2002-2003 Edition
Texas A&M University Graduate CatalogTexas A&M University Graduate Catalog
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Board of Regents and System Administrative Officers
Texas A&M University Administrative Officers
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Texas A&M University at Galveston
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Department of Economics

J. W. Allen, R. K. Anderson, L. Auernheimer (Head), B. H. Baltagi, R. C. Battalio, E. K.Browning, D. R.Deere, A. J. Glass, D. Goldberg, J. M. Griffin, T. J. Gronberg, J. R. Hanson II, P. Hernandez-Verme, H.S.Hwang*, D.W.Jansen, Q. Li, J. R. Moroney, W. S. Neilson, S.Pejovich, S. L. Puller, M. O.Reynolds, R. Sarin, T. R. Saving, J. D. Straub, H. Tam, G. Tian, T. L. Turocy III, M. Ureta, J. B. Van Huyck, F.R. Welch, S. N. Wiggins

* Graduate Advisor

Graduate study in economics leads to the degrees of Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy. The graduate program develops theoretical and quantitative skills and analyzes a broad range of contemporary policy issues in order to prepare students for careers in teaching, research, business and government.

Both MS and PhD degrees are offered. It is not necessary to have a master's degree before beginning a doctoral program. To enter the doctoral program in economics, the student should present undergraduate credits in economics, although an undergraduate major in economics is not necessary. Additional preparation should include work in mathematics and statistics. The department has no foreign language requirement for a graduate degree in economics.

Economics
(ECON)

603. Public Economics I. (3-0). Credit 3.

Economics of taxation and public spending; theoretical and empirical analysis of the shifting and incidence of income, commodity and property taxes; models of optimal taxation and public spending; analysis of taxation and spending in a federal system of government. Prerequisite: Approval of instructor.

604. Public Economics II. (3-0). Credit 3.

Economics of collective action; theoretical and empirical analysis of externalities; externalities and public policy; the demand and supply of public goods; economic analysis of alternative systems of public choice; models of bureaucratic behavior. Prerequisite: ECON 629 or approval of instructor.

607. Foundations of Microeconomic Theory. (3-0). Credit 3.

Examination of positive and normative analysis in economic theory; emphasis on policy applications of the theory. Prerequisites: MATH 131 or equivalent; ECON 323 or equivalent; or approval of instructor.

609. Human Resource Economics I. (3-0). Credit 3.

Valuation and allocation of human resources; labor supply of households, labor supply over the life-cycle, determination of wages, human capital, migration, education, labor markets and population; use of the testable implications of theory and of evidence to explain observed labor market behavior. Prerequisite: ECON629 or equivalent.

610. Human Resource Economics II. (3-0). Credit 3.

Selected topics in labor markets; unemployment, earnings differentials, effects of occupational licensing, trade unions, income distribution, military manpower and the draft, effects of minimum wage and equal pay provisions, effects of welfare programs, the professional athlete's labor market and others; developing and analyzing empirical problems. Prerequisite: ECON 629 or equivalent.

611. Foundations of Macroeconomic Theory. (3-0). Credit 3.

Development of modern static national income analysis from general equilibrium system; roles of fiscal and monetary policy in promoting economic stability. Prerequisites: ECON 323 and 410; MATH 131 or equivalent.

629. Microeconomic Theory I. (3-0). Credit 3.

Core ideas in theoretical microeconomics; theory of consumer and firm; theory of competitive output and factor markets. Prerequisite: Approval of instructor.

630. Microeconomic Theory II. (3-0). Credit 3.

Advanced treatment of consumer and production theory; general equilibrium and welfare analysis. Prerequisites: ECON 629; ECMT 660.

631. Microeconomic Theory III. (3-0). Credit 3.

Advanced theoretical microeconomics; comprehensive study of consumer and producer theory, general equilibrium and welfare, and failures of the competitive model. Prerequisites: ECON 629 and 630.

635. Monetary Theory. (3-0). Credit 3.

Traditional and modern theories of money; general equilibrium systems and role of money in determination of prices, interest rate, income and employment. Prerequisite: ECON 636.

636. Macroeconomic Theory I. (3-0). Credit 3.

Theory of consumption, investment, money, interest, inflation and employment. Prerequisite: ECON 410 or 611.

637. Monetary Policy. (3-0). Credit 3.

Effect of monetary policy on aggregate economic activity and distribution of resources; effectiveness of various policies; optimal policy in light of various institutional restrictions that exist. Prerequisite: ECON 635.

639. Economic Analysis of Regulated Enterprise. (3-0). Credit 3.

Extent of governmental regulation in economy of U.S. economy; analysis of political processes determining regulation; impact of regulation on pricing, resource allocation and income distribution. Prerequisite: ECON425 or approval of instructor.

646. Macroeconomic Theory II. (3-0). Credit 3.

Dynamic models, open economies, disequilibrium analysis, unemployment and inflation; traditional macro models and recent developments in macro theory. Prerequisite: ECON 636.

647. Macroeconomic Theory III. (3-0). Credit 3.

Advanced theory of consumption, investment, money, interest, inflation and employment; most recent developments in macro theory. Prerequisites: ECON 636 and 646.

649. Industrial Organization I. (3-0). Credit 3.

Industry structure, conduct and performance described and analyzed with tools of microeconomics. Prerequisite: Approval of instructor.

650. Industrial Organization II. (3-0). Credit 3.

Behavior of markets operating under conditions of imperfect information; construction and scientific evaluation of models designed to explain industry performance. Prerequisite: ECON 649 or approval of instructor.

651. International Economic Policy. (3-0). Credit 3.

Balance of payments and adjustment to national and international equilibria; determination of exchange rates under various monetary standards, capital movements, exchange controls and international monetary organization. Prerequisite: ECON 611 or equivalent.

652. International Trade Theory. (3-0). Credit 3.

Classical and neoclassical models of international trade. International price formation, patterns of trade and gains from exchange; specialization and comparative advantage; factor proportions, factor prices and the Heckscher-Ohlin theorem; foreign trade and growth; tariffs, customs unions and commercial policy. Prerequisite: ECON 630 or approval of instructor.

655. Experimental Economics. (3-0). Credit 3.

Experimental methods in choice behavior experiments, survey research, planned economic environments and animal experiments. Prerequisite: Approval of instructor.

659. Game Theory. (3-0). Credit 3.

Static and dynamic games of complete and incomplete information and other advanced topics in game theory.

685. Directed Studies. Credit 1 to 6 each semester.

Directed individual instruction in selected problems in economics not related to thesis or dissertation. Prerequisites: Graduate major or minor in economics; approval of instructor.

689. Special Topics in... Credit 1 to 4.

Selected topics in an identified area of economics. May be repeated for credit. Prerequisite: Approval of department head.

690. Theory of Economic Research. (3-0). Credit 3.

Design of research experiments in various subfields of economics, and evaluation of research results with the aid of examples taken from the current scientific literature.

691. Research. Credit 1 or more each semester.

Thesis research.

Econometrics
(ECMT)

660. Mathematical Economics I. (3-0). Credit 3.

Use of selected types of mathematical tools in economic theory.

669. Fundamental Mathematics for Economists. (3-0). Credit 3.

Mathematics of nonlinear programming; applications to micro-theoretic models of demand and production; fundamental results from matrix theory and multivariate differential calculus; systems of differential equations and stability analysis and their economic applications.

675. Econometrics I. (3-0). Credit 3.

Empirical distributions of economic variables; elementary discrete and continuous distributions expressing econometric hypotheses, distributions of estimators and test statistics. Prerequisites: MATH 151 and 152 or approval of instructor.

676. Econometrics II. (3-0). Credit 3.

Use of statistics in economic theory as device for testing hypotheses, formulation of concepts and economic forecasting; regression analysis in economics problems, heteroskedasticity, aurocorrelation, distributed lags, regressions with lagged dependent variable, dummy variables and in introduction to multi-equations economics models. Prerequisite: ECMT 675 or equivalent.

677. Econometrics III. (3-0). Credit 3.

Estimation methods applied to economic problems; techniques include single and simultaneous equations models; general linear model in matrix form; tests of linear restrictions; Wald, Likelihood Ratio and Lagrange Multiplier tests; seemingly unrelated regressions, simultaneous equations identification and estimation; missing observations, errors in variables and non-linear estimation in economics problems. Prerequisites: ECMT 675 and 676; STAT 610 or approval of instructor.

678. Econometrics IV. (3-0). Credit 3.

Continuation of ECMT 677. Estimation methods applied to economic problems; techniques include qualitative limited dependent variables; pooled time-series and cross-section data; instrumental variables in economics problems. May repeated for credit. Prerequisite: ECMT 677.

679. Econometrics V. (3-0). Credit 3.

Advanced topics in time series econometrics, including ARMA models, unit roots and cointegration. Prerequisite: ECMT 677.