Economics

University of California, Berkeley

This is an archived copy of the 2015-16 guide. To access the most recent version of the guide, please visit http://guide.berkeley.edu.

Overview

Founded in 1903, the Economics Department is well known for the excellence of its teaching and advising, with a strong reputation for producing outstanding PhD graduates, as well as rigorous and innovative economic research. In recent years, Berkeley economics PhDs have been hired at many other leading institutions, including Harvard, MIT, Yale, the U.S. Federal Reserve, and the World Bank. We are also consistently ranked among the world's top research departments. Berkeley faculty have won 5 Nobel Prizes, 5 John Bates Clark Medals, and 21 Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowships (an average of 1 per year since 1995). Berkeley economics faculty and students have done groundbreaking work in economic theory, econometrics, macroeconomics, and all major fields of applied research, and have served as policymakers at the highest levels, both in the U.S. and abroad.

Libraries

The Thomas J. Long Business Library houses the major collection of business administration materials on the Berkeley campus. The Long Library's collections emphasize the academic and scholarly aspects of business to support the research and teaching mission of the University. Special strengths of the collection include: business ethics; company and business history; corporate finance; corporate social responsibility; entrepreneurship; family business; high-technology industries; innovation and technological change; and nonprofit management. The collection, which spans our physical library, off-site storage in Richmond, and the web, includes over 150,000 books, 1.6 million microforms, and thousands of subscriptions in digital format. A large digital library in the social sciences supports the interdisciplinary research needs of graduate students and faculty.

The Mathematics Statistics Library maintains a reserve collection of software manuals for the Econometrics Lab . The books are owned by the Econometrics Lab but circulated by the library on their behalf.

Research Centers

Faculty and students in the department participate in many research centers. For further information, see the department's website .

Undergraduate Program

Economics : BA

Graduate Program

Economics : PhD

Visit Department Website

Courses

Economics

ECON 1 Introduction to Economics 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Summer 2017 8 Week Session, Spring 2017
A survey of economics designed to give an overview of the field.

ECON 2 Introduction to Economics--Lecture Format 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Spring 2016, Spring 2015
The course provides a survey of economics principles and methods. It covers both microeconomics, the study of consumer choice, firm behavior, and market interaction, and macroeconomics, the study of economic growth, unemployment, and inflation. Special emphasis is placed on the application of economic tools to contemporary economic problems and policies. Economics 2 differs from Economics 1 in that it has an additional hour of lecture per week and can thus cover topics in greater depth. It is particularly appropriate for intended economics majors.

ECON C3 Introduction to Environmental Economics and Policy 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Summer 2017 8 Week Session, Spring 2017
Introduction to microeconomics with emphasis on resource, agricultural, and environmental issues.

ECON 24 Freshman Seminar 1 Unit

Terms offered: Fall 2011, Spring 2008, Fall 2004
The Freshman Seminar Program has been designed to provide new students with the opportunity to explore an intellectual topic with a faculty member in a small seminar setting. Freshman seminars are offered in all campus departments. Topics vary from department to department and semester to semester. Enrollment limited to 15 freshman.

ECON 84 Sophomore Seminar 1 or 2 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Spring 2016, Spring 2015
Sophomore seminars are small interactive courses offered by faculty members in departments all across the campus. Sophomore seminars offer opportunity for close, regular intellectual contact between faculty members and students in the crucial second year. The topics vary from department to department and semester to semester. Enrollment limited to 15 sophomores.

ECON 98 Directed Group Study 1 - 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016
Written proposal must be approved by Department Chair. Seminars for the group study of selected topics, which will vary from year to year. Topics may be initiated by students.

ECON 100A Economic Analysis--Micro 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Summer 2017 8 Week Session, Spring 2017
Resource allocation and price determination.

ECON 100B Economic Analysis--Macro 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Summer 2017 8 Week Session, Spring 2017
A study of the factors which determine national income, employment, and price levels, with attention to the effects of monetary and fiscal policy.

ECON 101A Economic Theory--Micro 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016
Theory of resource allocation and price determination with an emphasis on microeconomic principles.

ECON 101B Economic Theory--Macro 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016
A study of theories of the determination of national income, employment, and price levels, with attention to the effects of monetary and fiscal policy.

ECON C102 Natural Resource Economics 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Fall 2016, Fall 2015
Introduction to the economics of natural resources. Land and the concept of economic rent. Models of optimal depletion of nonrenewable resources and optimal use of renewable resources. Application to energy, forests, fisheries, water, and climate change. Resources, growth, and sustainability.

ECON C103 Introduction to Mathematical Economics 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016
Selected topics illustrating the application of mathematics to economic theory. This course is intended for upper-division students in Mathematics, Statistics, the Physical Sciences, and Engineering, and for economics majors with adequate mathematical preparation. No economic background is required.

ECON 104 Advanced Microeconomic Theory 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Spring 2016, Spring 2015
This course explores some issues in advanced microeconomic theory, with special emphasis on game-theoretic models and the theory of choice under uncertainty. Specific applications will vary from year to year, but will generally include topics from information economics and models of strategic interaction.

ECON 105 History of Economic Thought 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Summer 2017 First 6 Week Session, Fall 2016
A survey of the theories of major economists from Adam Smith to Keynes.

ECON C110 Game Theory in the Social Sciences 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Fall 2016, Fall 2015
A non-technical introduction to game theory. Basic principle, and models of interaction among players, with a strong emphasis on applications to political science, economics, and other social sciences.

ECON N110 Game Theory in the Social Sciences 4 Units

Terms offered: Summer 2017 8 Week Session, Summer 2016 10 Week Session, Summer 2016 8 Week Session
A non-technical introduction to game theory. Basic principle, and models of interaction among players, with a strong emphasis on applications to political science, economics, and other social sciences.

ECON 113 American Economic History 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Spring 2015, Spring 2014
A survey of trends in the American economy; emphasis on factors explaining economic growth and on the changing distribution of the gains and losses associated with growth.

ECON N113 American Economic History 4 Units

Terms offered: Summer 2010 8 Week Session, Summer 2009 10 Week Session, Summer 2009 8 Week Session
A survey of trends in the American economy; emphasis on factors explaining economic growth and on the changing distribution of the gains and losses associated with growth.

ECON 115 The World Economy in the Twentieth Century 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016
Development of the world economic system with particular reference to world-wide trading relationships. This course is equivalent to HISTORY 160; students will not receive credit for both courses.

ECON 119 Psychology and Economics 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Summer 2017 8 Week Session, Fall 2016
This course presents psychological and experimental economics research demonstrating departures from perfect rationality, self-interest, and other classical assumptions of economics and explores ways that these departures can be mathematically modeled and incorporated into mainstream positive and normative economics. The course will focus on the behavioral evidence itself, especially on specific formal assumptions that capture the findings in a way that can be incorporated into economics. The implications of these new assumptions for theoretical and empirical economics will be explored.

ECON 121 Industrial Organization and Public Policy 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Summer 2017 8 Week Session, Spring 2017
The organization and structure of production in the U.S. economy. Determinants of market structure, business behavior, and economic performance. Implications for antitrust policy.

ECON 122 Industrial Organization Seminar 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2012, Spring 2010, Spring 2009
Seminar on problems in the field of industrial organization. Seminar paper is required.

ECON 123 Government Regulation of Industry 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2014, Spring 2014, Spring 2013
Problems of public policy in the field of industrial organization. Analysis of regulatory consequences with particular attention to economic performance.

ECON 124 Special Topics in Industrial Organization 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2016, Spring 2015, Spring 2014
Analysis of market structure, conduct and performance in selected industries. See course announcement for current topics.

ECON C125 Environmental Economics 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Summer 2017 8 Week Session, Spring 2017, Summer 2016
Theories of externalities and public goods applied to pollution and environmental policy. Trade-off between production and environmental amenities. Assessing nonmarket value of environmental amenities. Remediation and clean-up policies. Environment and development. Biodiversity management.

ECON 131 Public Economics 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Summer 2017 8 Week Session, Spring 2017
This course focuses on the role of the government in the economy from a theoretical and empirical perspective. The aim of the course is to provide an understanding of the reasons for government intervention in the economy, analyzing the merits of possible government policies, and the response of economic agents to the government's actions. The course covers the analysis of tax policy, social insurance programs, public goods, environmental protection, and the interaction between different levels of government. Special emphasis is set on current government policy issues such as social security reform, income tax reform, and budget deficits.

ECON 132 Seminar in Public Sector Economics 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2015, Fall 2014, Fall 2013
Enrollment will be limited. A seminar paper is required.

ECON 133 Global Inequality and Growth 4 Units

Terms offered: Summer 2017 First 6 Week Session, Spring 2017, Summer 2016 First 6 Week Session
This course provides an introduction to the analysis of economic inequalities and the interplay between inequality and economic growth. It focuses on three sets of core questions: 1) How does inequality evolve over the path of development? 2) What are the theories that can explain the degree of economic inequalities and its dynamic? 3) How do policies affect inequalities, and what types of policies can foster equitable growth? The course addresses these issues from a global and historical perspective: it comprehensively deals with the United States today, but also with inequality in China, India, Latin America, and Europe, as far back as 1700.

ECON 134 Macroeconomic Policy from the Great Depression to Today 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2014, Spring 2013, Spring 2012
This course will analyze the macroeconomic challenges and policy responses in the United States over the past century. Among the key topics studied are the Great Depression and the New Deal; boom and bust monetary and fiscal policy in the early post-World War II period; the Volcker disinflation and the Great Moderation; and the 2008 financial crisis and the Great Recession.

ECON 136 Financial Economics 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Summer 2017 8 Week Session, Spring 2017
Analysis of financial assets and institutions. The course emphasizes modern asset valuation theory and the role of financial intermediaries, and their regulation, in the financial system.

ECON N136 Financial Economics 4 Units

Terms offered: Summer 2010 8 Week Session, Summer 2009 10 Week Session, Summer 2009 8 Week Session
Analysis of financial assets and institutions. The course emphasizes modern asset valuation theory and the role of financial intermediaries, and their regulation, in the financial system.

ECON 137 Aggregate Economics Seminar 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2007, Spring 2006, Fall 2003
Enrollment will be limited. A seminar paper is required.

ECON 138 Financial and Behavioral Economics 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Spring 2016, Fall 2015
This course is an advanced class in Financial Economics. Topics include moral hazard (principal-agent problems, free cash flow), asymmetric Information (security issurance, dividends), mergers and acquisitions (theory, managerial incentives), corporate governance (separation of ownership and control, internal capital markets, superstar CEOs), corporate fraud (earnings manipulations). This class emphasizes the economic underpinning of financial decision-making and is mathematically and technically demanding. You will be required to do some empirical homework using STATA.

ECON 139 Intermediate Financial Economics 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2017
This is a 4-unit advanced undergraduate course designed for undergraduates in Economics, Statistics, Mathematics, and Industrial Engineering/Operations Research who are interested in financial economics and finance. This course will stress the link between financial economics and equilibrium theory. Less attention will be devoted to purely financial topics such as the valuation of derivatives. This course is intended as the segue between a first course in financial economics (at the undergraduate level) and graduate-level courses in financial economics and finance.

The idea is to introduce students to the full range of topics typically covered by a financial economics and/or discrete time asset pricing course at the doctoral level.

ECON 140 Economic Statistics and Econometrics 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Summer 2017 8 Week Session, Spring 2017
Introduction to problems of observation, estimation, and hypothesis testing in economics. This course covers the linear regression model and its application to empirical problems in economics.

ECON 141 Econometric Analysis 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016
Introduction to problems of observation, estimation, and hypothesis testing in economics. This course covers the statistical theory for the linear regression model and its variants, with examples from empirical economics.

ECON C142 Applied Econometrics and Public Policy 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016, Fall 2015
This course focuses on the sensible application of econometric methods to empirical problems in economics and public policy analysis. It provides background on issues that arise when analyzing non-experimental social science data and a guide for tools that are useful for empirical research. By the end of the course, students will have an understanding of the types of research designs that can lead to convincing analysis and be comfortable working with large scale data sets.

ECON 151 Labor Economics 4 Units

Terms offered: Summer 2017 8 Week Session, Spring 2017, Summer 2016 8 Week Session
This course will analyze the economic forces that shape labor markets, institutions, and performance in the U.S., Japan, and at least one European country (usually Germany). Institutions examined include trade unions, legal regulations, and social conventions.

ECON 152 Wage Theory and Policy 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2016, Spring 2015, Fall 2009
This course focuses on theoretical and empirical analysis of wage and employment determination in the labor market. In addition, the role of public policy in affecting wage and employment outcomes in the U.S. labor market is examined. Topics include labor supply, labor demand, minimum wages, the economics of education and training, discrimination and the impact of antidiscrimination programs, changes in wage inequality over time, immigration, unions, unemployment, and poverty.

ECON N152 Wage Theory and Policy 4 Units

Terms offered: Not yet offered
This course focuses on theoretical and empirical analysis of wage and employment determination in the labor market. In addition, the role of public policy in affecting wage and employment outcomes in the U.S. labor market is examined. Topics include labor supply, labor demand, minimum wages, the economics of education and training, discrimination and the impact of antidiscrimination programs, changes in wage inequality over time, immigration, unions, unemployment, and poverty.

ECON 153 Labor Economics Seminar 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2015, Fall 2014, Spring 2009
Topics in labor economics. Seminar paper required.

ECON 154 Economics of Discrimination 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2016, Spring 2015, Spring 2014
Starting from Becker's classic book on the economics of discrimination, this course will focus on issues of difference and discrimination accociated with race, gender, or nation of birth, focusing particularly on credit and housing markets, education, and health care. The course looks carefully at the ways in which econometrics is used to address questions of discrimination.

ECON 155 Urban Economics 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Summer 2017 8 Week Session, Fall 2016
Application of economic theory to urban problems. Topics covered include location theory, housing, transportation, and the fiscal problems of city government.

ECON 155A Cities and Public Policy 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Spring 2016
This is an advanced course considering the economic forces governing cities and a host of attendant public policy issues. Topics covered will include theory and evidence on sources of agglomeration economies and urban growth, housing markets, segregation, neighborhood effects, and place-based policies.

ECON 157 Health Economics 4 Units

Terms offered: Summer 2017 8 Week Session, Spring 2017, Summer 2016 8 Week Session
An economic analysis of policies and institutions in the U.S. health care sector. Topics covered include the supply and demand for health services, conceptual and policy issues relating to the provision of health insurance, and economic analysis of efficient regulatory policies toward the health care sector.

ECON 161 Economics of Transition: Eastern Europe 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2016, Spring 2015, Fall 2010
Economic behavior under socialism; socialism vs. capitalism. Transition challenges. Stylized facts of transition. Political economy of reform strategies. Liberalization and the macroeconomic environment. Privatization policies and enterprise restructuring. Legal reform, institutional change, and variation in economic performance across countries. Foreign trade and enlargement of the European Union to transition countries. The Washington consensus, transition, and the institutions of capitalism.

ECON 162 The Chinese Economy 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Fall 2016, Spring 2016
The Chinese economy, its institutions, reform and transition to the market, and development.

ECON C171 Economic Development 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016
Problems of underdevelopment and poverty, policy issues, and development strategy.

ECON N171 Economic Development 4 Units

Terms offered: Summer 2017 8 Week Session, Summer 2016 8 Week Session, Summer 2015 8 Week Session
Problems of underdevelopment and poverty, policy issues, and development strategy.

ECON 172 Case Studies in Economic Development 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Spring 2016, Fall 2015
A detailed study of the problems of development in a selected geographical area in Asia or Africa or Latin America.

ECON 173 Economic Development Seminar 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2010, Fall 2009, Spring 2009
A seminar paper will be required.

ECON 174 Global Poverty and Impact Evaluation 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Spring 2016, Spring 2015
Rather than simply describing the causes and symptoms of global poverty, this course will explore the variety of tools available for rigorously measuring the impact of development programs. Through weekly case studies of field research, the course will cover impact evaluation theory and methods. The course will culminate with a final project in which each student will design an impact evaluation of a policy or intervention.

ECON C175 Economic Demography 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Spring 2016, Summer 2015 First 6 Week Session
A general introduction to economic demography, addressing the following kinds of questions: What are the economic consequences of immigration to the U.S.? Will industrial nations be able to afford the health and pension costs of the aging populations? How has the size of the baby boom affected its economic well being? Why has fertility been high in Third World countries? In industrial countries, why is marriage postponed, divorce high, fertility so low, and extramarital fertility rising? What are the economic and environmental consequences of rapid population growth?

ECON N175 Economic Demography 3 Units

Terms offered: Summer 2013 10 Week Session, Summer 2013 8 Week Session
A general introduction to economic demography, addressing the following kinds of questions: What are the economic consequences of immigration to the U.S.? Will industrial nations be able to afford the health and pension costs of the aging populations? How has the size of the baby boom affected its economic well being? Why has fertility been high in Third World countries? In industrial countries, why is marriage postponed, divorce high, fertility so low, and extramarital fertility rising? What are the economic and environmental consequences of rapid population growth?

ECON C181 International Trade 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016
The theory of international trade and its applications to tariff protection. This course is equivalent to UGBA 118; students will not receive credit for both courses.

ECON N181 International Trade 4 Units

Terms offered: Summer 2017 First 6 Week Session, Summer 2016 10 Week Session, Summer 2016 First 6 Week Session
The theory of international trade and its applications to tariff protection.

ECON 182 International Monetary Economics 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Summer 2017 8 Week Session, Fall 2016
The balance of payments, the determination of the trade balance and income under fixed and floating exchange rates, money and prices in open economies, the internationalization of financial markets and its implications, international macroeconomic interdependence, capital flows, and the determination of the exchange rate.

ECON 191 Topics in Economic Research 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016
This course discusses recent research and policy developments. The core objective is to expose students to different aspects of research in economics. A sequence of five different frontier research topics are studied in depth each semester. Each topic lasts three weeks, during which students will familiarize themselves with cutting-edge economic research and methodology. Students will then develop their own research ideas and write two medium- size research papers.

ECON H195A Senior Honors Thesis 1 - 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Summer 2017 8 Week Session, Spring 2017
Preparation for writing a thesis, finding and organizing a topic, gathering data and getting started. H195A is not prerequisite to H195B.

ECON H195AS Senior Honors Thesis 1 - 3 Units

Terms offered: Prior to 2007
Preparation and writing of an honors thesis under the supervision of a member of the faculty. H195AS is not a prerequisite to H195BS.

ECON H195B Senior Honors Thesis 1 - 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Summer 2017 8 Week Session, Spring 2017
Writing a thesis under the supervision of a faculty member. Applications and details through the departmental undergraduate office. H195A is not prerequisite to H195B.

ECON H195BS Senior Honors Thesis 1 - 3 Units

Terms offered: Prior to 2007
Preparation and writing of an honors thesis under the supervision of a member of the faculty.

ECON 196 Special Topics in Economics 1 - 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Fall 2016, Spring 2016
Study in various fields of economics. Topics will vary from semester to semester and will be announced at the beginning of each semester.

ECON 197 Field Studies 1 - 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Summer 2017 8 Week Session, Summer 2017 Second 6 Week Session
Written proposal must be approved by Department Chair. Supervised field studies in economics. Projects may be initiated by the students.

ECON 198 Directed Group Study 1 - 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016
Written proposal must be approved by Department Chair. Seminars for the group study of selected topics, which will vary from year to year. Topics may be initiated by students.

ECON 199 Supervised Independent Study and Research 1 - 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Summer 2017 8 Week Session, Summer 2017 Second 6 Week Session
Written proposal must be approved by Department Chair. Enrollment is restricted.

ECON 201A Economic Theory 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Fall 2016, Fall 2015
Basic preparation for the Ph.D. program including theory of the firm and the consumer, game theory.

ECON 201B Economic Theory 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Spring 2016, Spring 2015
Basic preparation for the Ph.D. program including agency theory and mechanism design, general equilibrium theory.

ECON 202A Macroeconomic Theory 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Fall 2016, Fall 2015
Basic preparation for the Ph.D. program including aggregation theory, national accounting and index problems, survey of major short-term models, implications of various expectations hypotheses, wage price determination, the role of money and financial assets, theories of consumption and investment, disequilibrium theory, dynamic systems, and international considerations.

ECON 202B Macroeconomic Theory 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Spring 2016, Spring 2015
Basic preparation for the Ph.D. program including aggregation theory, national accounting and index problems, survey of major short-term models, implications of various expectations hypotheses, wage price determination, the role of money and financial assets, theories of consumption and investment, disequilibrium theory, dynamic systems, and international considerations.

ECON 204 Mathematical Tools for Economics 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Summer 2017 3 Week Session, Fall 2016
The course provides a rigorous abstract treatment of the elements of real analysis and linear algebra central to current research in economics. The course develops in the students the ability to read mathematical proofs and to compose simple proofs on their own.

ECON 206 Mechanism Design and Agency Theory 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Spring 2016, Spring 2015
This course will study the optimal design of mechanisms in the presence of incomplete information and imperfect observability. The course will begin with the "classic" principal-agent problem and will then develop its applications to the "implicit contracts" theory of agency and to the choice of government policies for regulated industries. The second half of the course will treat the design of auctions, regulation with costly or imperfect monitoring, mechanism design with limited contracts.

ECON 207A Mathematical Economics 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2011, Fall 2010, Spring 2009
Mathematical analysis of economic theory. The problems treated involve as wide a range of mathematical techniques and of economic topics as possible, including theories of preference, utility, demand, personal probability, games and general equilibrium. Also listed as IDS 213A-213B and Math 213A-213B.

ECON 207B Mathematical Economics 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2015, Spring 2012, Spring 2011
Mathematical analysis of economic theory. The problems treated involve as wide a range of mathematical techniques and of economic topics as possible, including theories of preference, utility, demand, personal probability, games and general equilibrium. Also listed as IDS 213A-213B and Math 213A-213B.

ECON 208 Microeconomic Theory Seminar 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016

ECON 209A Theory and Application of Non-Cooperative Games 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2014, Fall 2013, Fall 2012
This course will study both pure game theory and its application to such problems as oligopoly pricing, non-cooperative bargaining, predatory pricing, and optimal auctions. The focus will be on game theory as a modelling process as opposed to a body of known results.

ECON 209B Theory and Application of Non-Cooperative Games: II 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2016, Spring 2015, Spring 2014
The course will cover basic topics not covered in 209A; will provide a more thorough treatment of topics covered in 209A; will cover a selection of advanced topics.

ECON 210A Introduction to Economic History 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Spring 2016, Spring 2015
Survey of some central themes in world economic history. Required of all Ph.D. candidates in economics.

ECON 210B Topics in European Economic History 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Spring 2016, Fall 2013
A survey of some central themes in European economic history.

ECON 210C Topics in American Economic History 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Fall 2016, Fall 2015
A survey of some central themes in American economic history.

ECON 211 Seminar in Economic History 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016

ECON 215A Political Economics 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Fall 2016, Fall 2015
Tools of political economics: preferences and institutions, electoral competition, agency, partisan politics. Redistributive politics: general interest politics, special interest politics. Comparative politics: electoral rules, separation of powers, political regimes. Dynamic politics: fiscal policy, growth.

ECON 215B Political Economics 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2016, Spring 2015, Fall 2013
Tools of political economics: preferences and institutions, electoral competition, agency, partisan politics. Redistributive politics: general interest politics, special interest politics. Comparative politics: electoral rules, separation of powers, political regimes. Dynamic politics: fiscal policy, growth.

ECON C215A Political Economics 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2010, Fall 2009
Tools of political economics: preferences and institutions, electoral competition, agency, partisan politics. Redistributive politics: general interest politics, special interest politics. Comparative politics: electoral rules, separation of powers, political regimes. Dynamic politics: fiscal policy, growth.

ECON C215B Political Economics 3 Units

Terms offered: Prior to 2007
Tools of political economics: preferences and institutions, electoral competition, agency, partisan politics. Redistributive politics: general interest politics, special interest politics. Comparative politics: electoral rules, separation of powers, political regimes. Dynamic politics: fiscal policy, growth.

ECON 217 Risk Seminar 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016
This interdisciplinary seminar features seminar participants and guest speakers from academic institutions and financial services firms, presenting work on the analysis and management of risk in financial markets. Economics, statistics, finance, operations research, and other disciplines will be represented.

ECON 218 Seminar in Psychology and Economics 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016
A graduate seminar in the field of behavioral economics.

ECON 219A Foundations of Psychology and Economics 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Fall 2016, Spring 2016
This course presents psychological and experimental economics research demonstrating departures from perfect rationality, self-interest, and other classical assumptions of economics and explores ways that these departures can be mathematically modeled and incorporated into mainstream positive and normative economics. The course will focus on the behavioral evidence itself, especially on specific formal assumptions that capture the findings in a way that can be used by economists. Economic applications will be used for illustrative purposes, but the course will emphasize formal theory.

ECON 219B Applications of Psychology and Economics 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Spring 2015, Spring 2014
This course will build off of the material presented in 219A. It will expand on the psychological and experimental economic research presented there, but will emphasize a range of economic applications and especially empirical research.

ECON 220A Industrial Organization 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Spring 2016, Spring 2015
Market structure, conduct and performance in the unregulated sector of the American economy. Public policies related to the promotion or restriction of competition.

ECON 220B Industrial Organization 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Fall 2016, Fall 2015
Continuation of 220A. The characteristics of regulated industries and the consequences of regulation for economic performance.

ECON 220C Special Topics in Industrial Organization 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Spring 2016, Fall 2013
See course announcement for current topics.

ECON 221 Seminar in Industrial Organization: Regulation and Public Enterprise 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016

ECON C222 Economics of Innovation 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016, Spring 2016, Fall 2015, Spring 2015
Study of innovation, technical change, and intellectual property, including the industrial organization and performance of high-technology industries and firms; the use of economic, patent, and other bibliometric data for the analysis of technical change; legal and economic issues of intellectual property rights; science and technology policy; and the contributions of innovation and diffusion to economic growth. Methods of analysis are both theoretical and empirical, econometric and case study.

ECON 224 Economics of Institutions 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Spring 2016, Spring 2015
This course develops the proposition that institutions have pervasive ramifications for understanding economic organization. A comparative institutional approach is employed whereby the transaction is made the basic unit of analysis and alternative modes of organization are assessed with respect to their comparative contracting properties.

ECON C225 Workshop in Institutional Analysis 2 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016, Spring 2016, Fall 2015, Spring 2015
This seminar features current research of faculty, from UC Berkeley and elsewhere, and of advanced doctoral students who are investigating the efficacy of economic and non-economic forms of organization. An interdisciplinary perspective--combining aspects of law, economics, and organization--is maintained. Markets, hierarchies, hybrids, bureaus, and the supporting institutions of law and politics all come under scrutiny. The aspiration is to progressively build toward a new science of organization.

ECON 230A Public Economics 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Fall 2016, Fall 2015
The economic and policy analysis of government expenditures, taxes, and intergovernmental fiscal relations. 230A is not a prerequisite for 230B.

ECON 230B Public Economics 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Spring 2016, Spring 2015
Government intervention changes opportunities and incentives for firms, families, individuals, service providers, and state and local government. This course considers the incentive effects of government expenditure programs. The primary emphasis will be in the examination of the effect of social expenditure programs on individuals and families. Most of the papers will be empirical. The course will not contain an explicit section on methodology and econometric techniques; instead, relevant econometric techniques (e.g., discrete choice, duration analysis) will be discussed in the context of the empirical literature.

ECON 230C Public Sector Microeconomics 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2010, Spring 2009, Spring 1999
The economic and policy analysis of government expenditures, taxes, and intergovernmental fiscal relations.

ECON 231 Seminar in Public Sector Economics 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016

ECON 234A Macroeconomic Finance 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2012, Spring 2011, Fall 2009
Introduction to macroeconomic finance. Course covers static portfolio choice, capital asset pricing model (CAPM), consumption based models, dynamic equilibrium asset pricing theories, and current issues in behavioral finance. Strong emphasis on household finance and risk-sharing. Course is both theoretical and empirical.

ECON 234C Financial Decision-Making in Firms 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Spring 2016, Spring 2015
This course provides a theoretical and empirical treatment of the core topics in corporate finance including internal corporate investment; external corporate investment (mergers and acquisitions); capital structure and financial contracting; bankruptcy; corporate governance.

ECON 235 Financial Economics Seminar 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016
This course presents speakers who work on the boundary of economics and finance, on topics including asset pricing, behavioral finance, and corporate finance.

ECON 236A Aggregate Economics 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Fall 2016, Fall 2015
Macroeconomic models; theory and practice of aggregate economics; rational expectations models; finance theory integrated with macro.

ECON 236B Aggregate Economics 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Spring 2016, Spring 2015
Macroeconomic models; theory and practice of aggregate economics; rational expectations models; finance theory integrated with macro.

ECON 237 Seminar in Advanced Macroeconomics and Money 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016

ECON 240A Econometrics 5 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Fall 2016, Fall 2015
Basic preparation for the Ph.D. program including probability and statistical theory and the classical linear regression model.

ECON 240B Econometrics 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Spring 2016, Spring 2015
Basic preparation for the Ph.D. program including generalized least squares; instrumental variables estimation; generalized method of moments; time series analysis; and nonlinear models.

ECON 241A Econometrics 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Spring 2016, Spring 2015
Intended for students specializing in econometrics and others with strong mathematical backgrounds. Linear and nonlinear statistical models and their applications in economics. Special problems in analyzing data from non-controlled experiments.

ECON 241B Econometrics 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Fall 2016, Fall 2015
Simultaneous equations and time-series models.

ECON 242 Seminar in Econometrics 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016

ECON 244 Applied Econometrics 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Fall 2016, Fall 2015
Methods of applied econometrics, with emphasis on alternative modelling strategies and problems met in practice. Intended for doctoral students conducting empirical research.

ECON 250A Labor Economics 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Fall 2016, Fall 2015
Analysis of labor market behavior.

ECON 250B Labor Economics 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2016, Spring 2015, Spring 2014
Analysis of labor market behavior.

ECON 250C Labor Economics 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2014, Spring 2013, Spring 2012
Analysis of labor market behavior.

ECON 251 Seminar in Labor Economics 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016
Seminar for students at the doctoral dissertation level.

ECON 260A Comparative Economics 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Fall 2016, Fall 2015
New issues raised by transition for economics. Political economy of reform: speed, sequencing, reform design, political economy of privatization. Allocative changes: speed of sectoral reallocation, price liberalization, output fall and macroeconomic dynamics, law enforcement, dynamics of institutional change.

ECON 270B Development Economics 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Spring 2016, Spring 2015
Problems of underdevelopment and poverty, policy issues and development strategies.

ECON 270C Development Economics 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Spring 2016, Spring 2015
Basic macro-policy planning with investment project analysis.

ECON C270A Microeconomics of Development 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Fall 2016, Fall 2015
Theoretical and empirical analyses of poverty and inequality, household and community behavior, and contract and institutions in the context of developing countries.

ECON 271 Seminar in Development Economics 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016

ECON 274 Global Poverty and Impact Evaluation 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Spring 2016, Spring 2015
Rather than simply describing the causes and symptoms of global poverty, this course will explore the variety of tools available for rigorously measuring the impact of development programs. Through weekly case studies of field research, the course will cover impact evaluation theory and methods. The course will culminate with a final project in which each student will design an impact evaluation of a policy or intervention.

ECON C275A Economic Demography 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2015, Spring 2014, Spring 2013
Economic consequences of demographic change in developing and developed countries including capital formation, labor markets, and intergenerational transfers. Economic determinants of fertility, mortality and migration.

ECON 280A International Economics 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Fall 2016, Fall 2015
The world economy as a general equilibrium system. The theory of international economics, trade policy.

ECON 280B International Economics 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Fall 2016, Fall 2015
This course develops basic theoretical models for studying issues in open-economy macroeconomics. The current account and the trade balance, international capital market integration, developing country debt problems, the real exchange rate, fiscal policy in the open economy, and international policy coordination.

ECON 280C International Economics 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Spring 2015, Spring 2014
This course is an empirical treatment of open-economy macroeconomics and finance. Topics include trade elasticities, the determination of the trade balance and income under fixed and floating exchange rates, purchasing power parity, devaluation in small open economies, quantifying the degree of international capital mobility, implications for the effectiveness of monetary and fiscal policy, international interdependence and coordination, models of exchange rate determination.

ECON 281 Seminar in International Trade and Finance 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016

ECON 291 Departmental Seminar 1 Unit

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016
A general interest seminar featuring speakers and topics of broad interest whose work will be important for all areas of economics.

ECON 295 Survey of Research in Economics 1 Unit

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016
Presentations by departmental faculty of new research directions in different subfields of economics.

ECON 296 Special Topics in Economics 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2014, Spring 2013, Spring 2011
Topics of different sections to be announced annually.

ECON 298 Directed Group Study for Graduates 1 - 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016
Seminars for the group of selected topics, which will vary from year to year.

ECON 299 Supervised Independent Study and Research 1 - 12 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Summer 2017 8 Week Session, Summer 2017 Second 6 Week Session
Open to candidates for the Ph.D. degree who have passed the qualifying examination and who are engaged in research for the thesis, and in special cases, with consent of the instructor in charge, to graduate students who desire to do special work in a particular field.

ECON 301 GSI Practicum 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016
Course credit for experience gained in academic teaching through employment as a graduate student instructor.

ECON 375 GSI Pedagogy Workshop 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Fall 2016, Fall 2015
Course credit for experience gained in academic teaching through employment as a graduate student instructor.

ECON 602 Individual Study for Doctoral Students 1 - 8 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016
Individual study in consultation with the major field advisor, intended to provide an opportunity for qualified graduate students to prepare themselves for the various examinations required of candidates for the Ph.D. A student will be permitted to accumulate a maximum of 16 units of 602.

Faculty and Instructors

Faculty

David Sehun Ahn, Associate Professor. Game theory, decision theory, mathematical economics.
Research Profile

Alan J. Auerbach, Professor. Economics, law, tax policy, public finance.
Research Profile

David Card, Professor. Economics, immigration, unemployment, education, the Canadian, labor market conditions, minimum wage.
Research Profile

Stefano Dellavigna, Professor. Behavioral economics, applied microeconomics, behavioral finance, media economics.
Research Profile

J. Bradford Delong, Professor. Economics, globalization, economic growth, convergence, economics of post WWII Europe.
Research Profile

Aaron S. Edlin, Professor. Economics, industrial organization, regulation, antitrust.
Research Profile

Barry Eichengreen, Professor. Europe, China, economic growth, international economics, international finance, international monetary economics, economic history.
Research Profile

Haluk I. Ergin, Associate Professor.

Ben Faber, Assistant Professor.

Joseph Farrell, Professor. Economics, price theory models of anticompetitive exclusive dealing, switching costs, network effects, formal standardization.
Research Profile

Frederico S. Finan, Associate Professor.

Cecile Gaubert, Assistant Professor.

Lisa Goldberg, Adjunct Professor.

Yuriy Gorodnichenko, Associate Professor. Macroeconomics.
Research Profile

Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, Professor. Economics, exchange rate, lending booms, consumption, capital flows, global imbalances, external adjustment, international prices, international portfolios, financial crises, eurozone crisis.
Research Profile

Bryan Graham, Associate Professor. Econometrics, Social and Economic Networks, Peer Effects.
Research Profile

Benjamin R. Handel, Assistant Professor. Health economics, industrial organization.
Research Profile

Benjamin Hermalin, Professor. Contract theory, corporate governance, executive compensation, economics of leadership and organization, competitive strategy, industrial organization.
Research Profile

Hilary Hoynes, Professor. Poverty, inequality, economic policy, Social Safety Net, labor economics.
Research Profile

Michael Jansson, Professor. Economics, econometrics.
Research Profile

Shachar Kariv, Professor. Economics, experimental economics, behavioral economics, networks, microeconomic theory, social learning.
Research Profile

Michael Katz, Professor. Antitrust, economics of networks industries, intellectual property licensing, privacy, telecommunications policy.
Research Profile

Kei Kawai, Assistant Professor.

Patrick Kline, Associate Professor. Place Based Policies, labor markets, inequality, welfare programs, firm wage setting policies.
Research Profile

Ulrike Malmendier, Professor. Corporate finance, behavioral finance, behavioral economics, applied, microeconomics.
Research Profile

Edward Andrew Miguel, Professor. Africa, education, development economics, human capital, health, ethnic divisions, social capital, civil conflict, war, pre-analysis plans, water.
Research Profile

Conrad Miller, Assistant Professor.

Enrico Moretti, Professor. Labor economics, urban economics.
Research Profile

John Morgan, Professor. Game theory, pricing, competitive strategy, innovation, tech economy, e-commerce, charitable giving, corporate social responsibility, entrepreneurship, survey and poll design, auctions.
Research Profile

Maurice Obstfeld, Professor. Economics, monetary and fiscal remedies for deflation, open-market purchases in a liquidity trap, exchange rates, and monetary policy, international finance, open-economy macroeconomics, macroeconomic history.
Research Profile

Martha Olney, Adjunct Professor. Economics, macroeconomics, discrimination, consumer credit, credit access, and advertising.
Research Profile

Demian Gaston Pouzo, Assistant Professor.

James L. Powell, Professor. Economics, endogeneity in semiparametric binary response models, instrumental variables estimation of nonparametric models, endogeneity in nonparametric and semiparametric regression models.
Research Profile

Andres Rodriguez-Clare, Professor. International trade, economic growth, multinational production, technology diffusion.
Research Profile

Gerard Roland, Professor. Institutions and development, culture and economics, political institutions and economic outcomes, European Parliament and European institutions, reforms in China/North Korea/Eastern Europe.
Research Profile

Christina D. Romer, Professor. Economics, the federal reserve, monetary shocks, the great depression.
Research Profile

David H. Romer, Professor. Economics, the federal reserve, the Bellman equation, measuring monetary shocks.
Research Profile

Jesse Rothstein, Associate Professor. Inequality, unemployment, tax policy, local public finance, value added, teacher quality, black-white gap, segregation, economics of education, labor market.
Research Profile

Emmanuel Saez, Professor. Inequality, taxation, redistribution.
Research Profile

Benjamin Schoefer, Assistant Professor.

Chris Shannon, Professor. Economics, mathematical economics, economic theory.
Research Profile

Carl Shapiro, Professor. Business, economics, game theory, licensing, anti-trust economics, intellectual property, economics of networks and interconnection.
Research Profile

David Sraer, Assistant Professor.

Philipp Strack, Assistant Professor. Gametheory, auctions, Mechanism Design, pricing, Revenue Management, learning, Models of Competition, microeconomic theory, behavioral economics, option pricing.
Research Profile

Laura D'Andrea Tyson, Professor. High-technology competition, US industrial and technology policies, international economy, US trade policy, US competitiveness, emerging market economies, multinational companies in the US economy, gender gap (economic participation, educational attainment, political empowerment and health), research and development tax credit.
Research Profile

Christopher Walters, Assistant Professor. Labor economics, applied econometrics, economics of education, structural modeling.
Research Profile

Glenn A. Woroch, Adjunct Professor. Economics, privacy, telecommunications policy, antitrust policy, intellectual property protection.
Research Profile

Danny Yagan, Assistant Professor.

Gabriel Zucman, Assistant Professor.

Lecturers

Stephen Bianchi, Lecturer.

Archana Dube, Lecturer.

Evgeniya A. Duzhak, Lecturer.

Ted Egan, Lecturer.

Galina Hale, Lecturer.

Raymond J. Hawkins, Lecturer.

Calanit Kamala, Lecturer.

Joseph W. H. Lough, Lecturer.

Dmitry Taubinsky, Lecturer.

Steven A. Wood, Lecturer.

Emeritus Faculty

George A. Akerlof, Professor Emeritus. Economics, macroeconomics, poverty, family problems, crime, discrimination, monetary policy, German unification.
Research Profile

Robert Anderson, Professor Emeritus. Finance, probability theory, mathematical economics, nonstandard analysis.
Research Profile

Pranab Bardhan, Professor Emeritus. Poverty, inequality, globalization, political economy, institutional economics, development economics, international economics.
Research Profile

George F. Break, Professor Emeritus.

Clair Brown, Professor Emeritus. Innovation, management, economics, labor, employment, labor market institutions, semi-conductor industry.
Research Profile

Roger Craine, Professor Emeritus. Economics, exchange rate regime credibility, the agency cost of capital, stochastic-volatility jump-diffusion models, dollarization, monetary policy shocks, security market responses.
Research Profile

Jan De Vries, Professor Emeritus. Economics, demography, history.
Research Profile

Albert Fishlow, Professor Emeritus.

Richard J. Gilbert, Professor Emeritus. Economics, industrial organization, regulation, market power in electricity networks, market structure, organizational structure, and r&d diversity, antitrust policy evolution.
Research Profile

Bronwyn H. Hall, Professor Emeritus. Applied econometrics, economics of technical change, economics of innovation, patent policy, R&D value, taxation, financing R&D.
Research Profile

Theodore E. Keeler, Professor Emeritus.

John M. Letiche, Professor Emeritus. Economics.
Research Profile

Daniel L. Mcfadden, Professor Emeritus.

Michael Reich, Professor Emeritus. Economics, training, pensions, living wages.
Research Profile

Thomas J. Rothenberg, Professor Emeritus. Economics.
Research Profile

Kenneth E. Train, Professor Emeritus. Economics, regulation, econometrics, energy, choice modeling.
Research Profile

Benjamin N. Ward, Professor Emeritus.

Oliver E. Williamson, Professor Emeritus. Economics, corporations.
Research Profile

Contact Information

Department of Economics - Main Office

530 Evans Hall

Phone: 510-642-0822

Fax: 510-642-6615

econdept@berkeley.edu

Visit Department Website

Department Chair

Shachar Kariv, PhD

Phone: 510-643-0712

econchair@berkeley.edu

Undergraduate Chair

Martha Olney, PhD

Phone: 510-642-6083

ugrad@econ.berkeley.edu

Director of Student Services

Patrick G. Allen

543 Evans Hall

Phone: 510-642-0824

pallen@econ.berkeley.edu

Graduate Advisor

Vicky Lee

541 Evans Hall

Phone: 510-642-6172

vickyalee@berkeley.edu

Lead Undergraduate Advisor

Khia Serneo

539 Evans Hall

ugrad@econ.berkeley.edu

Undergraduate Advisor

Antoine Davis

539 Evans Hall

ugrad@econ.berkeley.edu

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