Economics Courses (ECO)


The following courses, numbered 5000-9999, are offered for graduate credit. Courses numbered 5000-6999 which are offered for undergraduate credit only may be found in the undergraduate bulletin. Courses in the following list numbered 5000-6999 may be taken for undergraduate credit unless specifically restricted to graduate students as indicated by individual course limitations. For interpretation of numbering system, signs and abbreviations, see University Courses.

Economics courses are divided into the following subject areas:

Field A - Economic Theory

Field B - Quantitative Methods

Field C - Industrial Organization

Field D - International Economics

Field E - Labor and Human Resources

Field F - Public Finance

Field G - Health Economics

Field H - Economic Development

Field I - Macro and Financial Economics

Field J - Urban and Regional Economics

Directed Readings, Thesis Direction and Special Courses

Field A - Economic Theory

5000 Intermediate Microeconomics. Cr. 4

Prereq: ECO 2010, MAT 1500 or MAT 1800 or equiv. based on satisfactory score on mathematics placement exam. Theory of the firm and consumer. Analysis of a price system as a means to efficient allocation of productive resources. (T)

5050 Intermediate Macroeconomics. Cr. 4

Prereq: ECO 2020, MAT 1500 or MAT 1800 or equiv. based on satisfactory score on mathematics placement exam. Theory of national income determination. National output and income, saving and capital formation. (T)

6000 Price and Allocation Theory. Cr. 4

Prereq: ECO 5000 or equiv.; MAT 2010 or equiv. Introduction to the theory of consumer choice and the theory of production, and other selected topics. Primarily for M.A. students and for Ph.D. students who want to review. (F)

6050 Macroeconomics. Cr. 4

Prereq: ECO 5050 or equiv. No credit after ECO 7050. Determination of national income, unemployment and interest rates; theories of inflation; effectiveness of macroeconomic public policies. Primarily for M.A. students and for Ph.D. students who want to review. (W)

7000 Microeconomic Theory I. Cr. 4

Prereq: ECO 5000, 7020; MAT 2010 or MAT 5010 or equiv. Theory of choice; theory of cost and production; theory of the competitive firm. Price and output in non-competitive markets. General competitive equilibrium and welfare economics. (W)

7010 Microeconomic Theory II. Cr. 4

Prereq: ECO 7000. Continuation of ECO 7000. Includes general equilibrium analysis and game theory. (F)

7020 (ECO 5020) Fundamentals of Economic Analysis. Cr. 4

Prereq: ECO 5000 and MAT 2010 or MAT 5010 or equiv. ECO 5020 offered for undergraduate credit only; ECO 7020 offered for graduate credit only. Basic mathematical methods applied to economic analysis, including applications of calculus, analytical geometry, and linear algebra. Problems to illustrate applications in microeconomics and macroeconomics. (F)

7050 Macroeconomic Theory I. Cr. 4

Prereq: ECO 5050 or equiv. Determination of national income, employment, interest rates and the price level; static and dynamic models; cycle and growth models; classic, Keynesian and neo-Keynesian models. (F)

7060 Macroeconomic Theory II. Cr. 4

Prereq: ECO 7050 or equiv. Mathematical and statistical methods: differential and difference analysis. Intertemporal economic theory: the household, the firm, and economic growth. Overlapping generations models and the Ricardian theory of government finance. Theories of the business cycle: real business cycle models, Keynesian and New Classical theories of the business cycle. (W)

Field B - Quantitative Methods

5100 Introductory Statistics and Econometrics. Cr. 4

Prereq: ECO 2010, 2020; MAT 1500 or MAT 1800 or equiv. based on satisfactory score on mathematics placement exam. Elementary probability theory, discrete and continuous probability distribution, sampling distribution, interval estimation, hypothesis testing, and estimation and inference in simple and multiple regression models.
(T)

6100 Introduction to Econometrics. Cr. 4

Prereq: MAT 2010 and ECO 5100 or consent of instructor. Basic statistics, basic probability, hypothesis testing, and bivariate and multivariate regression analysis. Estimators studied are least squares, maximum likelihood and generalized least squares. Various model specification issues addressed: omitted variables, extraneous variables, category variables, multicollinearity, heteroscedasticity, and autocorrelation. (F)

6120 Statistics and the Law. Cr. 3

Prereq: MAT 1800 or equiv. or consent of instructor. Available for Law School credit only to Law students. Not for Economics major credit. Application of statistics and economic analysis to issues arising in the legal system and the practice of law. Topics include: descriptive statistics, elements of probability, regression, and price theory. (S)

7100 Econometrics I. Cr. 4

Prereq: ECO 6100 or equiv.; ECO 7020 or consent of instructor. Probability and statistics: moment generating functions, common families of statistical distributions, multiple random variables and properties of a random sample. Estimation and hypothesis testing: method of moments, generalized method of moments, maximum likelihood estimators, instrumental variable estimators, Bayes estimators, likelihood ratio tests, finite sample properties and asymptotic properties of OLS. (W)

7110 Econometrics II. Cr. 4

Prereq: ECO 7100 or consent of instructor. Modeling and estimation: generalized least squares, panel data models (fixed effects and random effects), system of equations (endogeneity, identification), models with discrete dependent variables (probit, logit), models with limited dependent variables (truncation, censoring), stationary time-series (ARMA), vector-autoregression (VAR, VMA), non-stationary time-series (unit roots, cointegration). (F)

Field C - Industrial Organization

6200 (ECO 5200) Advanced Regulation and Regulated
Industries. Cr. 4

Prereq: ECO 5000. No credit after ECO 5200. Open only to graduate students. Public regulation of prices, profits, service, and entry in industries such as electrical power, natural gas, telephones, broadcasting, and transportation; the rationale for having public regulation, and the analysis of its economic effects; reform of the scope and practice of regulation; public ownership; regulation of occupational and product safety standards and environmental standards. Advanced mathematical analysis of selected topics. (Y)

6210 (ECO 5210) (ST) Advanced Market Power and Economic Welfare. Cr. 4

Prereq: ECO 5000. No credit after ECO 5210. Open only to graduate students. Monopoly, oligopoly, and competition in U.S. industry; sources of market power and their effect on prices, profits, and technological progress, as illustrated by such industries as steel, automobiles, petroleum, retailing, or prescription drugs. Selected topics in antitrust policy. Advanced mathematical analysis of selected topics.
(Y)

6250 (ECO 5250) Advanced Economic Analysis of Law. Cr. 4

Prereq: ECO 5000. No credit after ECO 5250. Open only to graduate students. Economic analysis of property rights, torts, contracts, criminal law, the law of business organizations and financial markets, and the law of taxation. Economic analysis of litigation; the use of economics and statistics in litigation. Advanced mathematical analysis of selected topics. (Y)

7200 Industrial Organization I. Cr. 4

Prereq: ECO 6000 or consent of instructor. Theories of competition and market power. Topics include concentration, scale economies, product differentiation, entry barriers, collusion, mergers, price discrimination, information, and advertising. (B)

7210 Industrial Organization II. Cr. 4

Prereq: ECO 6000 or consent of instructor. Economic analysis of antitrust policy and public regulation of industry. Rationale for regulation and mandates of various regulatory agencies. Problems in public utility rate-making. Misallocations induced by regulation. Role of competition in regulated industries. (B)

Field D - International Economics

6300 (ECO 5300) Advanced International Trade. Cr. 4

Prereq: ECO 5000. No credit after ECO 5300. Open only to graduate students. Factors in international relations; patterns of international specialization; balance of international payments; foreign exchange; commercial policy of United States and other countries; foreign investment and economic development; international economic cooperation. Advanced mathematical analysis of selected topics. (Y)

6310 (ECO 5310) Advanced International Finance. Cr. 4

Prereq: ECO 5000. No credit after ECO 5310. Open only to graduate students. Major policy issues in the field of international finance with emphasis on open economy macroeconomics. Topics include the balance of payments and the foreign exchange market; monetary and fiscal policies in open economies; the floating exchange rate system; international financial markets; and European monetary integration. Advanced mathematical analysis of selected topics. (Y)

7300 International Trade Theory. Cr. 4

Prereq: ECO 6000 or consent of instructor. Classical and modern models of the determinants of international trade and their empirical verification; impact of trade on earnings of production factors; economic analysis of various trade policy instruments; strategic trade policy; economic analysis of international trade rules and institutions; political economy of trade policy. (B)

7310 International Monetary Theory. Cr. 4

Prereq: ECO 6050 or consent of instructor. Foreign exchange rate and balance of payments adjustment theory under alternative exchange rate regimes; stabilization policies in open economies; financial capital movements; monetary unions; economic growth and the balance of payments. (B)

Field E - Labor and Human Resources

5490 American Labor History. (HIS 5290) (HIS 7290) Cr. 4

Prereq: ECO 2010 or consent of instructor. Development of the American labor movement; its behavior in the contemporary scene. Labor's experiments with social, political, legal, and economic institutions. Comparisons with foreign labor movements. (B)

6400 (ECO 5400) Advanced Labor Economics. Cr. 4

Prereq: ECO 5000. No credit after ECO 5400. Open only to graduate students. Economics of labor markets. Determinants of earnings and methods of compensation, labor supply and demand, effects of taxes and subsidies on labor supply, choices of occupation and level of schooling, promotion and turnover, employment discrimination, economics of crime and punishment, regulation of professions, unions. Advanced mathematical analysis of selected topics. (Y)

6410 Labor Markets. Cr. 4

Prereq: ECO 2010. Labor supply; causes of and remedies for unemployment; labor mobility and the operation of labor markets; productivity and real wages; wage determination; human capital, income distribution, and economic development; poverty and its causes; economic impact of collective bargaining. (Y)

6415 (ECO 5410) (CD) Advanced Economics of Race and
Gender. Cr. 4

Prereq: ECO 5000. No credit after ECO 5410. Open only to graduate students. Theory and empirical evidence of race and gender differentials in the labor market. Topics include the difference in occupations and earnings, discrimination, poverty, and public policies. Advanced mathematical analysis of selected topics. (Y)

6420 Labor Relations and Public Policy. Cr. 3

Prereq: ECO 2010 or graduate standing. Overview of labor force trends; U.S. unionism; management of labor relations; collective bargaining: procedure and substance; bargaining power in the private and public sectors. Comparative trends and principles in industrial relations systems of other societies also examined. (F,S)

7400 Labor Economics and Human Resources. Cr. 4

Prereq: ECO 6000 or consent of instructor. Labor force participation and composition; factors affecting wage levels (money and real) and wage structure. Theoretical and empirical analyses of occupational choice, labor mobility, and income inequality. (B)

7410 Economics of Human Resources. Cr. 4

Prereq: ECO 6000 and 6100 or consent of instructor. Theoretical and empirical analyses of labor supply and family allocation of time; return to education; role of general and firm-specific human capital and job mobility in wage growth over a career; race and gender differences in the labor market; intergenerational transfers and mobility.
(B)

Field F - Public Finance

6510 (ECO 5500) Advanced Public Finance: Taxation and Expenditure Theory. Cr. 4

Prereq: ECO 5000. No credit after ECO 5500. Open only to graduate students. Role of government in a market economy: sources of market failure--public goods and externalities; principles of taxation and expenditures; tax incidence; federal tax structure; selected government expenditure programs. Advanced mathematical analysis of selected topics. (B)

6520 (ECO 5520) Advanced State and Local Public Finance. (U P 6750) Cr. 4

Prereq: ECO 5000. No credit after ECO 5520. Open only to graduate students. Theory and practice of state and local government taxation and expenditure. Attention devoted to State of Michigan and municipalities in Detroit metropolitan area. Topics include: government organization, voting and mobility models, property and sales taxes, user charges, grants, education expenditure, and economic development. Advanced mathematical analysis of selected topics.
(Y)

7500 Public/Urban Economics. Cr. 4

Prereq: ECO 6000 or ECO 7000. Theory of public goods; externalities; taxation from the standpoint of efficiency and income distribution; effects of taxation on labor supply and saving; local public finance; tax competition; transportation economics; housing economics. (B)

Field G - Health Economics

6550 (ECO 5550) Advanced Economics of Health Care. Cr. 4

Prereq: ECO 5000. No credit after ECO 5550. Open only to graduate students. Allocation of health care resources, with respect to demand and supply of health care. Roles of hospitals, physicians, and health insurance; market imperfections and their role in economics of health care. Advanced mathematical analysis of selected topics. (Y)

7550 (C M 7400) Economics of Health Care I. Cr. 3-4

Prereq. for economics students only: ECO 6000 or consent of instructor. No credit after ECO 5550. Offered for four credits only to economics students. Required of all M.S. students in Community Health Services program. Basic introduction to health care economics including allocation of health care resources, economics of information, and the role of advertising. (B)

7560 Economics of Health Care II. Cr. 4

Prereq: ECO 6000 or consent of instructor. No credit after ECO 5550. Particular roles of hospitals, physicians, and health insurance. Analysis of government policies. (B)

Field H - Economic Development

6600 (ECO 5600) Advanced Development Economics. Cr. 4

Prereq: ECO 5000. No credit after ECO 5600. Open only to graduate students. National poverty and economic growth viewed from a historical and theoretical perspective; particular emphasis on national and international policies. Advanced mathematical analysis of selected topics. (Y)

6650 (U P 6550) Regional, State, and Urban Economic Development: Policy and Administration. (P S 6440) Cr. 3

Prereq: graduate standing. Examination of regional, state, and local economic development theory, analysis, policy and administration.
(B)

Field I - Macro and Financial Economics

6700 (ECO 5700) Advanced Money and Banking. Cr. 4

Prereq: ECO 5050. No credit after ECO 5700. Open only to graduate students. Role of the Federal Reserve System, the commercial banks, and the non-bank public (including financial intermediaries) in determining the money supply; central banking and techniques of monetary control; indicators and targets of monetary policy; and how money affects economic activity. Advanced mathematical analysis of selected topics. (Y)

6720 (ECO 5720) Advanced Financial Economics. Cr. 4

Prereq: ECO 5000 and ECO 5050. No credit after ECO 5720. Open only to graduate students. Fundamentals of investments: investment and financial markets, theoretical models of investment theory including efficient market hypothesis (EMH) and capital asset pricing model (CAPM); characteristics and analysis of stocks, bonds, and portfolios; equity evaluation through financial statements, industry analysis, and macroeconomic analysis; and advanced topics in either derivative assets (futures and options) or international investments. Advanced mathematical analysis of selected topics. (Y)

7700 Advanced Macroeconomics I. Cr. 4

Prereq: ECO 7050 and 7060. For Ph.D. students with macroeconomics as a field of concentration. Topics vary, and may include: economic growth, vector autoregressions, cointegration, fractional integration, breaks in economic time series, efficiency wage theories of labor market, contracting, incomplete markets and business cycles, buffer stock models of saving. Time series methods applied to economic time series such as real and nominal exchange rates and cross-country macroeconomic data. (B)

7710 Advanced Macroeconomics II. Cr. 4

Prereq: ECO 7050 and 7060. Continuation of ECO 7700. (B)

Field J - Urban and Regional Economics

6455 (U P 6455) Discrimination and Fair Housing. (AFS 6455) (P S 6455) (SOC 6455) (U S 6455) Cr. 3

Prereq: senior or graduate standing. Multidisciplinary investigation into the nature, motivations, consequences, and legal/public policy implications of racial/ethnic discrimination in housing and related markets in U.S. metropolitan areas. (B)

6800 (ECO 5800) Advanced Urban and Regional Economics. (U P 5820) Cr. 4

Prereq: ECO 5000. No credit after ECO 5800. Open only to graduate students. Introduction to the economic foundations of urban problems; land use, housing, poverty, transportation, local public finance; regional industry mix, income, growth and development; the national system of cities and location of firms. Advanced mathematical analysis of selected topics. (Y)

6810 Political Economy of the Urban Ghetto. (SOC 6850)
(U P 6670) Cr. 3

Prereq: graduate standing; upper division undergraduates by consent of instructor. Examination of the economic, social and political transformation of U.S. cities; particular attention to the formation, dynamics, economics and social sub-systems of urban ghettos and their relationship to broader contexts. (B)

7800 Urban/Public Economics I. Cr. 4

Prereq: ECO 6000 or consent of instructor. The city as an economic system, including rents, prices, and locations of activities. Monocentric and polycentric models. Topics include housing and real estate, industrial location, and racial segregation and discrimination. Economic theory and empirical applications will be presented. (B)

7810 Urban/Public Economics II. Cr. 4

Prereq: ECO 6000 or consent of instructor. Spatial competition (equilibrium prices and locations of firms or stores). Theory of public goods. Externalities. Taxation from the standpoint of efficiency and income distribution. Effects of taxation on labor supply and savings. Theoretical and applied models of local public finance. Tax competition between local governments. Transportation economics. (B)

Directed Readings, Thesis Direction and Special Courses

5991 Directed Study: Salford - WSU Exchange. Cr. 3-9

Prereq: consent of departmental adviser. Open only to students admitted to Salford-WSU Exchange Program. Directed study at University of Salford, England. (F,W)

5992 Directed Study: Economics for High School Teachers. Cr. 4

Prereq: consent of adviser. Open to area high school teachers. Designed for Detroit-area high school teachers and covering material taught in high school: micro- and macroeconomic concepts, urban issues, international economics; methods for teaching economics. (T)

7996 Research in Economics. Cr. 2-8 (Max. 16)

Prereq: consent of adviser. Open to qualified students who desire opportunity for research and directed study. May be conducted as seminar. (T)

7999 Master's Essay Direction. Cr. 1-3 (3 req.)

Prereq: consent of adviser. (T)

8999 Master's Thesis Research and Direction. Cr. 1-8 (8 req.)

Prereq: consent of adviser. (T)

9990 Pre-Doctoral Candidacy Research. Cr. 1-8 (Max. 10)

Prereq: consent of department. For Ph.D. program applicants. Offered for S and U grades only. Research in preparation for doctoral dissertation. (T)

9991 Doctoral Candidate Status I: Dissertation Research and Direction. Cr. 7.5

Prereq: consent of dissertation adviser; Ph.D. candidate in department. Required in academic-year semester following advancement to Ph.D. candidacy. Offered for S and U grades only. (T)

9992 Doctoral Candidate Status II: Dissertation Research and Direction. Cr. 7.5

Prereq: consent of dissertation adviser; ECO 9991. Required in academic-year semester following ECO 9991. Offered for S and U grades only. (T)

9993 Doctoral Candidate Status III: Dissertation Research and Direction. Cr. 7.5

Prereq: consent of dissertation adviser; ECO 9992. Required in academic-year semester following ECO 9992. Offered for S and U grades only. (T)

9994 Doctoral Candidate Status IV: Dissertation Research and Direction. Cr. 7.5

Prereq: consent of dissertation adviser; ECO 9993. Required in academic-year semester following ECO 9993. Offered for S and U grades only. (T)

9995 Candidate Maintenance Status: Doctoral Dissertation Research and Direction. Cr. 0

Prereq: consent of dissertation adviser; completion of 30 credits in ECO 9999, or 9991-9994. Offered for S and U grades only. (T)

9999 Doctoral Dissertation and Research. Cr. 1-16 (30 req.)

Prereq: consent of doctoral adviser. Offered for S and U grades only.
(T)