Each offering will employ analytical techniques developed in the intermediate-level courses (Economics 300, 320, and 380.) Substantive topics might include, but would not be limited to, economics of the arts, economics of sports, computational finance, international finance, public sector economics, economics of the environment, and studies of specific industries. May be repeated when the topic is different.

Topic for Spring 2025: TBD
PREREQUISITES: ECON 300 TBD

Topic for Spring 2025: Topics in Institutional & Organizational Economics
PREREQUISITES: ECON 300 or GOVT 271 or Permission of Instructor If you were to get shot into space, would you want to be on an expedition headed by the public sector (e.g., NASA) or the private sector? This seminar will help students develop an approach to such a question through a sampling of the literature on the economics of institutions and organizations. We will address key concepts such as property rights, transaction costs, agency theory, and information costs to motivate how individuals organize and contract in response to their institutional environment. And we use these tools to explore issues including the nature of public versus private provision of goods and services, and the natural resource utilization.