Economics & Institutions, MGMT 7730-TRMBMS, SPRING 2010

 Week 0.     Orientation Materials

        Syllabus

                                 (NOTES on paper preparation)

(Online EXAMPLES of good papers )

 

Week 1. (Jan.5) Intro to Markets, Math Anxiety:        

Essential:

Basics of Supply and Demand   Microeconomics, Basics of Calculus 

An Example of working with Excel Solver:  MaxRev.xls,

Additional

The Economist Magazine on De-Criminalizing Drugs  

Rand Corp. on Drugs  Supply-side Prohibition with Inelastic Demand

Chapter 1 Graphs (PowerPoint), Chapter 2 Graphs (PowerPoint), 

Multivariate Optimization, Depicted in Excel: Ch2MultiVarOpt.xls

The Basic RULES of Calculus (strictly optional material

Lagrangians in more detail (optional):  

Constrained Optimization, Shadow Prices

Quadratic Equation Solver (comes in handy sometimes):    

http://www.math.com/students/calculators/source/quadratic.htm 

                Here is Assignment # 1 on Optimization      

 

Week 2 (Jan. 12): Macroeconomics: Money & Financial Assets   

Essential:

    Economic Outlook (ppt),    CBO Long Term Budget Outlook

Macro Graphs  The US Phillips Curve, 1960-2002   Fed Game   

    Results: Finance Game      Williams on Asset Bubbles (< = good graphic)

     Macroeconomics, Basic Keynesian Model,    Dynamic AS/AD (Bernanke)

  Macroeconomics, Money Supply   Movements of Productive Factors (Capital)

   CBO Estimates of Y*, U*    GDP and ‘Twin Deficit’ Accounting  

       LongTerm Budget Outlook, CBO   CBO Forecast to 2020

 

Additional

   J.M. Keynes’s “General Theory of Employment, Interest, & Money” 

Macroeconomics & the " New Economy"    Williams: Asset Bubbles     

      Brian Arthur's Web-page       Probabilities of "Innocent" Timing Luck

Deflation Risk     Swiss Complementary Currency    Natural and Monetary Stability

     Martin Wolff on: [ (Development Policy) (The Gold Standard) (US Debt) ] 

    (Long-Term Budget Outlook)  (US Balance of Payments)  (US Fiscal Deficit)

    ("The new world disorder" [Keynes and the origins of the "Bretton Woods" Institutions -- the IMF & World Bank], appearing in The New Yorker, Oct 26, 1998 v74 n33 p. 198-207.  I have also put this article on reserve.)

 

 

 Week 3. (Jan. 19) Consumer Optimization:  

Essential:

Demand Theory,     Pricing Strategies, Price_Discrimination_Game

Additional

Graphs -- Chaps. 3 & 4

               Paper on International Price Discrimination  (Important New Research)

                (Patricia Danzon of Penn in Pfizer forum)  <= New Link for this Web-site

                Market Price versus "Just Price"

                Optimizing Consumption: Cost Minimization / Utility Maximization (Duality)

                Brief Bio of Jeremy Bentham

 

 

Week 4. (Jan. 26) Regression & Forecasts: 

Essential:

     Demand Estimates, Forecasts, Data Sets for Econometric Analysis

·  FORECASTS of Dependent (Left-Hand-Side) Variables

(Durbin-Watson Statistic Tables)

Additional

4 Excel Sheets on: 

Univariate Regression,  Multivariate Regression

 Multicollinearity, Serial Correlation

 

                Here is Assignment # 2 on Regression                                                                   

 

Week 5. (Feb. 2) Firm Optimization: 

Essential:

   Production & Cost,  Cobb-Douglass 3-D, 

"Comparative Advantage" and Market Efficiency

   US Income Inequality Trend     Risk Mismanagement (NYTimes)

Additional

Quadratic Equation 3-D,  Learning Curve, Learning Calc

Estimate of US GDP Production Function 

  International Exports of CT (See Pages 60 & 61 of Governor's Econ Report)

  Brief Bio of David Ricardo  

Arthur Lewis’s Contribution to Development Thinking

 

           Here is Assignment # 3 on Waste                                                                                   

 

Week 6. (Feb. 9) More on Cost Analysis:

Essential:

     Estimating Cubic Cost Function    REVIEW Materials:   Practice 1st Half Test 

Additional

Profit and Break-Even Analysis   Deflation Analysis

           Excel Sheets on Avg. & Marg. Costs, Unit Costs, "Lab" on Unit Costs

                More on Avg. vs. Marg. Costs (with & without Calculus)

 

                  

Week 7: (Feb. 16) Monopoly & Market Power:

Essential:

   Basic Monopoly Analysis   Tariffs and Monopoly   A Brief Introduction to Game Theory

                      Here is Assignment # 4 on Nash Sequential Games                                                                 

Week 8: (Feb. 23) Introductory Game Theory:

Essential:

Foggy Business: Strategy, Time, and Perception  

(Military Analogies: Sun Tzu - Clausewitz)

                        Models of Oligopoly: Nash simplification

                                    Spreadsheet: convergence to Cournot-Nash Equilibrium

 

 MARCH 2nd CLASS CANCELLED

          Here is Assignment # 5 on Public Goods, or Any other Market Failure/Opportunity

NOTE: You Have 2 Weeks to do this assignment: Due Mar. 23

 

Week 9: (Mar. 9)  More Game Theory  

Essential:

  Randomized or "Mixed Strategy" Nash Equilibrium

Additional

     An R&D Race      Decision Trees, with Risk Calculation,   Markup Calculations,

            Proving Krugman's Result, or Why Microsoft Should not be Broken Up

Week 10: (Mar. 16) Public Goods

Essential:

Public Goods and Externalities   Coase’s Famous Paper on Externalities  

Coase and Non-Convexity    "Coase's Penguin" (Brilliant -- on New Prop. Rights)

Additional

  A Game of Externalities 

 The Evolution of Economic Thinking on Sustainability  

Intellectual Property -- Flexible Definitions  

Evolutionary Economics 1: "Tit for Tat"

Evolutionary Economics 2: Show how you feel

 

 

REVIEW Materials: Practice 2nd Half  Test


 

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