All sections of Economics 495 have as their goal to further develop students' analytical thinking, writing, team-work, and presentation skills. Our particular seminar will develop these skills by applying economic analysis to The Austrian School of Economics, so-named because of the national origin of its founders. The school embodies an alternative approach to economics that emphasizes methodological individualism and subjectivism. The Austrian School of Economics traces its roots back to the works of the Spanish Scholastics of the sixteenth century and stresses the importance of the individual, private property, limited government and the organizing power of the free-market. Students will read from authors such as Menger, Mises, Hayek, Kirzner, Rothbard and Hoppe and evaluate various properties of a state-planned economy versus a decentralized free market economy. May not be taken by any student who has taken or is planning on taking Economics 309.

In this section of Economics 495 we will build a theoretical framework and read empirical studies that allow us to understand many interesting questions in international macroeconomics: What is the role of monetary and fiscal policy in open economies? What are the tradeoffs between fixed and flexible exchange rates? How and why did the European Union evolve? How does the international financial system work? How do financial crises emerge and what can we do about them? Should we be concerned about balance of payment imbalances? A variety of class formats will be used, including mini-lectures, classroom discussions, and student presentations. Students write several short papers, participate in the analysis of Harvard Business School Cases and make an individual final presentation based on their final paper. Prerequisite: Economics 251. May not be taken by any student who has taken or is planning on taking Economics 312.

All sections of Economics 495 have as their goal to further develop students' analytical thinking, writing, team-work, and presentation skills. Our particular seminar will develop these skills by applying economic analysis to various topics in personnel economics, including compensation and incentives, hiring, training, downsizing/buyouts, stock options, pensions, and teams, among many others. In order to add realism to, and applications for, the analysis, students will discuss and evaluate numerous real-world mini-cases and more formal case studies. Students will be evaluated on the quality of their written work, team problem sets, examinations, and discussion, and a variety of class formats will be used. May not be taken by any student who has taken or is planning on taking Economics 326.

This seminar involves the economic analysis of the law and legal institutions, an economics subdiscipline that is less than fifty years old. The focus will be on the common law, which concerns property rights, contracts, and torts. The sorts of questions that fall under each of these categories include: (1) Property rights: When a rancher and a farmer are neighbors, who should be responsible for protecting the farmer’s crops from the rancher’s cattle? (2) Contracts: Should oil companies have been held liable for breach of contract on deliveries they couldn’t fulfill because of the 1967 Mideast War? (3) Torts (harms): If a driver runs a stop sign and collides with an unlicensed driver, who should pay damages? Participants will analyze over 60 cases—sometimes individually, sometimes in small “legal teams” —with an emphasis on the incentive effects and efficiency outcomes that result from the legal decision in each case. Prerequisite: Economics 250.

This section is identical to section 4. It involves the economic analysis of the law and legal institutions, an economics subdiscipline that is less than fifty years old. The focus will be on the common law, which concerns property rights, contracts, and torts. The sorts of questions that fall under each of these categories include: (1) Property rights: When a rancher and a farmer are neighbors, who should be responsible for protecting the farmer’s crops from the rancher’s cattle? (2) Contracts: Should oil companies have been held liable for breach of contract on deliveries they couldn’t fulfill because of the 1967 Mideast War? (3) Torts (harms): If a driver runs a stop sign and collides with an unlicensed driver, who should pay damages? Participants will analyze over 60 cases—sometimes individually, sometimes in small “legal teams” —with an emphasis on the incentive effects and efficiency outcomes that result from the legal decision in each case. Prerequisite: Economics 250.