Advanced Methods Courses
GECO 6203 Advanced Macroeconomics II Spring 2011. Three credits.
GECO 6200 Advanced Microeconomics I
Willi Semmler
Fall 2010. Three credits.
This course extends the study of the foundations of macroeconomic theory by providing a critical theoretical and empirical analysis of the problems of economic growth, fluctuations, and employment. We focus on theory and empirical work of different traditions of dynamic macroeconomics. Topics covered include the empirical evidence on the old and new growth theory, business cycle models in the equilibrium and disequilibrium traditions, empirical work on the Phillips curve and unemployment, labor market dynamics and inequality, asset market fluctuations and economic activity, recent theoretical and empirical work on monetary and fiscal policies, and open-economy dynamics. Students are encouraged to develop their own research, and emphasis is placed on empirical work in macroeconomics. Prerequisites: GECO 6189, GECO 6191, GECO 6202 (recommended), or permission of the instructor.
Sanjay Reddy
This course approaches microeconomic analysis at an advanced level, presenting some formal techniques used in economic research as well as critical perspectives and possible alternatives. Topics may vary from year to year and include decision theory, welfare economics, social choice and aggregation, general equilibrium theory, or game theory. Adequate mathematical background, including thorough prior familiarity with multivariate analysis, linear algebra and methods of abstract reasoning, is assumed. Lab sessions will be arranged. Prerequisite: GECO 6190 or permission of the instructor. GECO 6201 Advanced Microeconomics II Not offered 2010–11. Three credits.
GECO 6204 Advanced Political Economy I
Ali Khan
Fall 2010. Three credits.
This course traces the extent to which modern economic theory, particularly as it pertains to pure competition in market and non-market games under the rationality postulate, is grounded in the language of probability and measure theory. Special attention is paid to the formal expression of ideas such as economic and numerical negligibility on the one hand and diffuseness and conditional independence of information on the other. Toward this end, the course develops rigorous formulations of basic ideas of conceptual (rather than computational) probability, including spaces of events, random variables and their means, marginal and joint densities, stochastic independence, and derivatives of probabilities. We apply those formulations first to the basic theorems of welfare economics, including the core theorems, and second to large anonymous and non-anonymous games, as well as to finite-agent games with private information. If time permits, the course concludes with some basic vocabulary of evolutionary game theory. The course is self-contained from the technical point of view but presupposes a level of mathematical maturity that ought typically to be achieved by taking a course such as GECO 6189. Prospective students who are not sure they have the necessary interest and background should contact the instructor.
Paulo Dos Santos
This course surveys major issues in contemporary Marxian political economy, with an emphasis on the use of Marxian theory to develop workable economic research projects on contemporary issues. We strive for an accurate understanding of the concepts and methods of Marx’s reasoning and contemporary critical discussion of Marx’s ideas, together with a critical assessment of what they can contribute to contemporary economics. The topics covered include the labor theory of value and the transformation problem, analytical Marxism, Marx’s theory of money and contemporary world monetary systems, Marx’s analysis of the circuits of capital as the basis for empirical macroeconomic studies of contemporary economies, Marx’s theories of the falling rate of profit and the long-term tendencies of capital accumulation as a foundation for understanding the contemporary development of world capitalism, and other topics. GECO 6205 Advanced Political Economy II Spring 2011. Three credits. Anwar Shaikh
GECO 6202 Advanced Macroeconomics I Fall 2010. Three credits. Lance Taylor
This course presents a critical review of both mainstream and structuralist macroeconomic traditions. Topics covered include social accounts and social relations; price formation and the functional income distribution; money, theories of the interest rate, and inflation; effective demand and its real and financial implications; short-term model closures and long-term growth; Chicago monetarism, new classical macroeconomics, and mainstream finance; effective demand and the distributive curve; structuralist analyses of finance and money; models of cycles; open economy macroeconomics; and growth and development theories. Lab sessions will be arranged. Prerequisite: GECO 6191, GECO 6289, or permission of the instructor. GECO 6189 is recommended.
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This course covers advanced topics in Marxian economics and, where possible, compares and contrasts classical Marxian and post-Keynesian approaches to these issues. Lectures are based on Capital, volumes 1, 2, and 3; and theories of surplus value, as well as modern contributions by authors in the Marxian and Keynes-Kalecki traditions. The course begins with Marx’s theory of competition and contrasts it with theories of perfect and imperfect competition. Some of the implications of Marx’s theory of competition for neoclassical approaches to foreign trade and structuralist analyses of macrodynamics are discussed. We then apply the theory of competition to Ricardo’s and Marx’s theories of rent. We move on to a discussion of finance and growth. In this section we compare the Chartalist theory of money with that of Marx, the application of social accounting matrices to the study of macrodynamics, and the relationship of the circuitist school to Marx’s theories of money, finance, and the circuit of capital. The final section is on the political economy of the state. In this section, we discuss the effects of budget deficits on growth and some of the contemporary post-Keynesian policies such as the employer-of-last-resort proposal. We also look at some of the sociological and political literature on the state and attempt to identify the underlying economic theories of capitalism. Prerequisites: GECO 5104, GECO 6190, GECO 6191, GECO 6189 (recommended), and GECO 6202 (recommended), or permission of the instructor.