ECON 295 - Special Topics in Economics

Credits: 3

Prerequisites: Normally ECON 101 and 102 but may vary with topic. Course emphasis and prerequisites change from term to term and are announced prior to preregistration. May be repeated for degree credit if the topics are different. A maximum of nine credits chosen from all special topics in economics courses may be used, with permission of the department head, toward requirements for the economics major.

Winter 2016, ECON 295-01: Economics of War and Peace (3). Prerequisite: ECON 101. The focus of the course is to develop a theoretical understanding of how human interaction can be modeled to study both peaceful and violent outcomes. We cover topics ranging from civil wars and genocide to international terrorism. While standard economics assumes that transactions take place in a peaceful environment, conflict violates this standard, so we also study the effects of conflict on the macroeconomy and on individual health and education attainment. Readings are drawn from theoretical and empirical literature from a wide range of disciplines and outlets rather than a textbook focusing on the use of economic principles to systematically study peaceful and violent outcomes. Silwal.

Fall 2015, ECON 295A-01: Women in the Economy (3). This course explores how economic theory and analysis can be applied to examine the multiple roles that women play in our society. In particular, we examine linkages and changes in women’s human capital, marriage, fertility, family structure, and occupation and labor supply decisions in the post-World War II era, and investigate the magnitude and causes of the gender wage gap. Students assess how much of the gender wage gap can be explained by education and occupational choice, and how much appears to be due to discrimination. We also learn about (and try to explain) the differences in the gender wage gap for women with and without children, and explore how the legalization of the birth control pill has influenced the marriage, fertility, family structure, educational, and occupational decisions of women. Shester. Fall 2015

Planned Offering: Offered when interest is expressed and departmental resources permit.