teaching
Current courses
Economic Statistics (ECON 0210)
A lot of people think about research and statistical methods as something other people do. The goal of this course is for students to develop the capability to consume and produce quantitative research. Topics include probability theory, writing mathematical models to frame questions, hypothesis testing, statistical programming in Stata or R, and linear regression.
Environmental Economics (ECON 0265)
Humans are becoming increasingly aware that our actions to improve our welfare have far-reaching consequences on our environments and resource stocks. In this course, we will focus on developing proficiency with the fundamental issues and tools of environmental and natural resource economics. It is dedicated to the proposition that economic reasoning is critical for analyzing the persistence of environmental damage and for designing cost-effective environmental policies.
Space Economics (ECON 0488)
Humans are becoming increasingly dependent on outer space, and increasingly interested in using its resources and environments. Many of these dependencies and uses bring interesting tradeoffs. High fixed costs and national security concerns pit natural oligopolies against government monopsonies. Launch vehicles based on inter-continental ballistic missile technology provide access to extraterrestrial resources and environments while raising issues of weapons proliferation and airspace management. National security concerns create competing pressures to limit and liberalize markets for satellite services. Satellites provide real-time monitoring and global communications capabilities but create hazardous orbital debris with long-lived consequences. Extraterrestrial bodies offer untold reserves of precious minerals, habitat opportunities, and the potential to turbocharge global wealth inequality.
Understanding these issues and weighing different approaches requires a unique blend of ethical, legal, political, business, and scientific awareness. Being the science of scarcity and choice, economics is a natural framework to unify these dimensions—national security, technological spillovers, economic (in)efficiency, automation and human survival, equity, and more.
Prior courses
Math Tools for Economists 1 (ECON 1078-004; Fall 2018)
This course is the first of two courses designed to give students the mathematical background necessary for future courses in business and economics. Topics covered include basic college-level algebra, linear and nonlinear equations, quadratic optimization, functions and their graphs, set theory, summation, logic, and proofs.