ECON 401 Advanced Microeconomics
An advanced treatment of micro-economic concepts and topics, such as consumer choice and demand analysis, production technology and cost, market structure and pricing, factor markets and shares, general equilibrium and economic welfare. Prerequisites: ECON 301; MATH 111, 112; ECON 471. Credit will be granted for only one of ECON 401 and ECON 412. Three credits.
ECON 402 Advanced Macroeconomics
An advanced treatment of macroeconomic theory and how macroeconomic policy is conducted. The course offers deeper insights into economic growth processes, business cycles, international macroeconomics stabilization policies, and alternative approaches to build macroeconomic models. Students are introduced to the use of two-period models. Prerequisites: ECON 302; MATH 111, 112, ECON 471. Three credits.
ECON 471 Mathematical Economics
An introduction to mathematical reasoning in economics and business, this course covers; the methodology of operations research; profit and cost analysis; resource use and production decisions; input-output and macro-analysis; pricing and inventory decisions; capitalization of cash flows and growth; portfolio selection and investment. Prerequisites: MATH 111, 112. Three credits.
ECON 491 Selected Topics I
Course content changes from year to year and may reflect faculty involvement in a specific area of research.
Topic for 2013-14: Energy Economics
This course will use microeconomic principles to model the markets for different energy sectors, including oil, gas, coal, electricity and renewables. Topics and model techniques include supply and demand, market structure, transportation models, game theory, econometric forecasting and futures markets, evaluation of the economic feasibility of energy projects, environmental externalities and the impact of renewables on the market, energy regulation, mathematical programming and dynamic optimization. The course will develop economic theory and fundamental skills required to analyze and make decisions about energy industries. The methods will be applied to current issues in energy markets. Prerequisites: ECON 201 and MATH 111. Three credits.
ECON 492 Selected Topics II
The specific contents of the course will change from year to year and may reflect faculty involvement in a specific area of research.
Topic for 2013-14: Introduction to Game Theory
This course is intended to provide students with an accessible introduction to models in which agents interact strategically. We will discuss the formal aspects of how to model games, as well as concepts of equilibrium in environments with different timing and informational structures. While the course is designed to give an overview of game theory, the emphasis is on providing students with a new set of modeling tools and applying those tools to a wide variety of applications. Some of the applications throughout the term will be illustrated with classroom experiments. Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Three credits.
ECON 493 Seminar
A capstone course intended to provide students with an overview of the discipline of economics. The approach taken may depend on the area of expertise of the instructor, and topics are determined to some extent by the interests of students. The course normally surveys the history of economic thought so that students gain an understanding of the evolution of the discipline, its methodology, and its relationship to economic policy. Other course content that achieves similar goals may be substituted. Three credits.
ECON 494 Thesis
Each student works under the supervision of a professor who guides the selection of a thesis topic, the use of resources, and the methodological component, and the quality of analysis. Restricted to honours students. Three credits over full year.
ECON 499 Directed Study
A directed study course advanced topics in economics. See section 3.5. Students wishing to take this course must consult the department chair. Three credits.
