions for solution concepts) and more. Prerequisite: An elementary course in game theory or a course with extensive economic applications of game theory.
MGTECON 615. Topics in Market Design
The goal of this course is to introduce students to current research topics and open issues related to the design and organization of markets. Topics may include: theoretical and empirical analysis of auctions and matching markets; information aggregation in prediction markets and other mechanisms; microstructure of financial markets; e-commerce and novel marketplaces.
MGTECON 616. Topics in Game Theory
This is an advanced game theory course and requires a basic background in game theory or an advanced applied game theory course. The course covers foundational topics such as type spaces, modeling reasoning and rationality, game forms, solution refinements and more. A collection of additional topics will be covered independently via problem solving assignments in workshop style meetings with student presentations.
MGTECON 624. Dynamic Political Economy Theory
This course is intended to be an introduction to dynamic political economy theory. We will cover research at the frontier of this field and some useful tools. Tools will be primarily dynamic game theory - including Markov models and models of reputation. Topics covered will include dynamic legislative bargaining, dynamic coalition formation, endogenous institutions, endogenous policy formation, and private politics.
MGTECON 628. Reading Group in Industrial Organization
This course meets weekly on Tuesdays at Noon. The primary purpose of the course is to read and discuss current working papers in Industrial Organization and related fields (e.g., Econometrics, Marketing, and Labor). Students are required to present papers a couple of times per quarter and both students and faculty may also present their own working papers.
MGTECON 629. Microeconomics Workshop
Each week, a different economics faculty member will faculty discuss his or her important and /or current research. The course is an important introduction to PhD level research topics and techniques. Students are required to do a three page write-up on each session.
MGTECON 652. Personnel Economics
This seminar will examine applications of labor economics to business issues and firms' practices. Material will include both theoretical and empirical work, and the syllabus will range from classics in Personnel Economics to current (unpublished) research. Some of the topics to be covered include, but are not limited to, compensation practices, assignment of decision rights, organizational structure, attracting, retaining, and displacing employees, and workplace practices (such as team-based organization, profit sharing, etc.)