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Contacts | Program of Study | BA in Economics: Standard Track | Program Requirements, Standard Track | Sample Programs for the Standard Track | BA in Economics with Specialization in Business Economics | BA in Economics with Specialization in Data Science | Summaries of Requirements | Grading | Honors | Preparation for PhD Programs in Economics | Application to BA/MA Programs | Economics Courses | Economics Master's (ECMA) Courses | Business Economics Courses | Courses

Department Website: http://economics.uchicago.edu

Program of Study

The program in economics is intended to equip students with the basic tools to understand the operation of a modern economy: the origin and role of prices and markets, the allocation of goods and services, and the factors that enter into the determination of income, employment, and the price level. Students can satisfy the requirements of the BA in economics in the standard track, the specialization in data science, or the specialization in business economics. The specialization in data science provides training in computation and data analysis beyond the basic methods discussed in the empirical methods sequence. The specialization in business economics is organized around the fundamental economic theory and empirical methods that students interested in pursuing careers in the private sector, the non-profit sector, and the public sector (among others) will find useful.

BA in Economics: Standard Track

The program in economics can be divided into five component parts:

• Fundamentals : provides students with the basic skills required to be successful in the major.
• Core Curriculum : consists of three courses designed to introduce students to the "economic approach.”
• Empirical Methods sequence : provides students with the fundamental techniques of data analysis.
• Economic Policy course : applies the tools developed in the core curriculum to issues of fiscal policy, monetary policy, and other policy discussions relevant to the current state of the economy.
• Electives : allows students to tailor the economics major to their interests.

Program Requirements, Standard Track

Fundamentals.

Students must begin the economics major by demonstrating competence in basic calculus and principles of economics. The fundamentals sequence consists of the following courses. The first two are required; the second two are strongly recommended:

Students who wish to complete the major with more rigorous mathematics may substitute MATH 20400 Analysis in Rn II for MATH 15250 Mathematical Methods for Economic Analysis .

Students who have an interest in the major should take calculus at the highest level for which they qualify.

1. MATH 13000s : Students must complete MATH 13300 Elementary Functions and Calculus III prior to enrolling in ECON 20000 The Elements of Economic Analysis I . Students who have completed MATH 13300 Elementary Functions and Calculus III may enroll in MATH 15250 Mathematical Methods for Economic Analysis concurrently with ECON 20000 The Elements of Economic Analysis I . Students may find it useful to complete  MATH 15250 Mathematical Methods for Economic Analysis prior to enrolling in the Elements of Economic Analysis sequence altogether.

2. MATH 15000s : Students enrolling in the MATH 15000s sequence must complete MATH 15250 Mathematical Methods for Economic Analysis prior to enrolling in ECON 20000 The Elements of Economic Analysis I . Students must complete MATH 15300 Calculus III prior to enrollment in ECON 20200 The Elements of Economic Analysis III .

3. MATH 16000s and 16010s : Students enrolling in the MATH 16000s sequences must complete MATH 16200 Honors Calculus II or MATH 16210 Honors Calculus II (IBL) before enrolling in ECON 20000 The Elements of Economic Analysis I . Enrollment in ECON 20000 The Elements of Economic Analysis I requires completion or concurrent enrollment in MATH 16300 Honors Calculus III / MATH 16310 Honors Calculus III (IBL) and demonstrated competency in Microeconomics (see Core Curriculum for details).

4. MATH 18000s: Students who are interested in double majoring with a physical sciences major (chemistry, biochemistry, physics, astrophysics, molecular engineering, and/or statistics) may use the Math 18000s to satisfy the calculus and linear algebra requirements of the economics major. They should take MATH 18300-18400-18500 Mathematical Methods in the Physical Sciences I-II-III . Students double majoring with a physical sciences major should not take MATH 15250 Mathematical Methods for Economic Analysis or MATH 15300 Calculus III . Students who do not complete the full sequence of MATH 18300-18400-18500 Mathematical Methods in the Physical Sciences I-II-III will need to complete  MATH 13300 Elementary Functions and Calculus III / MATH 15300 Calculus III / MATH 16300 Honors Calculus III , MATH 15250 Mathematical Methods for Economic Analysis , and MATH 19620 Linear Algebra / STAT 24300 Numerical Linear Algebra for the economics major requirements. For further questions regarding course substitutions in the MATH 18000s sequence, please consult the Department of Mathematics.

Students may satisfy the MATH 15300 Calculus III requirement by placement (based on the Higher-Level Math Test administered by the College prior to Orientation) and completion of a higher-level proof-based mathematics course ( MATH 15910 Introduction to Proofs in Analysis or MATH 20250 Abstract Linear Algebra or higher). In this case, students should continue their mathematics training with the highest mathematics level for which they qualify.

Principles of Economics

Students are expected to begin their study of economics with ECON 10000 Principles of Microeconomics and ECON 10200 Principles of Macroeconomics . These two introductory courses are designed for students with limited or no prior course work in economics. Students are strongly encouraged to complete ECON 10000 Principles of Microeconomics prior to  ECON 20000 The Elements of Economic Analysis I  (or  ECON 20010 The Elements of Economic Analysis I Honors ) and ECON 10200 Principles of Macroeconomics prior to  ECON 20200 The Elements of Economic Analysis III  (or  ECON 20210 The Elements of Economic Analysis III Honors ). While these two courses provide basic economics knowledge, they are not required in the standard track of the major. Students who matriculated at the University of Chicago in 2016–17 or later may use ECON 10200 Principles of Macroeconomics to fulfill one of the standard track economics elective requirements.

Core Curriculum

The core curriculum consists of three courses. Students may use the standard or honors sequence to satisfy this requirement. The honors sequence is designed for students interested in economics research and/or use of more sophisticated mathematical models.

Most students begin the core curriculum in their second year. Those who wish to begin it during their first year must demonstrate competence with the fundamental skills needed in that sequence in the following ways:

• Students must either pass the economics placement test or complete ECON 10000 Principles of Microeconomics prior to starting ECON 20000 The Elements of Economic Analysis I (or ECON 20010 The Elements of Economic Analysis I Honors ). No standardized external exams (IB, AP, nor A-Levels) will substitute, and they rarely serve as sufficient preparation for the economics placement test. Note that the placement test will only be offered in the evening of the first day of Autumn Quarter.
• Students must satisfy the calculus requirement as discussed in Calculus .

Empirical Methods

In the modern economy, quantitative methods are highly valued skills. In order to satisfy the empirical methods component of the standard economics major, students must complete the following sequence of courses in consecutive quarters, beginning with Linear Algebra and concluding with Econometrics:

Students may not use AP Statistics credit to satisfy the statistics requirement. Students with AP credit will need to expand on their training with STAT 23400 Statistical Models and Methods , STAT 24400 Statistical Theory and Methods I , or STAT 24410 Statistical Theory and Methods Ia . Students may not earn credit for both STAT 22000 Statistical Methods and Applications (via course enrollment or AP exam) and STAT 23400 Statistical Models and Methods .

Students who wish to pursue more advanced training in empirical methods may complete STAT 24300 Numerical Linear Algebra or MATH 20250 Abstract Linear Algebra or MATH 20700 Honors Analysis in Rn I ; either STAT 24400 Statistical Theory and Methods I or STAT 24410 Statistical Theory and Methods Ia ; and ECON 21030 Econometrics - Honors .

Economic Policy

The economic policy requirement provides students the opportunity to apply methods and tools taught in the economics core sequence to analyze current issues centered around monetary and fiscal policy. Most students will complete the economic policy requirement with ECON 23950 Economic Policy Analysis , but students interested in learning more formal approaches may use one of the other macroeconomics courses listed below to satisfy the requirement.

Students who complete more than one of the above courses may apply the additional courses to satisfy the economics elective requirements. ECON 23950 Economic Policy Analysis may not count as an economics elective.

All students in the economics major must complete a minimum of four additional economics courses to broaden their exposure to areas of applied economics or economic theory. These courses must have a higher course number than  ECON 20210 The Elements of Economic Analysis III Honors , with the following exceptions: ECON 21020 Econometrics , ECON 21030 Econometrics - Honors , and ECON 23950 Economic Policy Analysis may not be used to satisfy the economics elective requirements; students who matriculated in 2016–17 or later may use ECON 10200 Principles of Macroeconomics to satisfy one of the economics elective requirements. 

Advanced undergraduate students may use economics master's-level (ECMA) courses to satisfy the major elective requirements.

Students may use one course (from the pre-approved outside electives list or approved by petition) outside of the University of Chicago Department of Economics to satisfy their elective requirements. Students may apply only one of the following two exceptions to this rule:

Exception (A): Students may count an additional outside course to satisfy elective requirements of the major as long as it is drawn from the pre-approved outside electives listed below.

Exception (B): Students who participate in a Study Abroad program may petition to count an additional outside course completed at the host institution to satisfy elective requirements of the major. Students pursuing the standard economics track and data science specialization may petition to count up to two courses outside of the University of Chicago Department of Economics (whether through a different UChicago department or through a Study Abroad program) toward the economics electives requirement. Business courses will not be approved to satisfy the ECON elective requirement. The remaining electives must be completed with the University of Chicago Department of Economics. Petitions must be submitted prior to course enrollment to be considered.

These rules imply that at most two courses completed outside the University of Chicago Department of Economics may be used to satisfy the elective requirements of the major. For example, if a student completes two courses as part of a Study Abroad program, then the student has met the cap of the two outside electives and must complete the remaining elective requirements in the University of Chicago Department of Economics.  

The following are pre-approved outside electives for the standard economics track:

Courses in other degree programs may be considered for elective credit through petition. To be considered, these courses must require the equivalent prerequisite course work of ECON 20100 The Elements of Economic Analysis II . Petitions must be submitted prior to course enrollment to be considered. Graduate level economics courses will be counted for elective credit, but consultation with the Undergraduate Office in advance of course registration is required. Note: Provisional and early final grades are not given for economics graduate courses or BUSN 3XXXX-level (and higher) courses. Economics graduate courses and BUSN 3XXXX-level (and higher) courses should not be taken in the student's graduating quarter unless the student will have completed all forty-two credits required for graduation, not counting the graduate course, and all requirements for all majors.

Summary of Requirements

For a summary of requirements for the BA in economics, see below .

Sample Programs for the Standard Track

The following is a recommended sample plan of study (excluding four elective courses) for those students entering with the MATH 13000s sequence:

The following is a recommended plan of study (excluding four economics elective courses) for those students entering with the MATH 15000s or MATH 16000s sequence:

Students wanting to appropriately plan their economics major with the courses MATH 20400 Analysis in Rn II , STAT 24400 Statistical Theory and Methods I , or STAT 24410 Statistical Theory and Methods Ia should consult with the Undergraduate Program Office in the Department of Economics.

• BA in Economics with Specialization in Business Economics

The specialization in business economics is organized around the fundamental economic theory and empirical methods that students interested in pursuing careers in the private sector, the non-profit sector, and the public sector (among others) will find useful. Students who begin by following the standard economics major path have several decision points at which they can choose to specialize in business economics. Students should consult early in the first year with the Department of Economics Undergraduate Program to design a curriculum that satisfies their professional goals.

Students pursuing the standard track of the Economics major must complete a full calculus sequence. However, completion of the full calculus sequence is not required for the Specialization in Business Economics. Students are strongly urged to continue their training with the highest mathematics level for which they qualify to ensure the continued development of a strong quantitative toolkit that will be useful in the pursuit of their future endeavors.

Note that BUSN 2XXXX-level (undergraduate-only) versions of courses offered by the University of Chicago Booth School of Business (Chicago Booth) will follow some College policies regarding registration, scheduling, grading, etc. The BUSN 3XXXX-level (and higher) courses will be subject to Chicago Booth's academic and administrative policies. Consult the Chicago Booth website for details.

Early final grades will be given for graduating students in BUSN 2XXXX-level courses. The Booth Registrar's Office will coordinate with instructors to issue early final grades for graduating students in College-level Booth courses.

Note: Early final grades are not given for BUSN 3XXXX-level (and higher) courses. These courses should not be taken in the student's graduating quarter unless the student will have completed all graduation requirements, irrespective of the BUSN 2XXXX-level course.

As with the standard economics program, this specialization is divided into five component parts:

• Core : The core component is designed to introduce students to the tools of basic economic analysis. These courses include fundamental course work in microeconomics, macroeconomics, and business education.
• Methods : The methods component is designed to introduce students to the different toolkits on which economists rely to analyze problems in both microeconomics and macroeconomics.
• Empirical Analysis : The empirical analysis component provides students with the fundamental techniques of data analysis. These courses emphasize the application of empirical methods to relevant examples and develop the essential computer skills students need to lead successful careers.
• Perspectives : The perspectives requirement recognizes that successful careers require broad-based understanding of the markets and industries in which our potential majors are likely to participate. This requirement is intended to facilitate both the acquisition of sector-specific knowledge and/or job-specific skills that are likely to provide context for the student's economics and business training.
• Electives : Electives from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and the Department of Economics allow students to tailor the program to their interests.

The core component is designed to introduce students to the tools of basic economic analysis. These courses include fundamental course work in microeconomics and macroeconomics. These courses introduce theory but emphasize the application of these tools to standard problems that students are likely to encounter as they carry out their professional activities. The core component consists of three courses:

The methods component of the major is designed to expose students to the different toolkits on which economists rely to analyze problems. These methods courses include offerings in basic price theory, game theory, and experimental methods. This component also includes course work that will be useful in macroeconomic and financial analysis. Students must complete one microeconomics methods course and one macroeconomics methods course from the lists below:

Empirical Analysis

The objective of the empirical analysis component is to ensure that students who complete the major are comfortable carrying out data analysis in various forms. This requires that students gain familiarity with basic statistics and basic econometric methods. These courses will emphasize the application of empirical methods to relevant examples and develop essential computer skills.

Perspectives

The perspectives requirement consists of one course that can come from any division in the University. This requirement recognizes that successful careers require broad-based understanding of the markets and industries in which our students are likely to participate. This requirement is intended to facilitate the acquisition of sector-specific knowledge and/or job-specific skills that are likely to provide context for the economics and business training to which students will receive exposure while completing the specialization business economics. It is expected that students use this perspectives component as a stepping-stone to design a meaningful set of courses that complement their training in business economics.

It is important to emphasize that there are many courses across the University that students can use to satisfy the perspectives requirement. A list of courses pre-approved for this requirement may be found on the departmental website , but students may petition the Department of Economics to use other suitable courses. ECON, ECMA, and Chicago Booth (BUSN) courses may not be used to satisfy the perspectives requirement.

Students must take five electives to complete the specialization in business economics: three from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, as defined below, and two from the University of Chicago Department of Economics. In exceptional circumstances, a student may, by petition, use a course from outside Chicago Booth and the Department of Economics as, at most, one business economics elective. Petitions must be submitted prior to course enrollment to be considered. Chicago Booth (BUSN) courses may not be used to satisfy the two Department of Economics (ECON) elective requirements.

A note on professional school courses : The rules of the College allow students to use no more than four courses from professional schools (e.g., BUSN 3XXXX-level/4XXXX-level courses, Harris Public Policy, etc.) to satisfy degree requirements. The specialization in business economics requires four courses taken at Chicago Booth. If a student successfully petitions to use a course from a professional school other than Chicago Booth (e.g., the Law School or the Harris School of Public Policy) in the major, then College rules require that the approved course substitute for a Chicago Booth elective. Be aware that undergraduates may enroll in a total of six professional school courses, but the last two courses would be ineligible to satisfy any undergraduate degree requirement. BUSN 2XXXX-level courses are exempt from the professional school policy.

Courses in the University of Chicago Booth School of Business

The courses at Chicago Booth that students can use to meet the electives requirements are categorized in eight different “bundles.” Courses in the table below with an asterisk (*) are also eligible for the Foundations of Business Education requirement; however, a course used to satisfy the core requirement in the major cannot be also counted as an elective. Students must complete four distinct Booth courses: one Foundations in Business Education and three electives. In order to expose students to different subfields in business education, the four Booth courses used to fulfill the core and elective requirements must be drawn from at least three of the thematic bundles listed below.

Note: BUSN 2XXXX-level (undergraduate-level) versions of these courses will follow some College policies regarding registration, scheduling, grading, etc. The BUSN 3XXXX-level and above versions will be subject to Chicago Booth's academic and administrative policies. Consult the Chicago Booth website for details. Students who have taken a BUSN 2XXXX-level course cannot enroll in the 3XXXX-level (or higher) equivalent, and vice versa.

Courses in the Department of Economics

Students in the specialization in business economics must complete at least two electives in the Department of Economics. These may be ECON courses with numbers between 10200 and 19800, or numbers above 20210, assuming that the student has the appropriate prerequisites for the course. Note that ECON 11010, ECON 11020, ECON 19100, ECON 21020, ECON 21030, and ECON 23950 are exceptions to this and cannot be used to satisfy the elective requirement for the specialization in business economics. Students may not receive major credit for both ECON 10000 and ECON 20000/ECON 20010. Students may not receive major credit for both ECON 10200 and ECON 20200/ECON 20210.

Students are required to take two economics electives from the University of Chicago Department of Economics. These courses tend to build more directly on the tools and methods discussed in microeconomics, macroeconomics, and econometrics course work. In exceptional cases, students may petition for an outside course to count as an elective by submitting a general petition along with a syllabus of the course for the Co-Directors to review. For outside courses to be considered, the department requires that these courses use economic methods as a mode of analysis. Students must provide compelling reasoning as to why this course should count as a business economics elective and not as a general education credit. Only courses with substantive economics will be considered. Chicago Booth (BUSN) courses will not be considered. Petitions should be submitted prior to course enrollment.

Students pursuing the business economics specialization may petition to count up to two courses outside of the University of Chicago Department of Economics toward the major requirements. One study abroad course may be petitioned to count toward the Perspectives requirement, and one study abroad course may be petitioned to count toward the ECON elective requirement. Business courses will not be approved to satisfy the Perspectives requirement or the ECON elective requirement. The remaining ECON elective must be completed with the UChicago Department of Economics. Chicago Booth does not approve course substitutions from other departments or from other institutions. As such, study abroad courses may not be applied toward the BUSN course requirements of the business economics specialization. Petitions must be submitted to the department prior to course enrollment to be considered.

For a summary of requirements for the BA in Economics with Specialization in Business Economics,  see below .

• BA in Economics with Specialization in Data Science

The specialization in data science provides training in computation and data analysis beyond the basic methods discussed in the empirical methods sequence. The specialization in data science and the standard BA in economics share eight courses:

The specialization in data science is designed to begin after completion of the core sequence and the empirical methods sequence. Students pursuing the specialization in data science are not required to complete  ECON 23950 Economic Policy Analysis . Instead, they must complete basic training in computer science and at least two data science courses in the Department of Economics:

Students pursuing the specialization in data science must also complete two electives drawn from the following sets of courses:

Students who have entered the specialization in data science but no longer wish to pursue it must complete  ECON 23950 Economic Policy Analysis  and the necessary electives to satisfy the requirements of the standard track BA in economics. All economics courses (ECON and ECMA courses) completed in the pursuit of the specialization in data science will count toward the degree requirements of the standard track BA in economics.

For a summary of requirements for the BA in economics with specialization in data science, see below .

Summaries of Requirements

• BA in Economics, Standard Track

Summary of Requirements: BA in Economics, Standard Track

Summary of requirements: ba in economics with specialization in business economics, summary of requirements: ba in economics with specialization in data science.

Successful completion of the economics major requires both a major GPA of 2.0 or higher and a minimum grade of C– in all courses counted for the major program. In addition, students majoring in economics must receive quality grades in all courses required as part of the major. Non-majors may take economics courses on a P/F basis; only grades of C– or higher constitute passing work.

To be considered for honors in economics, students must meet the following requirements: (1) a GPA of 3.5 or higher in the major and a GPA of 3.2 or higher overall, (2) participation in the honors workshop and sole authorship of an independent research paper on a topic in economics, and (3) a faculty sponsor's letter evaluating this independent research paper. For award of honors, the project must receive a grade of A or A–. At the beginning of the student's fourth year, the economics honors committee must have a letter from an economics faculty sponsor expressing willingness to oversee the student's writing of an independent research paper and recommending the student be admitted into the honors workshop program. Honors papers should be outgrowths of economics electives or research assistant work for the faculty sponsor.

Participation in the ECON 29800 Undergraduate Honors Workshop is mandatory throughout the year. Upon completion of the paper in the Spring Quarter, the student will then be retroactively registered for the course in the fourth-year quarter of the student's choosing. Plan for this retroactive registration with your College adviser.

The research paper, a transcript, and a recommendation letter from the faculty sponsor evaluating the independent research paper must be submitted to the undergraduate economics program office for consideration by the economics honors committee no later than the end of fourth week of the quarter in which the student plans to graduate. Students wishing to qualify for honors should (1) engage in preparatory course work in the area of interest no later than Spring Quarter of their third year and (2) consult with the program advisers no later than Winter Quarter of their third year.

This program may accept a BA paper or project used to satisfy the same requirement in another major if certain conditions are met and with the consent of the other program chair. Approval from both program chairs is required. Students should consult with the chairs by the earliest BA proposal deadline (or by the end of third year, when neither program publishes a deadline). A consent form, to be signed by both chairs, is available from the College adviser. It must be completed and returned to the College adviser by the end of Autumn Quarter of the student's year of graduation.

Preparation for PhD Programs in Economics

Students preparing to pursue a PhD program in economics should complete advanced course work in economics, mathematics, statistics, and computer science. The real analysis sequence offered by the Mathematics Department, MATH 20300-20400-20500 Analysis in Rn I-II-III (or its honors variant MATH 20700-20800-20900 Honors Analysis in Rn I-II-III ) contains material that is particularly important for economics graduate school. Students who used MATH 13300 Elementary Functions and Calculus III or MATH 15300 Calculus III to fulfill the calculus requirement will need to take  MATH 15910 Introduction to Proofs in Analysis  to transition into the real analysis sequence. Completion of this course work allows students to participate in higher level electives that may also be helpful for their chosen path of study in graduate school.

Advanced economics undergraduates are encouraged to take advanced-level economics and economics master's-level (ECMA) courses according to their research interests. For more information, consult with [email protected] .

Completion of either STAT 24400 Statistical Theory and Methods I or STAT 24410 Statistical Theory and Methods Ia and either  MATH 20250 Abstract Linear Algebra or STAT 24300 Numerical Linear Algebra will allow students to continue their training in statistics and econometrics at an advanced level.

Increasingly, graduate programs expect students to have sophisticated programming skills. Completion of  CMSC 14100 Introduction to Computer Science I and CMSC 14200 Introduction to Computer Science II is strongly encouraged.

In addition, students who are interested in pursuing graduate study are encouraged to take appropriate courses from other departments in the social sciences to obtain a well-rounded perspective of their areas of interest.

Students are encouraged to seek research assistant jobs and may self-subscribe to the Research Assistant Jobs listhost to receive updates on job postings.

Provisional and early final grades are not given for economics PhD courses. Economics graduate courses should not be taken in the student’s graduating quarter unless the student will have completed all forty-two credits required for graduation, not counting the economics graduate course, and all requirements for all majors.

It is important that such students consult in spring of the second year with one of the directors of the undergraduate program to design a plan of course work and research. Contact [email protected] for appointments.

Application to BA/MA Programs

In order to receive approval to apply for a BA/MA program, students intending to complete the major in economics must submit the following to the program Co-Directors: the Approval to Apply for BA/MA Program form; a copy of their transcript; a full, tentative course plan for their third year and BA/MA year; a brief description of the field and topic of their MA thesis; and a brief description of their research experience.

Students who have not yet completed all the requirements of the economics major at the beginning of their fourth year must complete the remaining courses in compliance with the rules of the major as stipulated in the College Catalog published in the year of their matriculation. BA/MA students may use ECMA courses (ECMA 3xxxx or higher) or graduate-level courses in economics (ECON 3xxxx or higher) to satisfy requirements of the undergraduate degree. Graduate courses in other departments may also be used subject to the rules stipulated in the College Catalog. These courses require a petition that must be submitted prior to enrollment in the course.

Successful completion of the MA thesis may also be applied to the requirements for graduation with honors in the undergraduate major in economics as outlined in the College Catalog. The economics BA thesis is not a requirement for successful completion of the undergraduate economics major. If a student writes an MA thesis and wants to submit it for departmental honors, then the student must submit the full thesis by the deadline for the undergraduate honors thesis (typically Friday of week 5 of Spring Quarter). If, in addition, a BA/MA student wants to receive credit for ECON 29800 Undergraduate Honors Workshop , then the student must attend the workshop offered during Autumn Quarter and register for it per the rules set forth in the College Catalog. 

Economics Courses

ECON 10000. Principles of Microeconomics. 100 Units.

By way of economic theory, applications, and contemporary issues, this course treats (1) the behavior and decision making on the part of individuals, business firms, and governments; and (2) the function of costs, prices, incentives, and markets in the American economy. We discuss contemporary topics (e.g., distribution of income, the environment, education, sports, health care). This course is formerly known as Econ 19800: Introduction to Microeconomics. Students may substitute "Econ 20000: The Elements of Economic Analysis I" for this course in the business economics track.

Instructor(s): A. Sanderson; M. Lee     Terms Offered: Autumn Spring Winter

ECON 10200. Principles of Macroeconomics. 100 Units.

By way of theory and public policy applications, this course covers current major domestic and international macroeconomic issues in the U.S. economy, including the determination of income and output, inflation, unemployment, and economic growth; money, banking, and the Federal Reserve System; federal spending, taxation, and deficits; and international trade, exchange rates, and the balance of payments. This course is formerly known as Econ 19900: Introduction to Macroeconomics. Students may substitute "Econ 20200: The Elements of Economic Analysis III" for this course in the business economics track.

Instructor(s): A. Sanderson, G. Pieters     Terms Offered: Autumn Spring Winter

ECON 10700. Introductory Game Theory. 100 Units.

How should one bid at an auction in order to win at the lowest possible hammer price? How do firms behave when they possess market power but also face competition? Why do companies engage in R&D races in order to release their new products sooner than their competitors? Why do the Republicans and the Democrats almost always ended up choosing moderates as their party nominees in presidential races? To what extent can the veto power of presidents allow them to influence legislative outcomes? To answer these questions, we study Games of Strategies, and explore how lessons learned from such games can guide one's thinking in everyday strategic interactions.

Instructor(s): R. Fang     Terms Offered: Autumn Spring Winter Prerequisite(s): ECON 10000/20000/20010 Note(s): Student may count only one of [ECON 10700 or ECON 20700 or ECON 20770] toward the 42 credits required for graduation.

ECON 11010. Introduction to Statistical Methods in Economics. 100 Units.

This course provides a solid foundation in probability and statistics for economists. We emphasize topics needed for further study of econometrics in ECON 11020. Topics TBD.

Instructor(s): Staff     Terms Offered: Autumn Winter Prerequisite(s): ECON 10000/20000/20010 and ECON 10200/20200/20210

ECON 11020. Introduction to Econometrics. 100 Units.

The objective of this course is to introduce students to the practice of econometrics. The course will focus on the use of multiple regression as a tool to establish causal relations. The course emphasizes all steps of the process of empirical research: data collection, analysis, and presentation (both written and oral). Multiple examples of this process will be discussed and students will be expected to read and evaluate existing research. Students will apply the techniques discussed in class to a topic of their choosing. They will write a paper and present results to the class.

Instructor(s): Staff     Terms Offered: Autumn Spring Winter Prerequisite(s): ECON 10000/20000/20010 and ECON 10200/20200/20210; ECON 11010 or ECON 21010 or STAT 22000 or STAT 23400 or STAT 24400

ECON 11310. Big Data and Better Decisions. 100 Units.

This course will introduce students to advanced methods for data driven decision making with an emphasis on business applications. Students will learn how to build and interpret models that address two fundamental categories of business questions: (i) causal analysis and (ii) forecasting and prediction. The first portion of the course will cover experimental design, as well as non-experimental causal inference (e.g. matching, fixed effects, differences-in-differences, synthetic control). The second portion of the course will focus on machine learning topics including linear regularization, cross validation, tree models, random forests and boosting. The course will also explore cutting edge methods at the intersection of causal inference and machine learning. Heavy emphasis will be placed on discussion of real examples and business applications of these methodologies. The course work will include writing code and analyzing data in R to learn how these techniques are implemented in practice.

Instructor(s): A. Root     Terms Offered: Spring Prerequisite(s): ECON 10000/20000/20010 and ECON 11020/21020/21030

ECON 11600. Experimental Design. 100 Units.

The course equips students with the necessary skills to design and execute experiments effectively. In the first part of the course, students will learn why experiments are conducted and explore different types of experiments along with their respective advantages and disadvantages. Students will gain insights into choosing appropriate incentive structures and appropriate sample sizes. The course addresses critical issues, including internal and external validity, scalability concerns, and the risks of P-hacking and multiple hypothesis testing. Students will also learn about Institutional Review Board procedures. In the second part of the course, students will learn how to measure time preferences, risk preferences, subjective expectations, other-regarding preferences, competitiveness, and discrimination.

Instructor(s): F. Ersoy, I. Kwok     Terms Offered: Spring Winter Prerequisite(s): Econ 10000/20000/20010 and STAT 22000/STAT 23400/STAT 24400/ECON 11010

ECON 11700. Introduction to Behavioral and Experimental Economics. 100 Units.

This is an introductory course to experimental economics and on how to gather your own data using experimental methods to answer important economic questions. This methodology will be applied to learn the main topics in behavioral economics that leverages psychological insights to decision making and its effects on markets. Students may use this course to satisfy the microeconomics method requirement for the business economics specialization.

Instructor(s): M. Lee     Terms Offered: Autumn Prerequisite(s): ECON 10000 or ECON 19800 or ECON 20000 or ECON 20010 Note(s): Students may count either ECON 11700 or ECON 21800, but not both, toward the 42 credits required for graduation.

ECON 12300. Character and Commerce: Practical Wisdom in Economic Life. 100 Units.

Most of us seek to be reasonably good people leading what we take to be successful and satisfying lives. There is a mountain of evidence suggesting that most of us fail to live up to our own standards. Worse, we often fail to mark our own failures in ways that could help us improve ourselves. The context in which we try to live good lives is shaped by the vicissitudes of the global economy. The global economy is obviously of interest to those of us studying economics or planning on careers in business. Aspiring entrepreneurs or corporate leaders have clear stakes in understanding practical wisdom in the economic sphere. But anyone who relies upon her pay - or someone else's - to cover her living expenses has some interest in economic life. In this course, we will bring work in neo-Aristotelian ethics and neo-classical economics into conversation with empirical work from behavioral economics and behavioral ethics, to read, write, talk, and think about cultivating wisdom in our economic dealings. While our focus will be on business, the kinds of problems we will consider, and the ways of addressing these, occur in ordinary life more generally - at home, in academic settings, and in our efforts to participate in the daily production and reproduction of sound modes of social interaction. (A)

Instructor(s): Candace Vogler     Terms Offered: Winter Equivalent Course(s): PHIL 24098

ECON 12410. Pathways in Economics. 100 Units.

This program introduces students to the approaches to economic research and experimentation that make UChicago a world leader in the field. Full-time lecturers in the Department of Economics teach classes on topics in macroeconomics, microeconomics, game theory, and field experiments, which are supplemented by guest lectures delivered by preeminent UChicago faculty in economics and other departments whose research applies the tools and insights of the field in new and exciting ways. Participants can apply what they hear about in lectures during small group discussion sections facilitated by a team of outstanding current UChicago students, as well as in labs and site visits to locations such as the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.

Terms Offered: Summer

ECON 12411. Pathways in Economics C. 100 Units.

ECON 12412. A Survey of Chicago Economics. 50 Units.

This two-week program will provide an introduction to UChicago-style, rigorous economics education; it is open only to approved visiting third-year students from Universidad Panamericana. Led by a team of full-time lecturers from the Department of Economics, this course will explore topics in four foundational areas: price theory, game theory, experimental economics, and macroeconomics. Participants will also develop skills that will prepare them for further graduate study or other professional pursuits, such as interviewing, networking, and academic and professional communications. Evening and weekend residential program activities will enable students to experience American life and culture and explore the vibrant city of Chicago. Throughout the program, students will have the opportunity to practice both academic and informal spoken English.

ECON 12413. A Survey of Chicago Economics and its Business Applications. 000 Units.

This two-week program will provide an introduction to UChicago-style, rigorous economics education, as well as its business applications. Fulltime lecturers in the Department of Economics will explore topics in four foundational areas: price theory, game theory, experimental economics, and macroeconomics. Evening and weekend residential program activities will enable students to experience American life and culture and explore the vibrant city of Chicago. Throughout the program, students will have the opportunity to practice both academic and informal spoken English.

ECON 13000. Introduction to Money and Banking. 100 Units.

The course focuses on monetary policy and central bank's attempts to stabilize prices and promote maximum sustainable economic growth. Topics include the structure of the Federal Reserve, the conduct of monetary policy, the term structure of interest rates, risk valuation, management of banking, and financial crises.

Instructor(s): K. Kuevibulvanich     Terms Offered: Autumn Winter Prerequisite(s): Econ 10200/19900/20200/20210 Note(s): Students may not receive credit for both ECON 13000 and ECON 23950.

ECON 13110. Household Finance: Theory and Applications. 100 Units.

This course will examine the choices households make about important financial decisions and how these individual choices can impact the aggregate economy. Each week, basic predictions from economic theory will be discussed and compared with empirical findings. Topics will include: asset market participation and household portfolio choice; human capital and student loans; housing and mortgages; retirement planning; credit card debt; payday loans; and the gig/sharing economy. Focus will also be placed on government policies affecting these topics, including so-called household financial engineering, the creation of Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs) like "Fannie" and "Freddie," and regulatory agencies like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). The course will provide an introduction to structural modeling for conducting policy counterfactuals. Assessment will be based on problem sets, a midterm and a final. These problem sets will require students to work in R, Stata or other statistical package of the student's choice (with permission of instructor).

Instructor(s): D. Koustas     Terms Offered: Spring Prerequisite(s): Prerequisite(s): PBPL 20000 (PBPL 22200 preferred) or ECON 20000 and one undergraduate course in quantitative research methods (Statistics or Econometrics) or the equivalent or consent of the instructor. Equivalent Course(s): PBPL 28528

ECON 13200. Introduction to Macroeconomic Crises. 100 Units.

This course studies macroeconomic crises within the standard macroeconomic framework. The course introduces students to long run growth and business cycle fluctuations and analyzes recent events such as the 2008 financial crisis, Euro-currency crisis and the 2020 pandemic as distinct macroeconomic phenomena. In particular, we will cover areas including systemic risk in the banking sector, monetary and fiscal policy, sovereign default, labor market consequences and theories of labor determination and models of infection risk. We will also study methodological innovation in macroeconomics, i.e., how macroeconomists have adapted their theory and models to explain these particular episodes.

Instructor(s): Staff     Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): ECON 10200/20200/20210

ECON 13300. Introduction to the Macroeconomics of Monetary and Fiscal Policy. 100 Units.

This course examines monetary and fiscal issues in the macroeconomy. The first part of the course will focus on long-run topics in monetary economics, such as the nature of a monetary economy, inflation, the quantity theory of money, and the welfare cost of inflation. The second part of the course will focus on the macroeconomic implications of government expenditure, supply side economics, the Laffer curve, and the Ricardian equivalence theorem. An effort will be made to tackle these issues within unified and simple dynamic frameworks.

Instructor(s): S. Salas     Terms Offered: Spring Winter Prerequisite(s): ECON 10000/20000/20010 and Econ 10200/20200/20210

ECON 13310. Introduction to Macroeconomic Analysis: A Data Driven Approach. 100 Units.

This course offers a comprehensive exploration of neoclassical macroeconomic models, designed for students who have previously studied the principles of macroeconomics. The course is divided into five key modules: (i) economic growth and production, (ii) consumption and savings, (iii) government finances, (iv) money and the price level, and (v) unemployment. Throughout each module, we extensively utilize relevant data to enhance the understanding of theoretical concepts. By the end of the course, students will not only possess the ability to interpret macroeconomic news and articles but also analyze policies through a model-based framework.

Instructor(s): O. Galvez-Soriano     Terms Offered: Spring Winter Prerequisite(s): Econ 10200/20200/20210 and STAT 22000/STAT 23400/STAT 24400/ECON 11010

ECON 14000. Introduction to Labor Economics. 100 Units.

This course is an introduction to labor economics with an emphasis on applied microeconomic theory and empirical analysis. Topics to be covered include: labor supply and demand, taxes and transfers, minimum wages, immigration, human capital, creativity over the lifecycle and unemployment. For each topic we will describe the basic economic framework used in the analysis, analyze associated cases of study and drawn conclusions about what we have learned. Most of the examples will be taken from U.S. labor data and special attention will be given to randomized trials and experimental methods to infer causality.

Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): ECON 10000/20000/20010

ECON 14020. Labor Markets: A Global Perspective. 100 Units.

In this course we will explore standard models that form the core of labor economics including labor supply, labor demand, job search models, wage setting, discrimination, and migration. For each topic we will then examine empirical applications of these models with a focus on middle and low-income countries. We will discuss how these traditional models are useful, or not, in understanding labor market outcomes in these settings and how they can be expanded to better capture relevant features of labor markets outside high-income countries.

Instructor(s): Lane, Gregory     Terms Offered: Winter Equivalent Course(s): PBPL 25640

ECON 14520. Economics of Gender in International Contexts. 100 Units.

In this class, students will engage basic issues, conflicts, and innovative field research in economics of gender in international contexts. In particular, we will review theoretical foundations, data and methods of research, and a review of recent work in international research related to economics of gender. At the end of the course, you will have a suite of research approaches, topics, and methods, to investigate gender differences in a variety of economic outcomes and contexts.

Instructor(s): A. Gonzalez     Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): ECON 10000 or ECON 20000 or ECON 20010 or PBPL 22200. STAT 22000 also recommended. Equivalent Course(s): GNSE 22520

ECON 14810. Evolution and Economics of Human Behavior. 100 Units.

This course explores how evolutionary biology and behavioral economics explain many different aspects of human behavior. Specific topics include evolutionary theory, natural and sexual selection, game theory, cost-benefit analyses of behavior from an evolutionary and a behavioral economics perspective, aggression, power and dominance, cooperation and competition, biological markets, parental investment, life history and risk-taking, love and mating, physical attractiveness and the market, emotion and motivation, sex and consumer behavior, cognitive biases in decision-making, and personality and psychopathology.

Instructor(s): D. Maestripieri     Terms Offered: Autumn Note(s): CHDV Distribution: Undergraduate subject area: A, Graduate distribution: 1 Equivalent Course(s): PSYC 37950, PSYC 27950, CHDV 27950, CHDV 37950

ECON 15010. Investments: From Economics to Finance. 100 Units.

This course studies finance and investments through the lens of economic equilibrium methods. We look at how the general equilibrium framework in economics gives rise to the factor pricing models in finance, the no-arbitrage framework in economics gives rise to the option pricing models in finance, and the Nash equilibrium framework in economics gives rise to the microstructure trading models in finance. Trillions of dollar worth of financial products ride on these financial models, and we trace the path from the basic models of equilibrium in economic theory to these applied models in finance that have found immense use in practice. The course combines a theoretical framework with applied analysis. Topics covered include: basics of general equilibrium with uncertainty, mean-variance utility, portfolio optimization, capital asset pricing model, no-arbitrage equilibrium, fundamental theorem of asset pricing, binomial option pricing, Black-Scholes-Merton options theory, Bayes Nash equilibrium, Kyle and Glosten-Milgrom models of trading.

Instructor(s): Staff     Terms Offered: Spring Winter Prerequisite(s): ECON 10000/20000/20010 and STAT 22000/STAT 23400/ECON 11010.

ECON 15020. Trading: From Game Theory to Finance. 100 Units.

This course studies trading in financial markets through the lens of game theory and asymmetric information. Trading models are at the heart of financial markets, and we trace the path from basic models in game theory and equilibrium economics to applied trading models in finance that have found immense use in practice. We look at how the asymmetric information framework gives rise to market microstructure trading, equilibrium tatonnement process gives rise to arbitrage trading, general equilibrium framework gives rise to beta-based trading, model uncertainty gives rise to alpha-based trading, and event uncertainty gives rise to option trading. The course combines a theoretical framework with applied analysis. Topics covered include: information structures, Bayesian probability, Blackwell's theorem, basics of rational expectations equilibrium, Bayes Nash equilibrium, limit order books, bid-ask spread formation, asymmetric information models of microstructure trading, PIN model, capital asset pricing model, beta and index fund trading, alpha and hedge fund trading, speculative trading with options, high-frequency trading, arbitrage and behavioral trading models.

Instructor(s): A. Bhattacharya     Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): Econ 10000/20000/20010 and STAT 22000/STAT 23400/STAT 24400/ECON 11010

ECON 15500. Introduction to Development Economics. 100 Units.

Global poverty is one of the fundamental problems facing humanity. In this course we will try to understand the economic lives of the global poor, why they are stuck in poverty, and what evidence exists on what works and what doesn't in the fight against poverty. We will take a primarily micro-economic perspective on poverty which focuses on individuals, households, markets, and governments. We will structure our investigation using economic models and statistical methods, and consider questions related to consumption, health, education, risk, credit, and savings. We will also study the role of government provision of services and politics in developing countries. We will end with taking a historical and big-picture perspective of development.

Instructor(s): S. Vasudevan     Terms Offered: Autumn Spring Prerequisite(s): ECON 10000/20000/20010 and ECON 11020/21020/21030

ECON 16020. Introduction to Public Sector Economics. 100 Units.

The course studies public policy issues in the world from both micro- and macroeconomic perspectives. Covered topics include tax, antitrust, and trade policies (micro) as well as fiscal and monetary policies (macro). International case studies will be discussed in comparison to the US experiences (e.g., industrial policies and development in Asia, exchange rate policies in Latin America, the currency union in Europe, and ECB's monetary policy).

Instructor(s): Staff     Terms Offered: TBD Prerequisite(s): ECON 10000/19800/20000/20010 and ECON 10200/19900/20200/20210 Note(s): Students may not receive credit for both ECON 16020 and ECON 26010/ECON 26020.

ECON 16520. Economics and Environmental Policy. 100 Units.

This course combines basic microeconomic theory and tools with contemporary environmental and resources issues and controversies to examine and analyze public policy decisions. Theoretical points include externalities, public goods, common-property resources, valuing resources, benefit/cost analysis, and risk assessment. Topics include pollution, global climate change, energy use and conservation, recycling and waste management, endangered species and biodiversity, nonrenewable resources, congestion, economic growth and the environment, and equity impacts of public policies.

Instructor(s): S. Shaikh     Terms Offered: Autumn Prerequisite(s): ECON 10000 or higher, or PBPL 20000 Note(s): Not offered in Autumn of the 2020-21 academic year. Equivalent Course(s): ENST 21800, CEGU 21800, PBPL 21800

ECON 16700. Introduction to Economics of Education. 100 Units.

This course investigates economic issues related to education. We will first discuss the theory behind the decision to invest in education. We will talk about private and social returns to education as well as signaling value of education. Then, we will investigate which factors (class size, teachers, incentives, peers, beliefs, etc.) matter in determining the success of students. Throughout the course, we will learn how different methods (experiments, difference-in-differences, instrumental variables, and regression discontinuity) are used to answer the economics of education questions.

Instructor(s): F. Ersoy     Terms Offered: Spring. Introduction to Economics of Education Prerequisite(s): ECON 10000/20000/20010 and ECON 11010/STAT 22000/STAT 23400/STAT 24400

ECON 16710. Education and Economic Development. 100 Units.

This course covers policy issues related to education in developing contexts. We will analyze education policies and reforms, develop skills to be a critical consumer of relevant research on each topic, and examine implications of the findings to policy and practice. Topics include discrimination and inclusion in education, understanding factors that influence educational decisions, provision of basic needs in schools, teacher pay and incentives, education in emergency settings, and school choice.

Instructor(s): A. Adukia     Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): Recommended prerequisite courses: Microeconomics and econometrics. Students in their last years will be given priority. Equivalent Course(s): EDSO 28350, PBPL 28350

ECON 16950. Conflict: Root Causes, Consequences and Solutions for the Future. 100 Units.

The goals of this course are to introduce you to key concepts in the study of conflict, and to help you develop the analytical skills you need to understand and assess key arguments advanced in this arena. Drawing primarily on economics and political science, as well as psychology, we will seek to understand: Why do human beings engage in acts of violence? How can armed groups compel atrocities? How do we prevent cycles of violence, and aid countries recovering from war? Specifically: We will examine the role of economic shocks and ethnic divisions on civil war. We will also discern whether similar factors explain the rise of terrorism. In addition, we will study the consequences of conflict on socio-economic development, and examine the role of foreign aid and post-conflict reconciliation in helping countries recover from conflict. The class will examine these questions while focusing on analytical skills needed to understand cutting edge research in this area. Thus a major emphasis of the course is on learning how to think critically about empirical evidence, and learning the methods used in quantitative empirical analysis, such as fixed effects models, differences-in-differences research designs, and instrumental variables estimation. It is ideal for students who want to learn substantively about conflict while developing an understanding of the methodology used to produce key empirical findings.

Instructor(s): Oeindrila Dube     Terms Offered: Winter Note(s): Note: While the course sets out to teach these skills, you do not need previous coursework in statistics. Equivalent Course(s): PBPL 28750, PLSC 28750

ECON 17100. Introduction to International Trade. 100 Units.

This course covers international economics with an emphasis on international trade. The basic theories of international trade are introduced and used to analyze welfare and distributional effects of international trade, government policies, and technology diffusion. In addition, this course also discusses the main empirical patterns of international trade and international investment.

Instructor(s): K. Yoshida     Terms Offered: Spring Prerequisite(s): ECON 10000/19800/20000/20010 and ECON 10200/19900/20200/20210

ECON 17110. International Monetary Systems. 100 Units.

This course studies the principles of monetary policy across international markets, global banking markets, and optimum currency areas and their impact on and from business cycles and economic development. Students will be introduced to simplified theoretical models with which to analyze data, relevant empirical findings, and policy decisions. Practice is provided in understanding recent international economic events and current policy topics.

Instructor(s): G. Pieters     Terms Offered: Autumn Winter Prerequisite(s): ECON 10200/ECON 19900/ECON 20200/ECON 20210

ECON 17700. Introduction to Health Economics. 100 Units.

This course will introduce students to the economics of health care provision and payment. We will use methods from microeconomics to investigate how different aspects of the health care system function and to assess the implications for different policies designed to improve that functioning. We will use economic tools and techniques from the sub-disciplines of information economics, industrial organization, labor economics, public economics, behavioral economics, and decision theory to think about these questions. The primary goals of the course will be to (i) master different economic techniques in the context of health care markets and (ii) learn about the specific institutional details and policies relevant to those markets.

Instructor(s): Root, A.     Terms Offered: Autumn Prerequisite(s): ECON 10000/20000/20010 and ECON 11010/STAT 22000/STAT 23400/STAT 24400

ECON 17710. Health Care Markets and Regulation. 100 Units.

This course analyzes the economics of health care markets and the way regulations impact those markets. We will study the unique institutional arrangements found in the health care sector (primarily, though not exclusively, in the United States) and examine how market forces manifest themselves in this setting. We will consider the behavior of health care providers, insurers' roles both as intermediaries and risk managers, patients' health care demand, and geographic differences in medicine. The study of government regulations, including their theoretical and empirical impacts on health care markets, will be integrated throughout these topics.

Instructor(s): Gottlieb, J     Terms Offered: Autumn Equivalent Course(s): PPHA 37820, PBPL 28335

ECON 18010. Introduction to Managerial Microeconomics. 100 Units.

This course presents several classic microeconomic models applicable in business contexts. The topics covered include self-selection, commitment, product differentiation, matching, and mechanism design, among others. The theoretical insights of each model are analyzed. Real-world applicability is discussed using practical examples. Students are required to write short papers applying the models presented in the course to real-world situations in the context of business.

Instructor(s): P. Pena     Terms Offered: TBD Prerequisite(s): ECON 10000 or ECON 19800 or ECON 20000 or ECON 20010

ECON 18020. Introduction to Applied Empirical Industrial Organization. 100 Units.

In this course, students will learn how to apply techniques and models developed in industrial organization and law and economics to important questions that arise in litigation and government regulation. We will be guided and informed by pure theory underlying industrial organization and implement it in a world of partial information, incomplete data, and even contradictory data, among other complexities. Students will learn how to develop inferences by applying the models to real world cases and data - ie, extracting the most information possible from partial, imperfect data, frequently with missing values or poorly-measured data points. These fact patterns will not always result in an incontrovertible answer. Thus, students will be expected to identify and express the "best argument for" and "best argument against" the questions posed to them. This means that students will be expected to (i) use theory as a guideline to assess the relevant facts, circumstances, and data, (ii) reach a view, (iii) succinctly express that view in writing and acknowledge and address contrary theory and empirical results. Students will also see actual expert reports and/or white papers that have been prepared in actual disputes and investigations. Part of the grade will be based on an "expert report" written by the students in small teams.

Instructor(s): J. Arnold     Terms Offered: Spring Prerequisite(s): Econ 10000/20000 and Econ 11020/21020 Note(s): Business Economics specialization students should register for Econ 18020.

ECON 19000. Economics for Everyone: Micro. 100 Units.

The field of economics has generated a powerful set of insights which have fundamentally shaped the modern world. Because modern economics puts such a heavy stress on mathematical rigor, the most interesting economic ideas often get pushed to the background. In this course, we will explore these big economic ideas, without the math. Our goal is to make the beauty and power of economic thinking available to everyone. We will discuss what it means to think like an economist, how you can use economic thinking to make the world a better place (or to take advantage of your friends and enemies, if you prefer), and also how sometimes thinking like an economist can get you into trouble.

Instructor(s): J. List, S. Levitt Note(s): This course will now count as an ECON elective for the business economics specialization.

ECON 19100. Economics for Everyone: Macro. 100 Units.

This course explores the big ideas in macroeconomics in a way that is enjoyable and accessible, with minimal reliance on mathematics. The goal is to provide an introduction to macroeconomic issues for people who have never before studied macroeconomics (and who might never study it again), so that they can understand and contribute to ongoing discussions in the news and on social media. We will demystify some of the major macroeconomic questions of our times: Why is there unemployment? Why are some countries poor? What's the big deal about government debt? How high should we set taxes? What gives money and stocks their value? What does the Fed do? And why did all those economists win Nobel Prizes? We will show the fun, interesting, and strange sides of macroeconomics.

Instructor(s): G. Kaplan     Terms Offered: TBD Note(s): *This course does not apply toward economics major requirements.

ECON 19200. Introduction to Issues and Methods in Microeconomics. 100 Units.

Microeconomics is the study of how agents make optimal choices when facing constraints. The course will start by developing the "Economic Approach" as the basic tool for analysis in economics. We will continue with a model of causal inference, and link it with concepts students have learned in the econometrics course. Then, we introduce the use of experiments as an alternative methodology for the researchers to gather their own data. Finally, we cover some major topics in behavioral economics.

Instructor(s): Staff     Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): Econ 10000/20000/20010. Note(s): Study Abroad

ECON 19300. Introduction to Issues and Methods in Macroeconomics. 100 Units.

We will develop basic tools and methods in economics and study issues in macroeconomics and international trade and finance. The topics we cover include both contemporary and classical issues such as tax incidence and distortions, optimal taxation, inflation, monetary policy, patterns and benefits of trade, and exchange rate determination. The objective of the course is to train students with analytical tools in macroeconomics so that they can understand, analyze, and evaluate various policies and policy proposals. To make the subject matters relevant and practical, students are strongly encouraged to read the Wall Street Journal and the Economist regularly to keep up with current events and controversies.

Instructor(s): Staff     Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): Econ 10200/20200/20210 Note(s): Study Abroad

ECON 20000-20100-20200-20300. The Elements of Economic Analysis I-II-III-IV.

ECON 20000. The Elements of Economic Analysis I. 100 Units.

This course develops the economic theory of consumer choice. This theory characterizes optimal choices for consumers given their incomes and preferences, as well as the relative prices of different goods. This course develops tools for analyzing how these optimal choices change when relative prices and consumer incomes change. Finally, this course presents several measures of consumer welfare. Students learn how to evaluate the impact of taxes and subsidies using these measures. Completion of ECON 10000 (or ECON 19800) is strongly recommended of students without a prior microeconomics course.

Terms Offered: Autumn Spring Prerequisite(s): MATH 13300 (with prior completion of or at least concurrent with MATH 15250), MATH 15250 or 16300. First-year students must also pass the economics placement exam or complete ECON 10000 (or ECON 19800). First year students may enroll in Econ 20000 concurrently with Math 16300/16310 if they have received an A/A- in both Math 16100/16110 and Math 16200/16210. Note(s): Students who matriculated prior to 2022-2023 and have completed MATH 15100-15200-15300 may replace the MATH 19520 requirement with MATH 15250. They may take MATH 15250 prior to or concurrently with ECON 20000/20010.

ECON 20100. The Elements of Economic Analysis II. 100 Units.

This course is a continuation of ECON 20000. The first part of this course discusses markets with one or a few suppliers. The second part focuses on demand and supply for factors of production and the distribution of income in the economy. This course also includes some elementary general equilibrium theory and welfare economics.

Instructor(s): Staff     Terms Offered: Autumn Winter Prerequisite(s): ECON 20000 or 20010

ECON 20200. The Elements of Economic Analysis III. 100 Units.

As an introduction to macroeconomic theory and policy, this course covers the determination of aggregate demand (i.e., consumption, investment, the demand for money); aggregate supply; and the interaction between aggregate demand and supply. We also discuss economic growth, business cycle, inflation and money. Completion of ECON 19900 is strongly recommended of students without a prior macroeconomics course.

Instructor(s): Staff     Terms Offered: Spring Winter Prerequisite(s): ECON 20100 or 20110

ECON 20300. Elements of Economic Analysis IV. 100 Units.

This is a course in money and banking, monetary theories, the determinants of the supply and demand for money, the operation of the banking system, monetary policies, financial markets, and portfolio choice.

Instructor(s): Staff Prerequisite(s): ECON 20200 or 20210

ECON 20010-20110-20210. The Elements of Economic Analysis: Honors I-II-III.

The Elements of Economic Analysis: Honors I-II-III

ECON 20010. The Elements of Economic Analysis I Honors. 100 Units.

The scope of the honors section is the same as the standard section, but it covers material at greater depth and using more sophisticated mathematical methods. This course develops the economic theory of consumer choice. This theory characterizes optimal choices for consumers given their incomes and preferences, as well as the relative prices of different goods. This course develops tools for analyzing how these optimal choices change when relative prices and consumer incomes change. Finally, this course presents several measures of consumer welfare. Students learn how to evaluate the impact of taxes and subsidies using these measures. Completion of ECON 10000 (or ECON 19800) is strongly recommended of students without a prior microeconomics course.

Instructor(s): V. Lima     Terms Offered: Autumn Spring Prerequisite(s): MATH 13300 (with prior completion of or at least concurrent with MATH 15250), MATH 15250, or 16300. First-year students must also pass the economics placement exam or complete ECON 10000 (or ECON 19800). First year students may enroll in Econ 20000 concurrently with Math 16300/16310 if they have received an A/A- in both Math 16100/16110 and Math 16200/16210. Note(s): Students who matriculated prior to 2022-2023 and have completed MATH 15100-15200-15300 may replace the MATH 19520 requirement with MATH 15250. They may take MATH 15250 prior to or concurrently with ECON 20000/20010.

ECON 20110. The Elements of Economic Analysis II Honors. 100 Units.

The scope of the honors section is the same as the standard section, but it covers material at greater depth and using more sophisticated mathematical methods. This course is a continuation of ECON 20000/20010. The first part of this course discusses markets with one or a few suppliers. The second part focuses on demand and supply for factors of production and the distribution of income in the economy. This course also includes some elementary general equilibrium theory of welfare economics.

Instructor(s): R. Fang     Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): ECON 20000 or 20010

ECON 20210. The Elements of Economic Analysis III Honors. 100 Units.

The scope of the honors section is the same as the standard section, but it covers material at greater depth and using more sophisticated mathematical methods. As an introduction to macroeconomic theory and policy, this course covers the determination of aggregate demand (i.e., consumption, investment, the demand for money); aggregate supply; and the interaction between aggregate demand and supply. We also discuss economic growth, business cycle, inflation and money. Completion of ECON 10200 (or ECON 19900) is strongly recommended of students without a prior macroeconomics course.

Instructor(s): K. Yoshida     Terms Offered: Spring Prerequisite(s): ECON 20100 or 20110

ECON 20520. Formal Models of Political Economics. 100 Units.

Why do the Republicans and the Democrats almost always ended up choosing moderates as their party nominees in presidential races? How do "checks and balances" such as a legislative committee's power to set the agenda or a president's power to veto a bill affect policy outcomes? What leads to coalition building in a legislature and how does it affect the result of legislative bargaining? When can a legislature optimally delegate its power to a bureaucratic agency who has its own interests and agenda? To answer questions like these, we study formal models of political economics. Such models examine explicitly the incentives of participants in political processes and generate predictions of their behavior based on such incentives and any confounding strategic considerations. Our approach is largely game theoretical. Familiarity with fundamental game theoretical ideas like the strategic and extensive games, the Nash Equilibrium, and the Subgame Perfect Equilibrium is essential and assumed.

Instructor(s): R. Fang     Terms Offered: Autumn Prerequisite(s): ECON 10700 or ECON 20100 or ECON 20110 or ECON 20700 Note(s): Students may count either ECON 20510 or ECON 20520, but not both, toward the 42 credits required for graduation.

ECON 20700. Game Theory and Economic Applications. 100 Units.

This course introduces the basic ideas and applications of game theory. Topics include models of games in extensive and strategic form, equilibria with randomization, signaling and beliefs, reputation in repeated games, bargaining games, investment hold-up problems, and mediation and incentive constraints.

Instructor(s): J. Root     Terms Offered: Autumn Prerequisite(s): ECON 20100/20110 Note(s): Student may count only one of [ECON 10700 or ECON 20700 or ECON 20770/ECMA 30770] toward the 42 credits required for graduation.

ECON 20770. Decision and Strategy. 100 Units.

This course provides a formal introduction to game theory with applications in economics. We will study models of how individuals make decisions, and how those decisions are shaped by strategic concerns and uncertainty about the world. The topics will include the theory of individual choice, games of complete and incomplete information, and equilibrium concepts such as Nash equilibrium. The applications will include oligopoly, auctions, and bargaining. The course is appropriate for advanced undergraduates who are interested in a rigorous mathematical approach to understanding human behavior.

Instructor(s): B. Brooks     Terms Offered: TBD Prerequisite(s): Prerequsites for Undergraduates: ECON 20100/ECON 20110 and MATH 20300/MATH 20310/MATH 20700, or consent of instructor Note(s): Student may count only one of [ECON 10700 or ECON 20700 or ECON 20770/ECMA 30770] toward the 42 credits required for graduation. Equivalent Course(s): ECMA 30770

ECON 20780. Decision and Strategy II. 100 Units.

We continue the formal introduction to decision theory and game theory begun in ECMA 30780, with a specific focus on models of incomplete information. Topics covered include subjective expected utility, Bayesian games, contract theory, and mechanism design. Among the applications we will consider are auctions, collusion, entry deterrence, and strategic communication. The course is appropriate for advanced undergraduates who are interested in a rigorous mathematical approach to decision making in strategic situations.

Instructor(s): B. Brooks     Terms Offered: TBD Prerequisite(s): ECON 20770/ECMA 30770 or consent of instructor Equivalent Course(s): ECMA 30780

ECON 21020. Econometrics. 100 Units.

Required of students who are majoring in economics; those students are encouraged to meet this requirement by the end of their third year. This course covers the single and multiple linear regression model, the associated distribution theory, and testing procedures; corrections for heteroskedasticity, autocorrelation, and simultaneous equations; and other extensions as time permits. Students also apply the techniques to a variety of data sets using PCs.

Instructor(s): Staff     Terms Offered: Autumn Spring Winter Prerequisite(s): ECON 20100/20110; ECON 21010, or STAT 23400/24400/24410 and MATH 19620 (or MATH 20000 or STAT 24300 or MATH 20250)

ECON 21030. Econometrics - Honors. 100 Units.

The topics are essentially the same as those covered in ECON 21020, but this foundations course in econometrics gives a more systematic introduction to the application of statistical theory to economic applications. This course is intended for students who are planning to study economics at the graduate level.

Instructor(s): A. Torgovitsky, E. Rose     Terms Offered: Spring Winter Prerequisite(s): ECON 20100/20110, and STAT 24400/24410/24500, and MATH 19620/20250/STAT 24300; or consent of instructor

ECON 21031. Econometrics II-Honors. 100 Units.

This course is a continuation of ECON 21030. The topics covered include additional applications of linear regression to descriptive and causal inference. Other topics may include nonlinear models, panel data, quantile regression, time series, the bootstrap, and nonparametric regression. This course is intended for students who are planning to study economics at the graduate level.

Instructor(s): A. Torgovitsky     Terms Offered: Spring Prerequisite(s): ECON 21020/21030

ECON 21110. Applied Microeconometrics. 100 Units.

This course will cover a broad set of applications in labor economics, public economics, industrial organization, economics of education, environmental economics, and development economics. There will be a strong focus on how economic theory, institutional details, and experiments can be used to draw causal inferences on economic relationships. There will be emphasis on applying a number of commonly used microeconometric methods to economic data; including the linear regression model, fixed and random effects models, instrumental variables, and discrete choice models. When interpreting the empirical results, we will also discuss the importance of omitted variables bias and measurement error.

Instructor(s): J. Joensen     Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): ECON 21020 or ECON 21030

ECON 21200. Time Series Econometrics. 100 Units.

This course focuses on theory, and covers a broad range of topics, both mathematical and statistical, on stationary time series models in time and frequency domains. The models include ARMA, VAR, ARCH/GARCH and their variants. It also covers nonstationary time series models with unit roots and cointegration, and the theories and methodologies to estimate and test them statistically.

Instructor(s): Staff     Terms Offered: TBD Prerequisite(s): ECON 20200/20210 and ECON 21020/21030

ECON 21300. Data Construction and Interpretation in Economic Applications. 100 Units.

In this course we will explore the process of extracting insights from real-world data. What can one learn from a particular data set? How do you know what sets of tools will be "right" for the job? How can you increase your degree of confidence that the inferences you are drawing are correct? How can you best communicate the insights you glean from the data? Unlike standard econometrics courses, this class emphasizes hands-on work with actual data sets rather than the development of sophisticated tools and techniques (which are also useful, you just won't learn them here!).

Instructor(s): S. Levitt     Terms Offered: Not offered in 2022-2023. Prerequisite(s): ECON 10000/19800/20000/20010 and STAT 22000/23400/24400 (or ECON 21010)

ECON 21410. Computational Methods in Economics. 100 Units.

This course introduces the empirical and computational techniques necessary for numerical estimation and simulation in economics. Through examples in economics, the course covers topics such as optimization, function approximation, and monte carlo techniques. Emphasis will be placed on developing effective programming and research practices. The course is structured through a series of applications in such topics as segregation, occupational choice, and repeated games. The course will be taught in R and STATA. Though helpful, no previous experience with R or STATA is required.

Instructor(s): Staff     Terms Offered: TBD Prerequisite(s): ECON 20100/20110 and ECON 21020/21030

ECON 21730. Applied Behavioral Economics. 100 Units.

This class covers recent work in behavioral economics. Topics include discrimination, social pressure, social norms, identity and gender. Applications will cover a wide range of fields, including labor economics, finance, and political economy.

Instructor(s): L. Bursztyn Prerequisite(s): ECON 20100/20110 and ECON 21020/21030

ECON 21740. Behavioral Economics and Experiments. 100 Units.

This is a hands-on course in behavioral economics. Basic concepts of preferences, traits, and behavioral biases are reviewed that link economics and psychology. Methods for eliciting traits and preferences will be taught and implemented in actual lab experiments. Grade will be determined by reports and quality of lab work.

Instructor(s): J. Heckman     Terms Offered: TBD Prerequisite(s): ECON 10000/19800/20000/20010 AND STAT 22000/23400/24300/24400/24410/ECON 21010 (Lab students require one economics course.)

ECON 21800. Experimental Economics. 100 Units.

This course provides the necessary tools to be an avid consumer of the experimental literature and instructs students on how to become a producer of that literature. Topics include a summary of recent experimental findings and details on how to gather and analyze data using experimental methods.

Instructor(s): J. List     Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): ECON 20100/20110 and ECON 21020/21030; ECON 10000/20000 and ECON 11020 for declared business economics students. No first-year students. Note(s): Students may count either ECON 11700 or ECON 21800, but not both, toward the 42 credits required for graduation.

ECON 21830. Social Neuroscience. 100 Units.

Humans are intensely social animals. Our lives are intertwined with other people, and our well-being depends on others. Social neuroscience examines how the brain mediates social cognition and behavior. It spans diverse species, disciplines (evolutionary biology, neuroscience, anthropology, psychology, behavioral economics, sociology, and political science), and levels of analysis across the biological organization. Social neuroscience provides an overarching paradigm to investigate social cognition and behavior and to determine where we as a species fit within a broader biological context. A wide range of topics will be examined, including social connections and friendship, sex, mating and aggression, cooperation and social preferences, social and environmental influences on decision-making and behavior, empathy, social contagion, and group coalitions. Interdisciplinary analyses, by integrating approaches from social sciences and biological sciences, significantly expand our knowledge and have the potential to improve our social and living conditions.

Instructor(s): J. Decety     Terms Offered: Autumn Equivalent Course(s): PSYC 22350, BIOS 24137, HLTH 22350, CHDV 22350

ECON 22030. The Chinese Economy. 100 Units.

This course provides an overview of the Chinese economy, with two main focuses. First, we will review the significant reforms that happened in China in the past four decades, which fundamentally reshaped the modern China as we see today. Second, we will discuss some of China's key political and economic institutions, and their implications on China and the rest of the world. Throughout the course, special emphasis will be given to the role of the state in China's growth experience, at both the central- and local-levels.

Instructor(s): Wang, S     Terms Offered: Spring Equivalent Course(s): PBPL 25585, PPHA 35585

ECON 22410. UChicago Economics: The People and the Seminal Ideas. 100 Units.

Econ 24720 or Econ 22410 may be used as an economics elective, but only one of the two may be used toward economics major requirements. This course will trace in general the history and evolution of economic thought as an intellectual discipline, from the Middle Ages through Adam Smith and the Classical dominance in the 18th and 19th centuries, to the neoclassical period and alternative schools, and then the rise of Keynesian economics and the emergence of the Chicago School of economics in the 20th century. With this background and context, the focus will turn to the theoretical and empirical contributions of important historical UChicago figures such as Veblen, Knight, Hayek, Friedman, Stigler, Coase and Becker as well as the seminal ideas of contemporary scholars, including several Nobel laureates, in the Department, other academic units on campus, and economists elsewhere with deep Chicago roots.

Instructor(s): A. Sanderson and Staff     Terms Offered: TBD Prerequisite(s): ECON 20200/20210. Third- or fourth-year standing.

ECON 23000. Money and Banking. 100 Units.

This course covers economic theories and topical issues in money and banking. We discuss such "traditional" topics as the quantity theory, the Phillips curve, and the money creation process. We also investigate models of bank runs and financial crises, the tradeoff between rules and discretion, and the New Macroeconomic Synthesis of New Classical. Other topics include New Keynesian approaches to modeling money and monetary policy, practical and institutional issues in European and U.S. monetary policy, and the 2008 financial crisis.

Instructor(s): H. Uhlig     Terms Offered: Autumn Prerequisite(s): ECON 20200 (or ECON 20210); ECON 21020 and ECON 23950 are strongly recommended.

ECON 23200. Topics in Macroeconomics. 100 Units.

This course focuses on the use of dynamic general equilibrium models to study questions in macroeconomics. Topics include long-run growth and dynamic fiscal policy (Ricardian equivalence, tax smoothing, capital taxation), labor market search, industry investment, and asset pricing. On the technical side, we cover basic optimal control (Hamiltonians) and dynamic programming (Bellman equations).

Instructor(s): N. Stokey     Terms Offered: Autumn Prerequisite(s): ECON 20200 (or ECON 20210) and MATH 20300 (or MATH 20310 or MATH 20700)

ECON 23410. Economic Growth. 100 Units.

The process of economic growth and the sources of differences in economic performance across nations are some of the most interesting, important and challenging areas in modern social science. You cannot travel or read the news without wondering why differences in standards of living among countries are so large. The primary purpose of this course is to introduce undergraduate students to these major issues and to the theoretical tools necessary for studying them. The course therefore strives to provide students with a solid background in dynamic economic analysis, as well as empirical examples and data analysis. We will cover models at an abstract and advanced level. You must have the degree of mathematical maturity associated with the concepts of functions, derivatives, integrals, Taylor series, optimization, ordinary differential equations. Some basic knowledge on regression analysis is also required.

Instructor(s): U. Akcigit     Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): ECON 20200 (or ECON 20210) and ECON 21020 (or ECON 21030)

ECON 23950. Economic Policy Analysis. 100 Units.

Building on the tools and methods that are developed in the core courses, this course analyzes fiscal and monetary policy and other topical issues. We use both theoretical and empirical approaches to understand the real-world problems.

Instructor(s): Staff     Terms Offered: Autumn Spring Prerequisite(s): ECON 20200/20210; ECON 21020 or 21030 strongly recommended. Note(s): This course does not apply toward the economics major elective requirement. Students may not receive credit for both Econ 13000 and Econ 23950 toward the 42 degree credits.

ECON 24000. Labor Economics. 100 Units.

Topics include the theory of time allocation, the payoffs to education as an investment, detecting wage discrimination, unions, and wage patterns. Most of the examples are taken from U.S. labor data, although we discuss immigration patterns and their effects on U.S. labor markets. Some attention is also given to the changing characteristics of the workplace.

Instructor(s): Staff     Terms Offered: TBD Prerequisite(s): ECON 20100 and ECON 21020 (or ECON 21030)

ECON 24450. Inequality and the Social Safety Net: Theory, Empirics, and Policies. 100 Units.

This course will introduce students to key economic and conceptual issues surrounding inequality and the social safety net. We will study the theoretical underpinnings and empirical analysis of the social safety net, focusing on the effects of social insurance and public assistance programs on individual and societal outcomes. After studying models of the insurance-incentive tradeoff, we will apply these models and econometric strategies to the empirical analysis of social safety net programs. We will study how social safety net programs interact with labor markets, specifically human capital investment and work decisions, and how they affect long-term outcomes such as income, health, well-being, and inequality. Students will learn how to analyze the tradeoffs involved in social safety net programs and will learn the current state of evidence on these programs.

Instructor(s): M. Deshpande     Terms Offered: Spring Prerequisite(s): ECON 20100/20110 and ECON 21020/21030

ECON 25000. Introduction To Finance. 100 Units.

This course develops the tools to quantify the risk and return of financial instruments. These are applied to standard financial problems faced by firms and investors. Topics include arbitrage pricing, the capital asset pricing model, and the theory of efficient markets and option pricing.

Instructor(s): Staff Prerequisite(s): ECON 20200/20210 and ECON 21020/21030

ECON 25100. Financial Economics; Speculative Markets. 100 Units.

This course focuses on the description, pricing, and hedging of basic derivative claims on financial assets. We study the characteristics, uses, and payoffs of a variety of contracts where the underlying claims include commodities, foreign currencies, bonds, stocks, or stock indices. We examine contracts such as options, swaps, and futures contracts. We use a unified approach (the technique of portfolio replication) to study pricing of these claims. Students also gain an understanding of strategies for hedging of the risks inherent in holding these derivative claims.

Instructor(s): F. Alvarez     Terms Offered: Spring Prerequisite(s): ECON 20100/20110 and STAT 23400/24400/24410/ECON 21010

ECON 25120. Options and Volatility Products. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): F. Alvarez     Terms Offered: Spring

ECON 25520. Development Economics and Data Analysis. 100 Units.

Why do some countries grow faster than others? Why do farmers not adopt new technologies that generate higher yields? What is the most effective way to improve health, education and women's empowerment in middle and low income countries? We will examine these questions by applying the tools of economics to the best available data. In addition to mastering the economic literature on development economics, students will learn applied econometric techniques and how to apply them in practice. They will learn how to critically evaluate data analysis and spot potential biases: is the outcome variable likely to be subject to social desirability bias? is there potential selection bias or attrition bias? What techniques are best adapted to addressing these potential biases in the data? In the final part of the course we will cover the role of the International Financial Institutions (the IMF and World Bank) in international development. The course is designed for undergraduates with a strong interest in economics and data and previous experience using statistical software (such as R or Stata).

Instructor(s): R. Glennerster     Terms Offered: Autumn Prerequisite(s): ECON 20100/20110 and ECON 21020/21030

ECON 25530. Behavioral Development Economics (Undergraduate) 100 Units.

This course will focus on the intersection of two rapidly growing and recently Nobel Prize-winning fields in economics - development, and behavioral economics. Behavioral development economics brings insights and tools from psychology and behavioral economics to the study of developing economies and poverty more generally. The class is aimed at students interested in either (or both) of the fields. A decent part of lectures will be focused on introducing and describing tools of behavioral economics, before moving to applications in low-and middle-income countries.

Instructor(s): A. Karing     Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): Econ 20100/20110 and Econ 21020/21030

ECON 26010. Public Finance. 100 Units.

This course addresses the measurement, explanation, and consequences of government activity including tax systems, expenditure programs, and regulatory arrangements. Topics include cross-country comparisons of government behavior, market analyses of public policy, the incidence of government activity, and effects of economic activity on politics and public policy.

Instructor(s): M. Golosov     Terms Offered: TBD Prerequisite(s): ECON 20200/20210 and ECON 21020 (or ECON 21030) Note(s): ECON 26010 or 26020 may be used as an economics elective, but only one may be used toward degree requirements.

ECON 26030. The Economics of Socialism. 100 Units.

The course examines the economic theories of socialism ranging from Karl Marx's to market socialism, as well as theories of market power, collective action, and price regulation. These theories are applied to the measurement of socialism, income distribution, surplus value, and the degree of exploitation of labor. These metrics are used to compare various mixed economies including the Nordic model and various sectors in the United States. We consider how the economics of socialism might evolve as the health sector grows in the near future and artificial intelligence transforms the workplace in the long run.

Instructor(s): C. Mulligan Prerequisite(s): Econ 20100/20110

ECON 26040. Human Capital and the Economy. 100 Units.

This course introduces the concept of human capital, its accumulation process, its role in family decisions, and its impact on the economy. Several models are presented and discussed, covering a wide range of topics, including parental altruism, education, bequests, health, fertility, support in old age, income inequality, intergenerational transmission of wealth, specialization, division of labor, and economic growth. The theory is complemented with historical evidence from different countries and periods.

Instructor(s): P. Pena     Terms Offered: Spring Prerequisite(s): Econ 20200/20210

ECON 26610. The Economics of Cities and Regions. 100 Units.

This course studies business and individual location decisions and how they determine the main economic forces that lead to the existence and performance of cities and regional agglomerations. The course starts by developing a simple theory of cities and its implications for city size, firm productivity, and housing prices. It then studies evidence of the impact of cities on firm and worker productivity, urban amenities, and congestion. We will discuss the problems in measuring these forces, the methodologies to do so, as well as the implications of this measurement for businesses, individuals, and urban policy. We will also study the internal structure of cities, and how to evaluate the effect of new infrastructure or policy on land and housing values as well as on overall welfare. Finally, the course will analyze the role cities and regions play in aggregate economic development.

Instructor(s): Rossi-Hansberg, E.     Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): ECON 20100/20110 and ECON 21020/21030

ECON 26920. Behavioral Economics and Policy. 100 Units.

The standard theory of rational choice exhibits explanatory power in a vast range of circumstances, including such disparate decision making environments as whether to commit a crime, have children, or seek to emigrate. Nonetheless, shortfalls from full rationality seem not to be uncommon, and are themselves, to some extent, systematic. Behavioral economics documents and tries to account for these departures from full rationality. This course looks at areas in which some modification of the traditional rational choice apparatus might most be warranted; these include decisions that unfold over time, involve low probability events, or implicate willpower. To what extent should public policy respond to shortfalls from rationality or concern itself with promoting happiness?

Instructor(s): J. Leitzel     Terms Offered: Autumn Equivalent Course(s): PBPL 28805

ECON 27000. International Economics. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): F. Tintelnot     Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): ECON 20100/20110 Equivalent Course(s): PBPL 27000

ECON 27700. Health Economics and Public Policy. 100 Units.

This course analyzes the economics of health and medical care in the United States with particular attention to the role of government. The first part of the course examines the demand for health and medical and the structure and the consequences of public and private insurance. The second part of the course examines the supply of medical care, including professional training, specialization and compensation, hospital competition, and finance and the determinants and consequences of technological change in medicine. The course concludes with an examination of recent proposals and initiatives for health care reform. Must have completed PPHA 32300 Principles of Microeconomics and Public Policy I or equivalent to enroll.

Instructor(s): Meltzer, D     Terms Offered: Spring Prerequisite(s): PBPL 20000 or ECON 20000 and one undergraduate course in quantitative research methods (Statistics or Econometrics) or the equivalent or consent of the instructor Equivalent Course(s): PPHA 38300, CCTS 38300, PBPL 28300

ECON 28000. Industrial Organization. 100 Units.

This course extends the analysis from ECON 20100, with a focus on understanding the way firms make decisions and the effects of those decisions on market outcomes and welfare. The course examines the structure and behavior of firms within industries. Topics include oligopolistic behavior, the problems of regulating highly concentrated industries, and the implementation of U.S. antitrust policy.

Instructor(s): M. Dinerstein     Terms Offered: Spring Prerequisite(s): ECON 20100/20110

ECON 28010. Applied Empirical Industrial Organization. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): J. Arnold     Terms Offered: Spring Prerequisite(s): Econ 20100/20110 and Econ 21020/21030 Note(s): Standard Track Economics majors should register for Econ 28010

ECON 28030. Markets and Regulation. 100 Units.

This is an applied industrial organization course that examines economically regulated market structures. We will analyze: a) types of market structures that particularly generate economic regulation; b) common methods used by regulatory agencies given a particular market structure; and c) models of the supply of and the demand for regulation of markets, with emphasis on maximizing behavior on the part of both suppliers (regulators) and demanders (firms, consumers, political representatives). We will focus on non-financial markets, as financial markets are well-covered in other courses.

Instructor(s): Kathryn Ierulli     Terms Offered: Autumn Prerequisite(s): PQ: PBPL 20000 or equivalent Equivalent Course(s): PBPL 28670

ECON 28060. The Economics of Organizations: An Experimental Perspective. 100 Units.

This course offers an introduction to the experimental methodology while at the same time providing the students with up-to-date insights and findings on how to run an organization and how to manage a workforce. Students will learn the basics of the experimental methodology, learn about the most ground-breaking findings in experimental economics related to the functioning of firms, and know the relevant papers and findings in organizational and personnel economics with a particular emphasis on the question of how to set incentives for workers.

Instructor(s): S. Neckermann Prerequisite(s): ECON 10000/20000/20010 and STAT 22000/23400/24400/24410/ECON 21010

ECON 28100. The Economics of Sports. 100 Units.

This is a course in microeconomics that applies traditional product and factor market theory and quantitative analysis to contemporary economic issues in professional and college athletics. Topics include the sports business; market structures and outcomes; the market for franchises; barriers to entry, rival leagues, and expansion; cooperative, competitive, and collusive behavior among participants; labor markets, productivity, and compensation of players; racial discrimination; public policies and antitrust legislation; and financing of stadiums.

Instructor(s): A. Sanderson Prerequisite(s): ECON 20100/20110; ECON 21020 or ECON 21030 strongly recommended

ECON 28620. Crony Capitalism. 100 Units.

The economic system prevailing in most of the world today differs greatly from the idealist version of free markets generally taught in economic classes. This course analyzes the role played by corporate governance, wealth inequality, regulation, the media, and the political process in general in producing these deviations. It will explain why crony capitalism prevails in most of the world and why it is becoming more entrenched also in the United States of America. The course, which requires only basic knowledge of economics, welcomes undergraduates. This is a cross-listed course offered under BUSN 35225 for Booth students and ECON 28620 for non-Booth students. Booth students will bid on BUSN 35225. Non-Booth student can register under ECON 28620 or, if space is available, enroll via the non-Booth registration process for BUSN 35225. ECON 28620 is not eligible for pass/fail.

Instructor(s): L. Zingales     Terms Offered: Spring Equivalent Course(s): BUSN 35225

ECON 28700. The Economics of Crime. 100 Units.

This course uses theoretical and empirical economic tools to analyze a wide range of issues related to criminal behavior. Topics include the police, prisons, gang behavior, guns, drugs, capital punishment, labor markets and the macroeconomy, and income inequality. We emphasize the analysis of the optimal role for public policy.

Instructor(s): S. Levitt Prerequisite(s): ECON 20100/20110; STAT 23400, ECON 21010, or ECON 21020 strongly recommended Equivalent Course(s): PBPL 23200

ECON 29200. Issues and Methods in Microeconomics. 100 Units.

Microeconomics is the study of how agents make optimal choices when facing constraints. The course will start with a quick refresher in the "Economic Approach" as the basic tool for analysis in economics. We will continue with a model of causal inference, and link it with concepts students have learned in the econometrics course. Then, we introduce the use of experiments as an alternative methodology for the researchers to gather their own data. Finally, we cover some major topics in behavioral economics.

Instructor(s): Staff     Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): Econ 20000/20010 Note(s): Study Abroad

ECON 29300. Issues and Methods in Macroeconomics. 100 Units.

Using tools and methods in economics, we will study issues in macroeconomics and international trade and finance. The topics we cover include both contemporary and classical issues such as tax incidence and distortions, optimal taxation, inflation, monetary policy, patterns and benefits of trade, and exchange rate determination. The objective of the course is to train students with analytical tools in macroeconomics so that they can understand, analyze, and evaluate various policies and policy proposals. To make the subject matters relevant and practical, students are strongly encouraged to read the Wall Street Journal and the Economist regularly to keep up with current events and controversies.

Instructor(s): Staff     Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): Econ 20200/20210 Note(s): Study Abroad

ECON 29700. Undergraduate Reading and Research. 100 Units.

Students are required to submit the College Reading and Research Course Form. Prerequisite(s): Consent of directors of the undergraduate program

Instructor(s): J. Wong     Terms Offered: Autumn Spring Winter Prerequisite(s): Consent of directors of the undergraduate program

ECON 29800. Undergraduate Honors Workshop. 100 Units.

For details, see the preceding Honors section.

Instructor(s): K. Yoshida, V. Lima     Terms Offered: Autumn Spring Winter Prerequisite(s): Faculty sponsorship and consent of honors workshop supervisors

Economics Master's (ECMA) Courses

ECMA 30750. The Theory of Market Design. 100 Units.

This course will provide an introduction to social choice, two-sided matching, house allocation, school choice, and the recent theoretical developments in kidney exchange. We will develop formal, mathematical language to evaluate and compare different mechanisms including deferred acceptance, top trading cycles, the probabilistic serial mechanism and others. Our approach will be axiomatic; we will explore the tradeoff between the efficiency, incentive compatibility and fairness in the design of mechanisms. This course will be proof-based, so is appropriate for advanced students acquainted with formal mathematical reasoning.

Instructor(s): J. Root     Terms Offered: Autumn Prerequisite(s): ECON 20100/20110 and MATH 20300/20310/20700

ECMA 30770. Decision and Strategy. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): B. Brooks     Terms Offered: TBD Prerequisite(s): Prerequsites for Undergraduates: ECON 20100/ECON 20110 and MATH 20300/MATH 20310/MATH 20700, or consent of instructor Note(s): Student may count only one of [ECON 10700 or ECON 20700 or ECON 20770/ECMA 30770] toward the 42 credits required for graduation. Equivalent Course(s): ECON 20770

ECMA 30780. Decision and Strategy II. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): B. Brooks     Terms Offered: TBD Prerequisite(s): ECON 20770/ECMA 30770 or consent of instructor Equivalent Course(s): ECON 20780

ECMA 30800. Theory of Auctions. 100 Units.

In part, this course covers the analysis of the standard auction formats (i.e., Dutch, English, sealed-bid) and describes conditions under which they are revenue maximizing. We introduce both independent private-value models and interdependent-value models with affiliated signals. Multi-unit auctions are also analyzed with an emphasis on Vickrey's auction and its extension to the interdependent-value setting.

Instructor(s): P. Reny     Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): PQ for Undergraduates: ECON 20100 (or Econ 20110), and MATH 20300 (or Math 20310 or Math 20700), and STAT 23400, 24400 or STAT 24410

ECMA 31000. Introduction to Empirical Analysis. 100 Units.

This course introduces students to the key tools of econometric analysis: Probability theory, including probability spaces, random variables, distributions and conditional expectation; Asymptotic theory, including convergence in probability, convergence in distribution, continuous mapping theorems, laws of large numbers, central limit theorems and the delta method; Estimation and inference, including finite sample and asymptotic statistical properties of estimators, confidence intervals and hypothesis testing; Applications to linear models, including properties of ordinary least squares, maximum likelihood and instrumental variables estimators; Non-linear models. Assignments will include both theoretical questions and problems involving data. Necessary tools from linear algebra and statistics will be reviewed as needed.

Instructor(s): J. Hardwick     Terms Offered: Autumn Prerequisite(s): PQs for Undergraduates: Econ 21030 or Econ 21110 or Econ 21130

ECMA 31100. Introduction to Empirical Analysis II. 100 Units.

This course is an introduction to applied econometrics and builds on tools studied in ECMA 31000. Topics include: Selection on observables, instrumental variables, time series, panel data, discrete choice models, regression discontinuity, nonparametric regression, quantile regression.

Instructor(s): J. Hardwick     Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): Prerequisite for Undergraduates: Econ 21030 or Econ 21110 or Econ 21130 or ECMA 31000 or ECMA 31130. Undergraduates who have taken Econ 21020 are encouraged to obtain instructor consent for enrollment.

ECMA 31130. Topics in Microeconometrics. 100 Units.

This course focuses on micro-econometric methods that have applications to a wide range of economic questions. We study identification, estimation, and inference in both parametric and non-parametric models and consider aspects such as consistency, bias and variance of estimators. We discuss how repeated measurements can help with problems related to unobserved heterogeneity and measurement error, and how they can be applied to panel and network data. Topics include duration models, regressions with a large number of covariates, non-parametric regressions, and dynamic discrete choice models. Applications include labor questions such as labor supply, wage inequality decompositions and matching between workers and firms. Students will be expected to solve programming assignment in R.

Instructor(s): T. Lamadon     Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): Prerequisites for Undergraduates: ECON 21020 OR ECON 21030

ECMA 31140. Perspectives on Computational Modeling for Economics. 100 Units.

In this course students will learn several computational methodologies and tools to solve, simulate, and analyze models that are the backbone of current macroeconomic analysis. While learning the relevant computational methods is the main objective, the theoretical economic aspects of the model will be stressed and the students will be required to apply their economic knowledge and skills to interpret and analyze the results. We will examine non-stochastic and stochastic general equilibrium models, both under local and global approximations. The main part of the course will deal with representative agent models, but a significant part will be devoted to introducing students to the solution of heterogeneous agent models as well.

Instructor(s): Salas, Sergio     Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): PQ for undergraduates: Econ 20200/20210 and MATH 19620/Stat 24300/Math 20250 and Stat 23400/Stat 24400/Stat 24410. Note(s): MACSS students have priority. Equivalent Course(s): MACS 10150, MACS 30150

ECMA 31210. Time Series Analysis for Macroeconomics and Finance. 100 Units.

This course will cover various methods and their applications in time series analysis and emphasize empirical exercises by students. The structure of the course starts with theoretical foundations drawing from standard textbooks of Hayashi (2000) and Hamilton (1994) and covers applications to answer important questions in macro and finance. The topics include time series OLS with applications in the Fama interest rate regression and Hansen's study of foreign exchange markets, GMM with the Fama-French model of equity returns, and state-space models with applications to GDP nowcasting. Familiarity with matrix algebra and elementary econometrics is required.

Instructor(s): F. Hayashi     Terms Offered: Spring Prerequisite(s): Prerequisites for Undergraduates: ECON 20200/20210 and ECON 21020/21030 Note(s): This course may count as a data science course for the data science specialization in the same set of options as ECON 21300, ECMA 31320, ECMA 31330, ECMA 31340, ECMA 31350 or ECMA 38010.

ECMA 31320. Applications of Econometric and Data Science Methods. 100 Units.

This course builds on the theoretical foundations set in Econ 21030 and explores further topics pertinent to modern economic applications. While the course content may change from year to year according to student and instructor interests, some potential topics are panel data methods, treatment effects/causal inference, discrete choice/limited dependent variable models, demand estimation, and topics in economic applications of supervised and unsupervised learning algorithms. The course will involve analytically and computationally intensive assignments and a significant empirical project component.

Instructor(s): A. Hortacsu     Terms Offered: Spring Prerequisite(s): CMSC 12300/14200/15200/16200 and ECON 21020 (ECON 21030 Honors Econometrics preferred) or consent of instructor

ECMA 31330. Econometrics and Machine Learning. 100 Units.

This course reviews a number of modern methods from econometrics, statistics and machine learning, and presents applications to economic problems. Examples of methods covered are simulation-based techniques, regularization via coefficient and matrix penalization, and regression and classification methods such as trees, forests and neural networks. Applications include economic models of network formation, and dimension reduction for structural economic models. The course involves programming and work with data. Beyond econometric background such as Econ 21030, students should have a solid background in computation.

Instructor(s): S. Bonhomme     Terms Offered: Not offered in 2022-2023 Prerequisite(s): CMSC 12300/14200/15200/16200 and ECON 21020 (ECON 21030 Honors Econometrics preferred)

ECMA 31340. Big Data Tools in Economics. 100 Units.

The goal of the class is to learn how to apply microeconomic concepts to large and complex datasets. We will first revisit notions such as identification, inference and latent heterogeneity in classical contexts. We will then study potential concerns in the presence of a large number of parameters in order to understand over-fitting. Throughout the class, emphasis will be put on project-driven computational exercises involving large datasets. We will learn how to efficiently process and visualize such data using state of the art tools in python. Topics will include fitting models using Tensor-Flow and neural nets, creating event studies using pandas, solving large-scale SVDs, etc.

Instructor(s): T. Lamadon     Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): PQs for Undergraduates:ECON 20100/20110 and ECON 21020/21030

ECMA 31350. Machine Learning for Economists. 100 Units.

This course reviews modern machine learning techniques and their applications in economics. The course covers some of the classical techniques, including lasso, regression trees, random forests, principal components analysis, and neural networks, as well as cutting-edge double machine learning methods. Applications include economic models of network formation, program evaluation, demand estimation, and asset pricing. The course involves programming and working with data. Students are expected to have a solid background in statistics, econometrics, and computation.

Instructor(s): K. Ponomarev     Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): For Undergraduates: CMSC 12300//14200/15200/16200 and ECON 21020 (ECON 21030 Honors Econometrics preferred)

ECMA 31360. Causal Inference. 100 Units.

This course reviews modern causal inference techniques and their applications in business and economics. The course covers the treatment-control comparison estimator, regression adjustment, matching (on covariates and propensity score), difference in differences (canonical and with staggered treatment), panel data methods, regression discontinuity design (sharp and fuzzy), instrumental variables and local average treatment effect (LATE) estimator. At different points during the course, we mention how machine learning (ML) techniques have recently been used to enrich the classical methods. The course involves programming (R language) and working with data. Students are expected to have a solid background in statistics (working knowledge of R and familiarity with RStudio) and econometrics.

Instructor(s): M. Tartari     Terms Offered: Autumn Spring Winter Prerequisite(s): ECON 21020/21030

ECMA 33220. Introduction to Advanced Macroeconomic Analysis. 100 Units.

This course introduces students to advanced methods for macroeconomic analysis. In the first part, we discuss time series methods such as impulse response analysis, vector autoregression, co-integration, shock identification, and business cycle detrending. In the second part, we examine and analyze a simple, yet powerful stochastic dynamic real business cycle model. In that context, the students will learn about dynamic programming, rational expectations, intertemporal optimization, asset pricing, the Frisch elasticity of labor supply, log-linearization, and computational tools to solve for the recursive law of motion of dynamic stochastic general equilibrium models. Finally, we touch upon some further models, such as the overlapping generations model and/or the continuous-time neoclassical growth model. The course is useful for students interested to deepen their knowledge in macroeconomics, in order to read, understand, and replicate some of the recent research in the field; as preparation for careers involving macroeconomic analysis, time series analysis, or asset pricing; or as preparation for graduate school. Decent knowledge of linear algebra and calculus is required. All advanced material will be taught in class.

Instructor(s): H. Uhlig     Terms Offered: Autumn Prerequisite(s): ECON 20200 (or ECON 20210) and ECON 21020 (or ECON 21030)

ECMA 33221. Introduction to Advanced Macroeconomic Analysis II. 100 Units.

This course introduces concepts and tools for advanced macroeconomics. It builds on ECMA 33220. We discuss the decision of consumption and investment over time, monetary economics, fiscal policy, asset pricing, and international economics. We introduce numerical methods to solve problems in economics and finance such as methods to solve nonlinear equations and to generate random numbers. These methods are useful when we solve economic models through value-function iterations, quadratic linearization, and other methods. Some topics discussed are the welfare cost of inflation, portfolio allocation, the yield curve and economic activity, optimal taxation, and financial markets and monetary policy. As ECMA 33220, this course is useful for students interested in increasing their knowledge in macroeconomics for careers involving macroeconomic analysis and as preparation for graduate school. Knowledge of calculus and linear algebra is expected.

Instructor(s): A. Silva     Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): For Undergraduates: ECON 20200/20210 and ECON 21020/21030

ECMA 33230. Macroeconomic Crises. 100 Units.

This course introduces students to economic theories of "crises" or particular periods of rapid (negative) changes in real and financial variables that are distinct from long-run growth and regular business cycles. In particular, we will cover the origin of various types of financial crises, i.e. speculative bubbles, bank runs, credit crunches, and sovereign debt crises and defaults. Time permitting, we will also study currency crises and speculative attacks. Throughout, our focus will be on the implications for fiscal and monetary policy.

Instructor(s): N. Balke     Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): ECON 23950 and ECON 21020 (or ECON 21030)

ECMA 33330. Introduction to Dynamic Economic Modeling. 100 Units.

This course provides an introduction to dynamic economic models, with applications to macroeconomics, labor economics, financial economics, and other subfields of economics. The core methodology will be consistent over time, but the applications will vary from year to year. The course will analyze decentralized equilibrium and social planner's problems in dynamic environments. It will focus on developing techniques for analyzing such models graphically, analytically, and computationally. Students should be familiar with constrained optimization (e.g. Lagrangians), linear algebra, and difference equations, as well as microeconomics, macroeconomics, and econometrics at an intermediate level.

Instructor(s): R. Shimer Prerequisite(s): ECON 20200 (or ECON 20210) and ECON 21020 (or ECON 21030)

ECMA 33603. Introduction to Macroeconomics and Financial Frictions. 100 Units.

This course studies the behavior of consumers, investors, and firms when they face frictions to take their decisions. These frictions can be in the form of costs to change portfolios, to change prices, or to find another investor to trade. Frictions also appear in the form of borrowing costs, the possibility of default, or the need to use money to carry on transactions. We show how taking into account these frictions change predictions about the economy. Borrowing constraints, for example, affect interest rates, and the need to rebalance portfolios changes predictions on optimal taxation. We discuss models, techniques and papers that show the relevance of frictions for economic analysis.

Instructor(s): A. Silva     Terms Offered: Spring Prerequisite(s): PQ for Undergraduates: ECON 20200/20210 and ECON 21020/21030

ECMA 33620. Introduction to Heterogeneous Agent Macroeconomics. 100 Units.

This class is an introduction to macroeconomics with heterogeneous households. We will study consumption-savings problems, income dynamics, wealth inequality in partial and general equilibrium, and the effects of fiscal and monetary policy in the presence of household inequality. The class will make use of theoretical analysis, empirical analysis and computational methods. Material will be presented in both discrete and continuous time. Students will analyze micro-level data on wealth, income and consumption, and will learn how to write code to solve heterogeneous agent models on a computer. Familiarity with a statisical package such as R or Stata, and a programming language such as Matlab, Python, Julia, Fortran or C is highly recommended.

Instructor(s): G. Kaplan Prerequisite(s): Undergraduates: PQ: ECON 20200/20210 and ECON 21020/21030

ECMA 35550. The Practicalities of Running Randomized Control Trials. 100 Units.

This course is designed for those who plan to run a randomized control trial. It provides practical advice about the trade-offs researchers face when selecting topics to study, the type of randomization technique to use, the content of a survey instruments, analytical techniques and much more. How do you choose the right minimum detectable effect size for estimating the sample size needed to run a high quality RCT? How do you quantify difficult to measure outcomes such as women's empowerment or ensure people are providing truthful answers when you are asking questions on sensitive topics like sexual health? When should you tie your hands by pre-committing to your analysis plan in advance, and when is a pre-analysis plan not a good idea? This course will draw on lots of examples from RCTs around the world, most (though not all) from a development context. Alongside field tips, it will also cover the concepts and theory behind the tradeoffs researchers face running RCTs. The course is designed for PhD students but given its practical nature is open to and accessible to masters students who plan to work on RCTs.

Instructor(s): Glennerster, Rachel     Terms Offered: Autumn Equivalent Course(s): ECON 35550, PPHA 35561

ECMA 36700. Economics of Education. 100 Units.

This course explores economic models of the demand for and supply of different forms of schooling. The course examines the markets for primary, secondary, and post-secondary schooling. The course examines numerous public policy questions, such as the role of government in funding or subsidizing education, the design of public accountability systems, the design of systems that deliver publicly funded (and possibly provided) education, and the relationship between education markets and housing markets.

Instructor(s): D. Neal Prerequisite(s): ECON 21020 or ECON 21030 Equivalent Course(s): EDSO 26700, PBPL 26705

ECMA 38010. Empirical Industrial Organization. 100 Units.

This course will provide an introduction to state-of-the-art methodologies in Empirical Industrial Organization. We will use real-life data to learn about consumers and firms. We will cover demand and preference estimation, production function estimation, empirical models of market entry, and auctions. We will also discuss applications including prediction, policy analysis, and price optimization. Students will learn about theory, estimation, optimization, and practical considerations. Students will apply what they learn using R.

Prerequisite(s): Prerequisites for Undergraduates: ECON 20100/20110 and ECON 21020/21030

Business Economics Courses

BUSN 20550. Application Development. 100 Units.

The new reality is that every company is a software company. Even in traditionally brick-and-mortar industries, software is performing more and more of the work. Many companies (especially "lean startups") are purely software-based. Lacking an understanding of how software works and how software is built puts you at a disadvantage. Our goal is to develop an understanding of both. We believe the best way to do that is to build something yourself, using modern languages and workflows. You will build a functional prototype of your own app idea, and will learn the Ruby on Rails web application framework. Higher-level goals are to: 1. Understand the general, platform-independent patterns of how apps work. 2. Communicate more effectively and credibly. 3. Develop a builder's eye for problems that can be solved with technology. 4. Prioritize features more intelligently by developing a better feel for their costs. 5. Implement a modern software development workflow, from task management to version control to quality assurance to deployment. 6. Be able to make and test small changes to an app yourself. This course is entirely project-driven. We will build a series of apps in class. Also, you will build your own app idea which will be your final project. This course is designed for a beginner who has never programmed before. Note: Due to the intensive support requirements and volume of requests, we can't allow auditors.

Instructor(s): R. Betina; Staff     Terms Offered: Autumn Spring Winter Prerequisite(s): This course is not open to MBA students. Cannot enroll in BUSN 20550 if BUSN 36110 Application Development taken previously, and vice versa. Booth Book Fee may be assessed. Refer to FAQ webpage for registration and schedule details: https://tinyurl.com/y8wz3oge. All first year college students are restricted from enrolling into this course. BUSN 20550 (and BUSN 36110) cannot count toward the standard economics major electives or the business economics specialization electives.

BUSN 20930. Social Sector Strategy and Structure. 100 Units.

The social sector, which encompasses nonprofit & for-profit firms that are primarily pursuing a solution to social or environmental issues, is an increasingly important sector. This course provides an overview of the structures, strategy frameworks, and management tools employed by social sector organizations to ensure that they deliver on the impact they seek. In particular, the course examines those approaches that differ from managing a non-impact seeking venture. The same fundamental approaches to marketing, competitive analysis, etc. can be translated across contexts. Where there are differences, however, they are important. We will review & analyze the distinctive challenges of managing for social or environmental impact, as opposed to profit maximization. We will use cases & exercises to examine and unpack social sector management and strategy. This includes how organizations are structured from a tax-status perspective; common business models; management tools such as the construct of theory of change/intended impact, impact measurement, marketing to donors & beneficiaries; managing paid & unpaid labor; funding sources such as philanthropy & impact investing; governance; and scale and growth. This is a "survey course" of the management tools, strategy frameworks, and structural approaches used in the social sector. It is not deep dive into any of these topics, and is designed to provide any student with a working knowledge of managing social sector organizations.

Prerequisite(s): This course is not open to MBA students. Booth Book Fee may be assessed. Refer to FAQ webpage for registration and schedule details: https://tinyurl.com/y8wz3oge. All first year college students are restricted from enrolling into this course.

Accounting Courses

BUSN 20100. Financial Accounting. 100 Units.

This course provides an introduction to financial statements and the financial reporting process from a user's perspective. The focus of the course is on fundamental accounting concepts and principles. Students learn how the economic transactions of a firm are reported in the financial statements and related disclosures. The objective of the course is to provide students with basic skills necessary to read and analyze financial statements as well as to prepare students for more advanced financial statement analysis courses.

Instructor(s): M. Muhn; L. Soffer; C. McClure; W. Heltzer; D. Samuels; J. Bonham     Terms Offered: Autumn Spring Winter Prerequisite(s): This course is not open to MBA students. Cannot enroll in BUSN 20100 if BUSN 30000 Financial Accounting taken previously, and vice versa. Booth Book Fee may be assessed. Refer to FAQ webpage for registration and schedule details: https://tinyurl.com/y8wz3oge. All first year college students are restricted from enrolling into this course.

BUSN 20101. Managerial Accounting. 100 Units.

This course focuses on internal operations, cost analysis, and performance evaluation, as opposed to the evaluation of external financial statements. Its targeted audience includes students intending become management consultants, entrepreneurs, managers (e.g., CEOs, CFOs, COOs, and product managers), and anyone with an interest in understanding how firms (1) make decisions about products and services and (2) evaluate performance and control risk. Topics covered include overhead allocation, activity based costing, opportunity cost of excess capacity, customer profitability, capital budgeting, transfer pricing, performance evaluation, risk management, internal controls, and fraud. Applications cover both the manufacturing and services sectors.

Instructor(s): Faculty TBD     Terms Offered: TBD Prerequisite(s): This course is not open to MBA students. Cannot enroll in BUSN 20101 if BUSN 30001 Cost Analysis and Internal Controls taken previously, and vice versa. Booth Book Fee may be assessed. Refer to FAQ webpage for registration and schedule details: https://tinyurl.com/y8wz3oge. All first year college students are restricted from enrolling into this course.

BUSN 20140. Accounting and Financial Analysis. 100 Units.

Course is designed to improve students' understanding of financial information beyond an intro accounting class. It is designed to provide the knowledge of financial statements necessary to conduct a reasonably sophisticated financial statement analysis. Focus is on the use of financial statements, although this requires some understanding of the process by which financial statements are produced. It will benefit students who want to become investment bankers, economic consultants, analysts, or other jobs that requires more than a superficial understanding of financial reporting. Not limited to study of financial statements. Will also work with supplemental disclosures, which help the user to interpret the financial statements and to understand better the economic transactions that gave rise to them. Techniques employed will be useful for variety of purposes including (but not limited to) equity, credit, and complex deals (such as M&A) analysis. Although this course does not cover forecasting, valuation, or models of complex deals, a thorough understanding of financial reporting issues is critical to being able to use such techniques. This course especially useful as a prelude to Financial Statement Analysis (B20150/B30130), Advanced Financial Analysis and Valuation for Global Firms (B30131), and Deal Structuring and Financial Reporting Implications (B30122). Must submit answers to 5 cases based on actual financial statements. There are two in-person exams (Weeks 5 & 10).

Instructor(s): H. Christensen     Terms Offered: Autumn Prerequisite(s): Strict PQ: BUSN 20100 (or 30000). To register for this class, students must have taken BUSN 20100 or 30000. NEGPQ BUSN 30116 - Students cannot enroll in this class if they have taken BUSN 30116. All first year college students are restricted from enrolling in this course; new transfer students ok.

BUSN 20150. Financial Statement Analysis. 100 Units.

This course teaches you how to analyze financial statements in order to develop financial statement models, assess credit risk, and, ultimately, value a company. The course provides both a framework and the tools necessary to analyze financial statements. Its primary objective is to advance your understanding of how financial reporting can be used in a variety of decisions (e.g., lending and investment decisions) and analyses (e.g., financial distress and bankruptcy prediction). It is applied in nature and stresses the use of actual financial statements. Throughout the course, I draw heavily on real business examples and use cases to illustrate the application of the techniques and tools. Topics include traditional ratio analysis techniques, accounting analysis (i.e., identifying earnings management and accounting quality issues), and financial risk assessment. The second part of the course focuses on equity valuation, e.g., the preparation of pro forma financial statements, and the use of various valuation models. While students with a multitude of interests will benefit from this course, students with an interest in investment banking, equity or credit analysis, consulting, strategy, corporate finance, or management will find this course particularly relevant.

Instructor(s): Faculty TBD     Terms Offered: Spring Prerequisite(s): This course is not open to MBA students. Cannot enroll in BUSN 20150 if BUSN 30130 Financial Statement Analysis taken previously, and vice versa. Booth Book Fee may be assessed. Refer to FAQ webpage for registration and schedule details: https://tinyurl.com/y8wz3oge. All first year college students are restricted from enrolling into this course. Financial Accounting (BUSN 20100 or BUSN 30000) is a strict prerequisite.

BUSN 20170. Tax Strategies. 100 Units.

This course provides students with a framework for thinking about tax planning. This framework has two principal advantages. First, it is designed to have value long after the recent and next tax law change. Second, the framework is portable, in that it can be applied to any set of tax laws - those of the United States or any other country. Although the course generally focuses on U.S. based transactions and planning examples, the underlying ideas are applicable in other jurisdictions. Once developed, the framework is applied to a variety of business settings. The applications integrate concepts from finance, economics, and accounting to achieve a more complete understanding of the role of taxes in business strategy. The course also includes periodic focus on the financial accounting ramifications of tax planning. Moreover, the course content has valuation related implications. Topics include the following: tax planning for mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures; taxation of structures for new businesses (e.g., C Corps, and LLCs); tax planning for financing transactions, including cross-border financing, executive compensation (e.g., incentive stock options); and others.

Terms Offered: TBD Prerequisite(s): All first year college students are restricted from enrolling in this course; new transfer students ok.

BUSN 20180. Advanced Financial Analysis and Valuation for Global Firms. 100 Units.

The course covers advanced financial analysis and valuation for global firms. It is designed for students who already have a basic familiarity with corporate valuation and DCF analysis (from corporate finance class) as well as solid accounting knowledge. We cover financial analysis of different business models, specific situations (e.g., cyclicals, young growth companies, closely-held firms) as well as the analysis and valuation of foreign companies (e.g., emerging markets, reporting under IFRS). Capital markets have become increasingly global, providing more opportunities for corporate investments and M&A abroad. Evaluating these global investments, however, poses unique challenges for financial analysis (e.g., regarding information, accounting and governance) as well as valuation problems.

Prerequisite(s): Investments (BUSN 20400 or 35000), corporate finance (BUSN 20410 or 35200) and accounting (BUSN 20100 or 30000) all helpful background for success in this class. Cannot take BUSN 20180 if BUSN 30131 taken previously.

Entrepreneurship Courses

BUSN 20330. Building the New Venture. 100 Units.

This course is intended for students who are interested in starting new entrepreneurial businesses. It is tactical, hands-on, and covers the nuts and bolts of starting a company with a lesser emphasis on investing in entrepreneurial ventures. Students will learn how to raise seed funding, compensate for limited human and financial resources, establish brand values and positioning, secure a strong niche position, determine appropriate sourcing and sales channels, and develop execution plans in sales, marketing, product development and operations. The emphasis is managerial and entrepreneurial, essentially a working model for starting an enterprise. This class is executed through a combination of lectures, group assignments based on student's new venture ideas, case discussions, VC and entrepreneur guest lectures and panels, and ultimately ties together in a pitch at the end of the quarter to a panel of VC observers.

Instructor(s): C. Przybyl     Terms Offered: Autumn Prerequisite(s): This course is not open to MBA students. Cannot enroll in BUSN 20330 if BUSN 34103 Building the New Venture taken previously, and vice versa. Booth Book Fee may be assessed. Refer to FAQ webpage for registration and schedule details: https://tinyurl.com/y8wz3oge. All first year college students are restricted from enrolling into this course.

BUSN 20340. Developing a New Venture. 100 Units.

This course is designed to guide groups of students through the new venture creation process. Students will have passed through the first round of the College New Venture Challenge, and will be developing their own original new business ideas. Students may enter the course with ideas that are traditionally for-profit in nature or more socially oriented (either for- or not-for-profit ventures). Students in this course can expect to learn: • how to evaluate the potential and viability of their entrepreneurial ideas • how to conduct research on specific market opportunities • how to analyze the competitive landscape • have to evaluate the merits and drawbacks of unique business models • how to pitch their idea/venture to investors, experts, mentors, and fellow entrepreneurs Additional topics include financial projections, product /technology development, legal issues for startups, and entrepreneurial marketing tactics. Students must prepare and submit original feasibility summaries prior to the application deadline. During the course, students will expand these summaries into full business plans, and will be required to present their ventures multiple times to venture capital investors, entrepreneurs, and startup mentors. Students interested in careers in: startups, technology, business, consulting, and management are encouraged to take this course. Enrollment by permission based on the feasibility summary application. This course is not open to MBA students.

Instructor(s): S. Marcello     Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): This course is not open to MBA students. Booth Book Fee may be assessed. Refer to FAQ webpage for registration and schedule details: https://tinyurl.com/y8wz3oge. All first year college students are restricted from enrolling into this course. Consent only: Students will have passed through the first round of the College New Venture Challenge. Students may enroll in both BUSN 20340 and BUSN 34104 Special Topics in Entrepreneurship: Developing a New Venture (New Venture Challenge), but may receive credit for only one within the Entrepreneurship bundle of the business economics specialization.

BUSN 20920. Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation. 100 Units.

We will study social innovation with a focus on the role of social entrepreneurship for implementing innovative solutions to society's problems. A team of 4 students will be assigned with an innovative idea that addresses a social problem and could become a (for-profit or non-profit) social venture. Students will provide their preferences for assignment from a list of preselected ideas. Teams will essentially develop a business idea around this innovation. To achieve this, students will research the relevant literature, conduct customer discovery, analyze the competitive landscape, validate and refine the offering, propose a business model, articulate a theory of change, and identify an impact management strategy. Teams will present to the idea sponsor at the end of the quarter and in a mid-quarter check-in. The hope is that there will be sufficient validation and interest to move forward with some of these ventures with students involved in or leading the venture. One path is to participate in the John Edwardson, '72, Social New Venture Challenge. Much of class time will be devoted to group exercises to implement frameworks to answer these questions for the projects as well as a set of case study examples we will use throughout the course. In addition, there will be readings and discussions on a set of topics to provide a broader understanding of the economics of social innovation and its relationship to more traditional innovation. Grading will be based weekly project

Terms Offered: TBD Prerequisite(s): Prerequisite(s): This course is not open to MBA students. Cannot enroll in BUSN 20920 if BUSN 34117 Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation taken previously, and vice versa. Booth Book Fee may be assessed. Refer to FAQ webpage for registration and schedule details: https:// tinyurl.com/y8wz3oge. All first year College students are restricted from enrolling into this course.

Finance Courses

BUSN 20400. Investments. 100 Units.

This course offers the financial theory and quantitative tools necessary for understanding how stock, bond, and option prices are determined, and how financial assets are used for investment decisions. Topics covered include the following: the term structure of interest rates; portfolio selection based on mean-variance analysis; models of risk and return (including the CAPM and multifactor models); performance evaluation; market efficiency and the random walk hypothesis; asset pricing anomalies and behavioral finance; derivative security pricing (including options, futures, forwards, and swaps); and international investment. This course is not open to MBA students.

Instructor(s): A. Zhang; Q. Vandeweyer     Terms Offered: Spring Winter Prerequisite(s): This course is not open to MBA students. Cannot enroll in BUSN 20400 if BUSN 35000 Investments taken previously, and vice versa. Booth Book Fee may be assessed. Refer to FAQ webpage for registration and schedule details: https://tinyurl.com/y8wz3oge. All first year college students are restricted from enrolling into this course.

BUSN 20405. Financial Instruments. 100 Units.

This course develops, critically assesses, and applies theories of pricing derivatives. Topic discussed are: forward and futures contracts; interest rate and currency swaps; option trading strategies; binomial option pricing; the Black-Scholes-Merton option pricing model and extensions; risk management with options; empirical evidence and time-varying volatility; the pricing and hedging of corporate securities (common stock, senior and junior bonds, callable bonds, warrants, convertible bonds, and putable bonds); credit risk; and real options.

Instructor(s): J. Heaton     Terms Offered: Autumn Prerequisite(s): There are no enforced prerequisites but Investments (Business 20400/35000) is helpful. This course is not open to MBA students. Cannot enroll in BUSN 20405 if BUSN 35100 Financial Instruments taken previously, and vice versa. Booth Book Fee may be assessed. Refer to FAQ webpage for registration and schedule details: https://tinyurl.com/y8wz3oge. All first year college students are restricted from enrolling into this course.

BUSN 20410. Corporation Finance. 100 Units.

This course provides you with an understanding of major decisions made by corporate financial managers and to familiarize you with the tools used to make these decisions. The first part of the course covers methods used to value investment opportunities. Particular attention is given to discounted cash flow valuation, including the methods of weighted average cost of capital (WACC) and adjusted present value (APV). The second part of the course focuses on issues of corporate financial structure. The focus will be on the choice of financing through equity, debt and other types of securities and on payout policies through dividends. Specialized topics, such as mergers and acquisitions and corporate hedging will be covered as time permits.

Instructor(s): E. Jiang; C. Yannelis     Terms Offered: Spring Winter Prerequisite(s): This course is not open to MBA students. Cannot enroll in BUSN 20410 if BUSN 35200 Corporation Finance taken previously, and vice versa. Booth Book Fee may be assessed. Refer to FAQ webpage for registration and schedule details: https://tinyurl.com/y8wz3oge. All first year college students are restricted from enrolling into this course. Financial Accounting (BUSN 20100 or 30000) required. Investments (BUSN 20400 or 35000) strongly recommended.

Management Courses

BUSN 20600. Marketing Management. 100 Units.

The objective of the course is to provide an intro to marketing strategy. The course develops a common framework (3Cs/4Ps) to analyze real world problems presented in business cases and synthesize recommendations addressing strategic marketing issues. Numerous tools used to support the framework are also introduced. GOALS: 1. Introduce marketing strategy and elements of marketing analysis or business situation analysis: Customer analysis, Company analysis and Competitor analysis (3Cs). 2. Develop familiarity with tactical use of elements of the marketing mix - product policy, pricing, promotion and placement/distribution (4 Ps)-in a manner consistent with marketing analysis and strategy. 3. Integrate elements of the framework prescriptively into real world business situations. 4. Provide exposure to business case analysis and critical thinking common in case-based business classes. FORMAT: This course uses lectures to introduce concepts, and uses cases and business examples to illustrate them. Grading criteria includes homework assignments/case write-ups, final exam, and class participation that may involve student presentations or in-class exercises.

Instructor(s): J. McKinney     Terms Offered: Spring Summer Winter Prerequisite(s): This course is not open to MBA students. Cannot enroll in BUSN 20600 if BUSN 37000 Marketing Strategy taken previously, and vice versa. Booth Book Fee may be assessed. Refer to FAQ webpage for registration and schedule details: https://tinyurl.com/y8wz3oge. All first year College students are restricted from enrolling into this course.

BUSN 20701. Managing in Organizations. 100 Units.

Successfully managing other people - be they competitors or co-workers - requires an understanding of their thoughts, feelings, attitudes, motivations, and determinants of behavior. Developing an accurate understanding of these factors, however, can be difficult to achieve because intuitions are often misguided and unstructured experience can be a poor teacher. This course is intended to address this development by providing the scientific knowledge of human thought and behavior that is critical for successfully managing others, and also for successfully managing ourselves.

Instructor(s): A. Todorov     Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): This course is not open to MBA students. Cannot enroll in BUSN 20701 if BUSN 38001 Managing in Organizations taken previously, and vice versa. Booth Book Fee may be assessed. Refer to FAQ webpage for registration and schedule details: https://tinyurl.com/y8wz3oge. All first year college students are restricted from enrolling into this course.

BUSN 20702. Managerial Decision Making. 100 Units.

This course is designed to make you a better decision maker. Good decision makers know how to recognize decision situations, then how to represent the essential structure of the situations, and how to analyze them with the formal tools from decision theory. But, perhaps more important, they need to be able to think effectively about the inputs into a decision analysis, whether to trust the analysis, and how to use the outputs to guide actions by themselves and their firms. And, maybe most important of all, they need to know how to make effective, unaided intuitive decisions, and to recognize the limits on their intuitive skills. This course will move back and forth between formal, optimal models and behavioral, descriptive models to help you understand and improve your native decision making abilities.

Instructor(s): R. White     Terms Offered: Autumn Prerequisite(s): This course is not open to MBA students. Cannot enroll in BUSN 20702 if BUSN 38002 Managerial Decision Making taken previously, and vice versa. Booth Book Fee may be assessed. Refer to FAQ webpage for registration and schedule details: https://tinyurl.com/y8wz3oge. All first year college students are restricted from enrolling into this course.

BUSN 20710. Behavioral Economics. 100 Units.

Behavioral economics applies psychological insights to economic markets and decision making. In this class, we will discuss the recent theoretical and empirical advances that have been made in this increasingly important field of economics. Being thoughtful about the role of psychology can lead to a greater understanding of how the economy works.

Instructor(s): D. Pope; A. Imas     Terms Offered: Spring Winter Prerequisite(s): This course is not open to MBA students. Cannot enroll in BUSN 20710 if BUSN 38120 The Study of Behavioral Economics taken previously, and vice versa. Booth Book Fee may be assessed. Refer to FAQ webpage for registration and schedule details: https://tinyurl.com/y8wz3oge. All first year college students are restricted from enrolling into this course.

BUSN 20711. Choosing Leadership. 100 Units.

Get a head start on your personal leadership development journey by asking critical questions that most others wait to ask such as: What makes me a good leader? How can I improve my leadership skills? How can I add value by creating meaning? What is my definition of leadership? This course is about the practice of leadership. We take the approach that leadership development is an ongoing process of self-discovery. The content is based on insights from the core discipline of social psychology. Students use the data of their own experience as input together with a series of written assignments and in-class activities, including discussions, films, simulations, and peer coaching. The course enables students to engage in reflection, explore values and assess how they want to skillfully apply these lessons to their own leadership practice. No prerequisites.

Terms Offered: TBD Prerequisite(s): This course is not open to MBA students. Booth Book Fee may be assessed. Refer to FAQ webpage for registration and schedule details: https://tinyurl.com/y8wz3oge. All first year College students are restricted from enrolling into this course.

Marketing Courses

BUSN 20610. Pricing Strategy. 100 Units.

This course blends marketing analytic frameworks, marketing strategy & microeconomic theory, and data to formulate actionable pricing strategies. Students will learn how to coordinate pricing decisions with the rest of the marketing value proposition. Numerous pricing structures are developed in the course, along with their microeconomic foundations. Students will learn the underlying theory for each pricing structure, along with the practical considerations for implementation

Instructor(s): Faculty TBD     Terms Offered: TBD Prerequisite(s): This course is not open to MBA students. Cannot enroll in BUSN 20610 if BUSN 37202 Pricing Strategies taken previously, and vice versa. Booth Book Fee may be assessed. Refer to FAQ webpage for registration and schedule details: https://tinyurl.com/y8wz3oge. All first year college students are restricted from enrolling into this course.

BUSN 20620. Data Driven Marketing. 100 Units.

Marketing decisions in the era of big data are increasingly based on a statistical analysis of large amounts of transaction and customer data that provides the basis for profitability and ROI predictions. The goal of this class is to introduce modern data-driven marketing techniques and train the students as data scientists who can analyze data and make marketing decisions using some of the state-of-the-art tools that are employed in the industry. We will cover a wide range of topics, including demand modeling, the analysis of household-level data, customer relationship management (CRM) and database marketing, and elements of digital marketing. The focus throughout is on predicting the impact of marketing decisions, including pricing, advertising, and customer targeting, on customer profitability and the return on investment (ROI) from a customer interaction.

Instructor(s): G. Compiani     Terms Offered: Autumn Prerequisite(s): BUSN 20600 or BUSN 37000 required prereq. Previous stats background helpful. This course is not open to MBA students. Cannot enroll in BUSN 20620 if BUSN 37105 Data Science for Marketing Decision Making taken previously, and vice versa. Booth Book Fee may be assessed. Refer to FAQ webpage for registration and schedule details: https://tinyurl.com/y8wz3oge. All first year college students are restricted from enrolling into this course.

Operations Courses

BUSN 20500. Operations Management. 100 Units.

This core course focuses on understanding levers for structuring, managing, and improving a firm's recurring business processes to achieve competitive advantage in customer responsiveness, price, quality, and variety of products and services. These levers are broadly applicable to service firms, for example banks, hospitals, and airlines, as well as to traditional product-based firms. Processes within firms, as well as between firms, i.e. supply chains, are explored. The fundamental principles underlying state- of-the-art practices, such as Lean, Mass Customization, and Time-Based Competition, are explored so that students learn to critically evaluate these and other operational improvement programs. Students learn the basics of how to manage the operations of a firm, and how operations issues affect and are affected by the many business decisions they will be called upon to make or recommend in their careers. As such, this course is essential to students aspiring to become consultants, entrepreneurs, or general managers. A working knowledge of operations is also indispensable to those interested in marketing, finance, and accounting, where the interface between these functions and operations is critical. Finally, an understanding of how firms become market leaders through operations is important in investment careers. This course is not open to MBA students.

Instructor(s): J. Birge     Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): This course is not open to MBA students. Cannot enroll in BUSN 20500 if BUSN 40000 Operations Management: Business Process Fundamentals taken previously, and vice versa. Booth Book Fee may be assessed. Refer to FAQ webpage for registration and schedule details: https://tinyurl.com/y8wz3oge. All first year college students are restricted from enrolling into this course.

BUSN 20510. Managerial Decision Modeling. 100 Units.

This course is designed to sharpen students' analytical skills and elucidate quantitative modeling as an aid in managerial decision-making. The course teaches various ways to frame, set up and solve managerial questions about resource allocation, revenue management, finance, marketing, operations and risk analysis using Microsoft Excel, as well as various tools and add-ins. The course will introduce various modeling frameworks and analytical tools in optimization and simulation. Students in this course will become proficient in formulating relevant managerial questions in the language of optimization and simulation modeling, as well as in solving the resulting problems using the frameworks covered in the course and interpreting the results. The course involves hands-on active learning through in-class cases and examples, homework and term project which applies the tools and modeling frameworks learned in the course to a business problem.

Instructor(s): Faculty TBD     Terms Offered: TBD Prerequisite(s): This course is not open to MBA students. Cannot enroll in BUSN 20510 if BUSN 36106 Managerial Decision Modeling taken previously, and vice versa. Booth Book Fee may be assessed. Refer to FAQ webpage for registration and schedule details: https://tinyurl.com/y8wz3oge. All first year college students are restricted from enrolling into this course.

BUSN 20520. Supply Chain Management. 100 Units.

The supply chain of a firm is critical to its performance. Supply chains are networks of organizations that supply and transform materials and distribute final products to consumers. If designed and managed properly, these networks can be a crucial source of competitive advantage for both manufacturing and service enterprises. Students will learn how to examine and improve the flow of materials and information through this network of suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, and retailers in order to match supply with demand (i.e., to get the right products to the right customers in the right amount and at the right time). Key topics include inter- and intra-firm coordination, incentive design, the impact of uncertainty, and the role of information technology. Special emphasis is given to understanding how the business context shapes managerial decisions regarding the strategic design and management of the supply chain.

Instructor(s): L. DeValve     Terms Offered: Autumn Prerequisite(s): This course is not open to MBA students. Cannot enroll in BUSN 20520 if BUSN 40101 Supply Chain Strategy and Practice taken previously, and vice versa. Booth Book Fee may be assessed. Refer to FAQ webpage for registration and schedule details: https://tinyurl.com/y8wz3oge. All first year college students are restricted from enrolling into this course.

Statistics Courses

BUSN 20800. Big Data. 100 Units.

Big Data is a course about data mining: the analysis, exploration, and simplification of large high-dimensional datasets. Students will learn how to model and interpret complicated `Big Data' and become adept at building powerful models for prediction and classification. Techniques covered include an advanced overview of linear and logistic regression, model choice and false discovery rates, multinomial and binary regression, classification, decision trees, factor models, clustering, the bootstrap and cross-validation. We learn both basic underlying concepts and practical computational skills, including techniques for analysis of distributed data. Heavy emphasis is placed on analysis of actual datasets, and on development of application specific methodology. Among other examples, we will consider consumer database mining, internet and social media tracking, network analysis, and text mining.

Instructor(s): D. Xiu     Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): This course is not open to MBA students. Cannot enroll in BUSN 20800 if BUSN 41201 Big Data taken previously, and vice versa. Booth Book Fee may be assessed. Refer to FAQ webpage for registration and schedule details: https://tinyurl.com/y8wz3oge. All first year college students are restricted from enrolling into this course.

BUSN 20810. Machine Learning. 100 Units.

Students will learn about state-of-the-art machine learning techniques and how to apply them in business related problems. Techniques will be introduced in the context of business applications and the emphasis will be put on how machine learning can be used to create value and provide insights from data. First, and the biggest, part of the class will focus on predictive analytics. Students will learn about decision trees, nearest neighbor classifiers, boosting, random forests, deep neural networks, naive Bayes and support vector machines. Among other examples, we will apply these techniques to detecting spam in email, click-through rate prediction in online advertisement, image classification, face recognition, sentiment analysis and churn prediction. Students will learn what techniques to apply and why. In the second part of the class, students will learn about unsupervised techniques for extracting actionable patterns from data. Examples include clustering, collaborative filtering, probabilistic graphical modelling and dimension reduction with applications to customer segmentation, recommender systems, graph and time series mining, and anomaly detection.

Instructor(s): Faculty TBD     Terms Offered: TBD Prerequisite(s): This course is not open to MBA students. Cannot enroll in BUSN 20810 if BUSN 41204 Machine Learning taken previously, and vice versa. Booth Book Fee may be assessed. Refer to FAQ webpage for registration and schedule details: https://tinyurl.com/y8wz3oge. All first year college students are restricted from enrolling into this course.

BUSN 20820. Financial Econometrics. 100 Units.

This course covers a variety of topics in financial econometrics. The topics covered are of real- world, practical interest and are closely linked to material covered in other advance finance courses. Topics covered include ARMA models, volatility models (GARCH), factor models, models for time varying correlations, analysis of panel data, cointegration models for long-run co-movement between prices and models for transactions data and the analysis of transactions cost.

Instructor(s): J. Russell     Terms Offered: Autumn Prerequisite(s): This course is not open to MBA students. Cannot enroll in BUSN 20820 if BUSN 41203 Financial Econometrics taken previously, and vice versa. Booth Book Fee may be assessed. Refer to FAQ webpage for registration and schedule details: https://tinyurl.com/y8wz3oge. All first year college students are restricted from enrolling into this course.

Strategy and the Business Environment Courses

BUSN 20200. Macroeconomics and the Business Environment. 100 Units.

This course is designed to introduce students to classic macroeconomic issues such as economic growth, recessions, unemployment, inflation, interest rates, government deficit, international capital flows, and exchange rates. The course will provide a unified framework to address these issues and to study the impact of different policies, such as monetary and fiscal policies, on the aggregate behavior of the economy. The analytical tools developed in class will be used to understand the recent experience of the United States and of the world economy and to discuss current policy debates.

Terms Offered: TBD Prerequisite(s): Cannot enroll in BUSN 20200 if BUSN 33050 (or 33040) taken previously.

BUSN 20230. International Financial Policy. 100 Units.

This course will help students develop an understanding of issues in international macroeconomics that are important for investors and managers operating in the global marketplace. It will cover theories of the determination of exchange rates and interest rates, the management of foreign exchange risk, international capital flows, debt and currency crises, international monetary and exchange rate regimes, the roles of the international financial institutions in developing countries, and other characteristics of international financial markets.

Instructor(s): Faculty TBD     Terms Offered: TBD Prerequisite(s): This course is not open to MBA students. Cannot enroll in BUSN 20230 if BUSN 33502 International Financial Policy taken previously, and vice versa. Booth Book Fee may be assessed. Refer to FAQ webpage for registration and schedule details: https://tinyurl.com/y8wz3oge. All first year college students are restricted from enrolling into this course.

BUSN 20231. Economics in a Globalized World. 100 Units.

International trade has always been economically controversial and politically contentious. This course demystifies some of the complex issues that surround discussions of globalization. It asks such questions as: Why do countries engage in trade? Are countries in competition with one another, making one a winner and another a loser, or is trade mutually beneficial? Who gains and who loses from international trade within a country? Should high-wage countries be worried about competition from low-wage countries? Is international trade the main cause of increasing U.S. wage inequality? How do global supply chains affect firms and workers? How is the burden of import tariffs divided in the economy? Do international trade agreements create jobs or destroy jobs? What is the impact of a trade war on the global economy? This course examines these questions and much more. There are no strict prerequisites, but I assume familiarity with concepts of microeconomics.

Instructor(s): R. Adao     Terms Offered: Spring Prerequisite(s): There are no strict prerequisites, but I assume familiarity with concepts of microeconomics. This course is not open to MBA students. Cannot enroll in BUSN 20231 if BUSN 33501 International Commercial Policy taken previously. Booth Book Fee may be assessed. Refer to FAQ webpage for registration and schedule details: https://tinyurl.com/y8wz3oge. All first year college students are restricted from enrolling into this course.

BUSN 20900. Competitive Strategy. 100 Units.

The course applies microeconomics (including elements of price theory, game theory, and industrial organization) to analyze decisions firms face in business environments. There will be specific focus on strategic decisions and the factors that influence firms' competitive advantages. Class time will be devoted to lectures and case discussions. Topics covered include sources of competitive advantage, scope of the firm, efficient performance, pricing, entry and exit, vertical structure, and network externalities.

Instructor(s): J. McKinney     Terms Offered: Autumn Prerequisite(s): This course is not open to MBA students. Cannot enroll in BUSN 20900 if BUSN 42001 Competitive Strategy taken previously, and vice versa. Booth Book Fee may be assessed. Refer to FAQ webpage for registration and schedule details: https://tinyurl.com/y8wz3oge. All first year college students are restricted from enrolling into this course.

BUSN 20940. Business Ethics. 100 Units.

Students in this course will gain experience formulating coherent arguments about the ethics and role of business, by relating their own views to important ideas about business, democracy and markets. We will use this approach to consider a broad range of tradeoffs and controversies that business leaders often confront. The business environment creates ethical choices that can be hard to think through clearly. It can also subject companies to negative publicity or political pressure, which affects both how they are regulated and how well they attract employees, customers and partners. Business leaders are often called upon to make credible and persuasive arguments defending their products, their firms, their industries, or the capitalist or market system in which they operate. The quality and accuracy of arguments in this environment vary, but usually include assertions that a business or its leaders are behaving unethically or lack legitimacy. The ability to assess these claims, and to address them effectively when you think the facts and arguments are on your side, is a crucial skill, especially given the extensive influence of governments, pressure groups and the media. This course requires students to consider how their views on the role and conduct of business relate to the ideas of important thinkers, and to apply their views to business settings by discussing controversial topics or decisions.

Instructor(s): B. Barry     Terms Offered: Spring Prerequisite(s): Prerequisite(s): This course is not open to MBA students. Cannot enroll in BUSN 20940 if BUSN 33471Business, Politics, and Ethics taken previously, and vice versa. Booth Book Fee may be assessed. Refer to FAQ webpage for registration and schedule details: https://tinyurl.com/y8wz3oge. All first year College students are restricted from enrolling into this course.

ECON 10000. Principles of Microeconomics. 100 Units.

By way of economic theory, applications, and contemporary issues, this course treats (1) the behavior and decision making on the part of individuals, business firms, and governments; and (2) the function of costs, prices, incentives, and markets in the American economy. We discuss contemporary topics (e.g., distribution of income, the environment, education, sports, health care). This course is formerly known as Econ 19800: Introduction to Microeconomics. Students may substitute "Econ 20000: The Elements of Economic Analysis I" for this course in the business economics track.

Instructor(s): A. Sanderson; M. Lee     Terms Offered: Autumn Spring Winter

ECON 10200. Principles of Macroeconomics. 100 Units.

By way of theory and public policy applications, this course covers current major domestic and international macroeconomic issues in the U.S. economy, including the determination of income and output, inflation, unemployment, and economic growth; money, banking, and the Federal Reserve System; federal spending, taxation, and deficits; and international trade, exchange rates, and the balance of payments. This course is formerly known as Econ 19900: Introduction to Macroeconomics. Students may substitute "Econ 20200: The Elements of Economic Analysis III" for this course in the business economics track.

Instructor(s): A. Sanderson, G. Pieters     Terms Offered: Autumn Spring Winter

ECON 10700. Introductory Game Theory. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): R. Fang     Terms Offered: Autumn Spring Winter Prerequisite(s): ECON 10000/20000/20010 Note(s): Student may count only one of [ECON 10700 or ECON 20700 or ECON 20770] toward the 42 credits required for graduation.

ECON 11010. Introduction to Statistical Methods in Economics. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): Staff     Terms Offered: Autumn Winter Prerequisite(s): ECON 10000/20000/20010 and ECON 10200/20200/20210

ECON 11020. Introduction to Econometrics. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): Staff     Terms Offered: Autumn Spring Winter Prerequisite(s): ECON 10000/20000/20010 and ECON 10200/20200/20210; ECON 11010 or ECON 21010 or STAT 22000 or STAT 23400 or STAT 24400

ECON 11310. Big Data and Better Decisions. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): A. Root     Terms Offered: Spring Prerequisite(s): ECON 10000/20000/20010 and ECON 11020/21020/21030

ECON 11600. Experimental Design. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): F. Ersoy, I. Kwok     Terms Offered: Spring Winter Prerequisite(s): Econ 10000/20000/20010 and STAT 22000/STAT 23400/STAT 24400/ECON 11010

ECON 11700. Introduction to Behavioral and Experimental Economics. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): M. Lee     Terms Offered: Autumn Prerequisite(s): ECON 10000 or ECON 19800 or ECON 20000 or ECON 20010 Note(s): Students may count either ECON 11700 or ECON 21800, but not both, toward the 42 credits required for graduation.

ECON 12300. Character and Commerce: Practical Wisdom in Economic Life. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): Candace Vogler     Terms Offered: Winter Equivalent Course(s): PHIL 24098

ECON 12410. Pathways in Economics. 100 Units.

ECON 12411. Pathways in Economics C. 100 Units.

ECON 12412. A Survey of Chicago Economics. 50 Units.

ECON 12413. A Survey of Chicago Economics and its Business Applications. 000 Units.

ECON 13000. Introduction to Money and Banking. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): K. Kuevibulvanich     Terms Offered: Autumn Winter Prerequisite(s): Econ 10200/19900/20200/20210 Note(s): Students may not receive credit for both ECON 13000 and ECON 23950.

ECON 13110. Household Finance: Theory and Applications. 100 Units.

This course will examine the choices households make about important financial decisions and how these individual choices can impact the aggregate economy. Each week, basic predictions from economic theory will be discussed and compared with empirical findings. Topics will include: asset market participation and household portfolio choice; human capital and student loans; housing and mortgages; retirement planning; credit card debt; payday loans; and the gig/sharing economy. Focus will also be placed on government policies affecting these topics, including so-called household financial engineering, the creation of Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs) like "Fannie" and "Freddie," and regulatory agencies like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). The course will provide an introduction to structural modeling for conducting policy counterfactuals. Assessment will be based on problem sets, a midterm and a final. These problem sets will require students to work in R, Stata or other statistical package of the student's choice (with permission of instructor).

Instructor(s): D. Koustas     Terms Offered: Spring Prerequisite(s): Prerequisite(s): PBPL 20000 (PBPL 22200 preferred) or ECON 20000 and one undergraduate course in quantitative research methods (Statistics or Econometrics) or the equivalent or consent of the instructor. Equivalent Course(s): PBPL 28528

ECON 13200. Introduction to Macroeconomic Crises. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): Staff     Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): ECON 10200/20200/20210

ECON 13300. Introduction to the Macroeconomics of Monetary and Fiscal Policy. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): S. Salas     Terms Offered: Spring Winter Prerequisite(s): ECON 10000/20000/20010 and Econ 10200/20200/20210

ECON 13310. Introduction to Macroeconomic Analysis: A Data Driven Approach. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): O. Galvez-Soriano     Terms Offered: Spring Winter Prerequisite(s): Econ 10200/20200/20210 and STAT 22000/STAT 23400/STAT 24400/ECON 11010

ECON 14000. Introduction to Labor Economics. 100 Units.

ECON 14020. Labor Markets: A Global Perspective. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): Lane, Gregory     Terms Offered: Winter Equivalent Course(s): PBPL 25640

ECON 14520. Economics of Gender in International Contexts. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): A. Gonzalez     Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): ECON 10000 or ECON 20000 or ECON 20010 or PBPL 22200. STAT 22000 also recommended. Equivalent Course(s): GNSE 22520

ECON 14810. Evolution and Economics of Human Behavior. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): D. Maestripieri     Terms Offered: Autumn Note(s): CHDV Distribution: Undergraduate subject area: A, Graduate distribution: 1 Equivalent Course(s): PSYC 37950, PSYC 27950, CHDV 27950, CHDV 37950

ECON 15010. Investments: From Economics to Finance. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): Staff     Terms Offered: Spring Winter Prerequisite(s): ECON 10000/20000/20010 and STAT 22000/STAT 23400/ECON 11010.

ECON 15020. Trading: From Game Theory to Finance. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): A. Bhattacharya     Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): Econ 10000/20000/20010 and STAT 22000/STAT 23400/STAT 24400/ECON 11010

ECON 15500. Introduction to Development Economics. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): S. Vasudevan     Terms Offered: Autumn Spring Prerequisite(s): ECON 10000/20000/20010 and ECON 11020/21020/21030

ECON 16020. Introduction to Public Sector Economics. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): Staff     Terms Offered: TBD Prerequisite(s): ECON 10000/19800/20000/20010 and ECON 10200/19900/20200/20210 Note(s): Students may not receive credit for both ECON 16020 and ECON 26010/ECON 26020.

ECON 16520. Economics and Environmental Policy. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): S. Shaikh     Terms Offered: Autumn Prerequisite(s): ECON 10000 or higher, or PBPL 20000 Note(s): Not offered in Autumn of the 2020-21 academic year. Equivalent Course(s): ENST 21800, CEGU 21800, PBPL 21800

ECON 16700. Introduction to Economics of Education. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): F. Ersoy     Terms Offered: Spring. Introduction to Economics of Education Prerequisite(s): ECON 10000/20000/20010 and ECON 11010/STAT 22000/STAT 23400/STAT 24400

ECON 16710. Education and Economic Development. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): A. Adukia     Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): Recommended prerequisite courses: Microeconomics and econometrics. Students in their last years will be given priority. Equivalent Course(s): EDSO 28350, PBPL 28350

ECON 16950. Conflict: Root Causes, Consequences and Solutions for the Future. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): Oeindrila Dube     Terms Offered: Winter Note(s): Note: While the course sets out to teach these skills, you do not need previous coursework in statistics. Equivalent Course(s): PBPL 28750, PLSC 28750

ECON 17100. Introduction to International Trade. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): K. Yoshida     Terms Offered: Spring Prerequisite(s): ECON 10000/19800/20000/20010 and ECON 10200/19900/20200/20210

ECON 17110. International Monetary Systems. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): G. Pieters     Terms Offered: Autumn Winter Prerequisite(s): ECON 10200/ECON 19900/ECON 20200/ECON 20210

ECON 17700. Introduction to Health Economics. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): Root, A.     Terms Offered: Autumn Prerequisite(s): ECON 10000/20000/20010 and ECON 11010/STAT 22000/STAT 23400/STAT 24400

ECON 17710. Health Care Markets and Regulation. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): Gottlieb, J     Terms Offered: Autumn Equivalent Course(s): PPHA 37820, PBPL 28335

ECON 18010. Introduction to Managerial Microeconomics. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): P. Pena     Terms Offered: TBD Prerequisite(s): ECON 10000 or ECON 19800 or ECON 20000 or ECON 20010

ECON 18020. Introduction to Applied Empirical Industrial Organization. 100 Units.

In this course, students will learn how to apply techniques and models developed in industrial organization and law and economics to important questions that arise in litigation and government regulation. We will be guided and informed by pure theory underlying industrial organization and implement it in a world of partial information, incomplete data, and even contradictory data, among other complexities. Students will learn how to develop inferences by applying the models to real world cases and data - ie, extracting the most information possible from partial, imperfect data, frequently with missing values or poorly-measured data points. These fact patterns will not always result in an incontrovertible answer. Thus, students will be expected to identify and express the "best argument for" and "best argument against" the questions posed to them. This means that students will be expected to (i) use theory as a guideline to assess the relevant facts, circumstances, and data, (ii) reach a view, (iii) succinctly express that view in writing and acknowledge and address contrary theory and empirical results. Students will also see actual expert reports and/or white papers that have been prepared in actual disputes and investigations. Part of the grade will be based on an "expert report" written by the students in small teams.

Instructor(s): J. Arnold     Terms Offered: Spring Prerequisite(s): Econ 10000/20000 and Econ 11020/21020 Note(s): Business Economics specialization students should register for Econ 18020.

ECON 19000. Economics for Everyone: Micro. 100 Units.

ECON 19100. Economics for Everyone: Macro. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): G. Kaplan     Terms Offered: TBD Note(s): *This course does not apply toward economics major requirements.

ECON 19200. Introduction to Issues and Methods in Microeconomics. 100 Units.

Microeconomics is the study of how agents make optimal choices when facing constraints. The course will start by developing the "Economic Approach" as the basic tool for analysis in economics. We will continue with a model of causal inference, and link it with concepts students have learned in the econometrics course. Then, we introduce the use of experiments as an alternative methodology for the researchers to gather their own data. Finally, we cover some major topics in behavioral economics.

Instructor(s): Staff     Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): Econ 10000/20000/20010. Note(s): Study Abroad

ECON 19300. Introduction to Issues and Methods in Macroeconomics. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): Staff     Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): Econ 10200/20200/20210 Note(s): Study Abroad

ECON 20000-20100-20200-20300. The Elements of Economic Analysis I-II-III-IV.

ECON 20000. The Elements of Economic Analysis I. 100 Units.

ECON 20100. The Elements of Economic Analysis II. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): Staff     Terms Offered: Autumn Winter Prerequisite(s): ECON 20000 or 20010

ECON 20200. The Elements of Economic Analysis III. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): Staff     Terms Offered: Spring Winter Prerequisite(s): ECON 20100 or 20110

ECON 20300. Elements of Economic Analysis IV. 100 Units.

ECON 20010-20110-20210. The Elements of Economic Analysis: Honors I-II-III.

ECON 20010. The Elements of Economic Analysis I Honors. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): V. Lima     Terms Offered: Autumn Spring Prerequisite(s): MATH 13300 (with prior completion of or at least concurrent with MATH 15250), MATH 15250, or 16300. First-year students must also pass the economics placement exam or complete ECON 10000 (or ECON 19800). First year students may enroll in Econ 20000 concurrently with Math 16300/16310 if they have received an A/A- in both Math 16100/16110 and Math 16200/16210. Note(s): Students who matriculated prior to 2022-2023 and have completed MATH 15100-15200-15300 may replace the MATH 19520 requirement with MATH 15250. They may take MATH 15250 prior to or concurrently with ECON 20000/20010.

ECON 20110. The Elements of Economic Analysis II Honors. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): R. Fang     Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): ECON 20000 or 20010

ECON 20210. The Elements of Economic Analysis III Honors. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): K. Yoshida     Terms Offered: Spring Prerequisite(s): ECON 20100 or 20110

ECON 20520. Formal Models of Political Economics. 100 Units.

Why do the Republicans and the Democrats almost always ended up choosing moderates as their party nominees in presidential races? How do "checks and balances" such as a legislative committee's power to set the agenda or a president's power to veto a bill affect policy outcomes? What leads to coalition building in a legislature and how does it affect the result of legislative bargaining? When can a legislature optimally delegate its power to a bureaucratic agency who has its own interests and agenda? To answer questions like these, we study formal models of political economics. Such models examine explicitly the incentives of participants in political processes and generate predictions of their behavior based on such incentives and any confounding strategic considerations. Our approach is largely game theoretical. Familiarity with fundamental game theoretical ideas like the strategic and extensive games, the Nash Equilibrium, and the Subgame Perfect Equilibrium is essential and assumed.

Instructor(s): R. Fang     Terms Offered: Autumn Prerequisite(s): ECON 10700 or ECON 20100 or ECON 20110 or ECON 20700 Note(s): Students may count either ECON 20510 or ECON 20520, but not both, toward the 42 credits required for graduation.

ECON 20700. Game Theory and Economic Applications. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): J. Root     Terms Offered: Autumn Prerequisite(s): ECON 20100/20110 Note(s): Student may count only one of [ECON 10700 or ECON 20700 or ECON 20770/ECMA 30770] toward the 42 credits required for graduation.

ECON 20770. Decision and Strategy. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): B. Brooks     Terms Offered: TBD Prerequisite(s): Prerequsites for Undergraduates: ECON 20100/ECON 20110 and MATH 20300/MATH 20310/MATH 20700, or consent of instructor Note(s): Student may count only one of [ECON 10700 or ECON 20700 or ECON 20770/ECMA 30770] toward the 42 credits required for graduation. Equivalent Course(s): ECMA 30770

ECON 20780. Decision and Strategy II. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): B. Brooks     Terms Offered: TBD Prerequisite(s): ECON 20770/ECMA 30770 or consent of instructor Equivalent Course(s): ECMA 30780

ECON 21020. Econometrics. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): Staff     Terms Offered: Autumn Spring Winter Prerequisite(s): ECON 20100/20110; ECON 21010, or STAT 23400/24400/24410 and MATH 19620 (or MATH 20000 or STAT 24300 or MATH 20250)

ECON 21030. Econometrics - Honors. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): A. Torgovitsky, E. Rose     Terms Offered: Spring Winter Prerequisite(s): ECON 20100/20110, and STAT 24400/24410/24500, and MATH 19620/20250/STAT 24300; or consent of instructor

ECON 21031. Econometrics II-Honors. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): A. Torgovitsky     Terms Offered: Spring Prerequisite(s): ECON 21020/21030

ECON 21110. Applied Microeconometrics. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): J. Joensen     Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): ECON 21020 or ECON 21030

ECON 21200. Time Series Econometrics. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): Staff     Terms Offered: TBD Prerequisite(s): ECON 20200/20210 and ECON 21020/21030

ECON 21300. Data Construction and Interpretation in Economic Applications. 100 Units.

In this course we will explore the process of extracting insights from real-world data. What can one learn from a particular data set? How do you know what sets of tools will be "right" for the job? How can you increase your degree of confidence that the inferences you are drawing are correct? How can you best communicate the insights you glean from the data? Unlike standard econometrics courses, this class emphasizes hands-on work with actual data sets rather than the development of sophisticated tools and techniques (which are also useful, you just won't learn them here!).

Instructor(s): S. Levitt     Terms Offered: Not offered in 2022-2023. Prerequisite(s): ECON 10000/19800/20000/20010 and STAT 22000/23400/24400 (or ECON 21010)

ECON 21410. Computational Methods in Economics. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): Staff     Terms Offered: TBD Prerequisite(s): ECON 20100/20110 and ECON 21020/21030

ECON 21730. Applied Behavioral Economics. 100 Units.

ECON 21740. Behavioral Economics and Experiments. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): J. Heckman     Terms Offered: TBD Prerequisite(s): ECON 10000/19800/20000/20010 AND STAT 22000/23400/24300/24400/24410/ECON 21010 (Lab students require one economics course.)

ECON 21800. Experimental Economics. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): J. List     Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): ECON 20100/20110 and ECON 21020/21030; ECON 10000/20000 and ECON 11020 for declared business economics students. No first-year students. Note(s): Students may count either ECON 11700 or ECON 21800, but not both, toward the 42 credits required for graduation.

ECON 21830. Social Neuroscience. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): J. Decety     Terms Offered: Autumn Equivalent Course(s): PSYC 22350, BIOS 24137, HLTH 22350, CHDV 22350

ECON 22030. The Chinese Economy. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): Wang, S     Terms Offered: Spring Equivalent Course(s): PBPL 25585, PPHA 35585

ECON 22410. UChicago Economics: The People and the Seminal Ideas. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): A. Sanderson and Staff     Terms Offered: TBD Prerequisite(s): ECON 20200/20210. Third- or fourth-year standing.

ECON 23000. Money and Banking. 100 Units.

This course covers economic theories and topical issues in money and banking. We discuss such "traditional" topics as the quantity theory, the Phillips curve, and the money creation process. We also investigate models of bank runs and financial crises, the tradeoff between rules and discretion, and the New Macroeconomic Synthesis of New Classical. Other topics include New Keynesian approaches to modeling money and monetary policy, practical and institutional issues in European and U.S. monetary policy, and the 2008 financial crisis.

Instructor(s): H. Uhlig     Terms Offered: Autumn Prerequisite(s): ECON 20200 (or ECON 20210); ECON 21020 and ECON 23950 are strongly recommended.

ECON 23200. Topics in Macroeconomics. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): N. Stokey     Terms Offered: Autumn Prerequisite(s): ECON 20200 (or ECON 20210) and MATH 20300 (or MATH 20310 or MATH 20700)

ECON 23410. Economic Growth. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): U. Akcigit     Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): ECON 20200 (or ECON 20210) and ECON 21020 (or ECON 21030)

ECON 23950. Economic Policy Analysis. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): Staff     Terms Offered: Autumn Spring Prerequisite(s): ECON 20200/20210; ECON 21020 or 21030 strongly recommended. Note(s): This course does not apply toward the economics major elective requirement. Students may not receive credit for both Econ 13000 and Econ 23950 toward the 42 degree credits.

ECON 24000. Labor Economics. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): Staff     Terms Offered: TBD Prerequisite(s): ECON 20100 and ECON 21020 (or ECON 21030)

ECON 24450. Inequality and the Social Safety Net: Theory, Empirics, and Policies. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): M. Deshpande     Terms Offered: Spring Prerequisite(s): ECON 20100/20110 and ECON 21020/21030

ECON 25000. Introduction To Finance. 100 Units.

ECON 25100. Financial Economics; Speculative Markets. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): F. Alvarez     Terms Offered: Spring Prerequisite(s): ECON 20100/20110 and STAT 23400/24400/24410/ECON 21010

ECON 25120. Options and Volatility Products. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): F. Alvarez     Terms Offered: Spring

ECON 25520. Development Economics and Data Analysis. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): R. Glennerster     Terms Offered: Autumn Prerequisite(s): ECON 20100/20110 and ECON 21020/21030

ECON 25530. Behavioral Development Economics (Undergraduate) 100 Units.

Instructor(s): A. Karing     Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): Econ 20100/20110 and Econ 21020/21030

ECON 26010. Public Finance. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): M. Golosov     Terms Offered: TBD Prerequisite(s): ECON 20200/20210 and ECON 21020 (or ECON 21030) Note(s): ECON 26010 or 26020 may be used as an economics elective, but only one may be used toward degree requirements.

ECON 26030. The Economics of Socialism. 100 Units.

ECON 26040. Human Capital and the Economy. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): P. Pena     Terms Offered: Spring Prerequisite(s): Econ 20200/20210

ECON 26610. The Economics of Cities and Regions. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): Rossi-Hansberg, E.     Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): ECON 20100/20110 and ECON 21020/21030

ECON 26920. Behavioral Economics and Policy. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): J. Leitzel     Terms Offered: Autumn Equivalent Course(s): PBPL 28805

ECON 27000. International Economics. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): F. Tintelnot     Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): ECON 20100/20110 Equivalent Course(s): PBPL 27000

ECON 27700. Health Economics and Public Policy. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): Meltzer, D     Terms Offered: Spring Prerequisite(s): PBPL 20000 or ECON 20000 and one undergraduate course in quantitative research methods (Statistics or Econometrics) or the equivalent or consent of the instructor Equivalent Course(s): PPHA 38300, CCTS 38300, PBPL 28300

ECON 28000. Industrial Organization. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): M. Dinerstein     Terms Offered: Spring Prerequisite(s): ECON 20100/20110

ECON 28010. Applied Empirical Industrial Organization. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): J. Arnold     Terms Offered: Spring Prerequisite(s): Econ 20100/20110 and Econ 21020/21030 Note(s): Standard Track Economics majors should register for Econ 28010

ECON 28030. Markets and Regulation. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): Kathryn Ierulli     Terms Offered: Autumn Prerequisite(s): PQ: PBPL 20000 or equivalent Equivalent Course(s): PBPL 28670

ECON 28060. The Economics of Organizations: An Experimental Perspective. 100 Units.

ECON 28100. The Economics of Sports. 100 Units.

ECON 28620. Crony Capitalism. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): L. Zingales     Terms Offered: Spring Equivalent Course(s): BUSN 35225

ECON 28700. The Economics of Crime. 100 Units.

ECON 29200. Issues and Methods in Microeconomics. 100 Units.

Microeconomics is the study of how agents make optimal choices when facing constraints. The course will start with a quick refresher in the "Economic Approach" as the basic tool for analysis in economics. We will continue with a model of causal inference, and link it with concepts students have learned in the econometrics course. Then, we introduce the use of experiments as an alternative methodology for the researchers to gather their own data. Finally, we cover some major topics in behavioral economics.

Instructor(s): Staff     Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): Econ 20000/20010 Note(s): Study Abroad

ECON 29300. Issues and Methods in Macroeconomics. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): Staff     Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): Econ 20200/20210 Note(s): Study Abroad

ECON 29700. Undergraduate Reading and Research. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): J. Wong     Terms Offered: Autumn Spring Winter Prerequisite(s): Consent of directors of the undergraduate program

ECON 29800. Undergraduate Honors Workshop. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): K. Yoshida, V. Lima     Terms Offered: Autumn Spring Winter Prerequisite(s): Faculty sponsorship and consent of honors workshop supervisors

Undergraduate Primary Contact

Co-Director Undergraduate Program Victor Lima SHFE 105 773.834.6672 Email

Undergraduate Secondary Contact

Co-Director Undergraduate Program Kotaro Yoshida SHFE 013 773.834.7839 Email

Administrative Contact

Student Affairs Administrator Julie Wong SHFE 106 773.834.6672 Email

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• Dissertation Areas and Joint PhD Programs
• PhD Career Outcomes
• PhD Proposals and Defenses
• PhD Job Market Candidates
• PhD Research Community
• 100 Years of Pioneering Research
• Rising Scholars Conference
• Yiran Fan Memorial Conference
• Frequently Asked Questions
• PhD in Accounting
• PhD in Behavioral Science
• PhD in Econometrics and Statistics
• PhD in Economics
• PhD in Finance
• PhD in Management Science and Operations Management
• PhD in Marketing
• Joint Program in Financial Economics
• Joint Program in Psychology and Business
• Joint PhD/JD Program

PhD Joint Program in Financial Economics

The financial economics phd program leverages the strengths of two renowned programs: the phd program in finance and the university of chicago’s kenneth c. griffin department of economics..

Core economics training is critical for students doing research in financial economics, and advances in financial economics have important implications for other areas of economics.

As a student in our Joint Program in Financial Economics , you’ll work with thought leaders in both economics and finance and follow your research interests wherever they lead. Leveraging courses and resources in the Finance dissertation area at Chicago Booth and the university’s Kenneth C. Griffin Department of Economics , you’ll build a foundation for research at the intersection of finance and economics.

Our Distinguished Finance and Economics Faculty

As a student in the joint program, you’ll work with professors and classmates in both the Department of Economics and the Stevens Doctoral Program in Finance at Chicago Booth. Faculty bring research expertise in a wide range of fields and serve as mentors to PhD students.

Finance Faculty

Francesca Bastianello

Assistant Professor of Finance and Liew Family Junior Faculty Fellow, Fama Faculty Fellow

Emanuele Colonnelli

Associate Professor of Finance and MV Advisors Faculty Fellow

George M. Constantinides

Leo Melamed Professor of Finance

Douglas W. Diamond

Merton H. Miller Distinguished Service Professor of Finance

Eugene F. Fama

Robert R. McCormick Distinguished Service Professor of Finance

Niels Gormsen

Neubauer Family Associate Professor of Finance and Fama Faculty Fellow

Lars Hansen

David Rockefeller Distinguished Service Professor The University of Chicago Departments of Economics, Statistics and the Booth School of Business

John C. Heaton

Joseph L. Gidwitz Professor of Finance

Steven Neil Kaplan

Neubauer Family Distinguished Service Professor of Entrepreneurship and Finance and Kessenich E.P. Faculty Director at the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation

Anil Kashyap

Stevens Distinguished Service Professor of Economics and Finance

Ralph S.J. Koijen

AQR Capital Management Distinguished Service Professor of Finance and Fama Faculty Fellow

Associate Professor of Finance and Fama Faculty Fellow

Stefan Nagel

Fama Family Distinguished Service Professor of Finance

Scott Nelson

Assistant Professor of Finance and Cohen and Keenoy Faculty Scholar

Pascal Noel

Neubauer Family Associate Professor of Finance and Kathryn and Grant Swick Faculty Scholar

Lubos Pastor

Charles P. McQuaid Distinguished Service Professor of Finance and Robert King Steel Faculty Fellow

Raghuram G. Rajan

Katherine Dusak Miller Distinguished Service Professor of Finance

Bruce Lindsay Distinguished Service Professor of Economics and Public Policy

Pietro Veronesi

Deputy Dean for Faculty and Chicago Board of Trade Professor of Finance

Robert W. Vishny

Myron S. Scholes Distinguished Service Professor of Finance and Neubauer Faculty Director of the Davis Center

Michael Weber

Associate Professor of Finance

Constantine Yannelis

Associate Professor of Finance and FMC Faculty Scholar

Anthony Lee Zhang

Assistant Professor of Finance

Luigi Zingales

Robert C. McCormack Distinguished Service Professor of Entrepreneurship and Finance

Department of Economics Faculty

Fernando Alvarez

Ali Hortacsu

Harald Uhlig

Kenneth C. Griffin Department of Economics

Alumni success.

Our PhD graduates lead successful careers  in prestigious academic settings, such as the Stanford Graduate School of Business and London Business School, as well as in leading financial institutions, including the International Monetary Fund.

Jane (Jian) Li, PhD '21

Assistant Professor of Business, Finance Division Columbia Business School, Columbia University Jane's research lies at the intersection of macroeconomics and finance. She is particularly interested in how financial intermediaries affect the real economy and how different types of financial institutions can contribute to financial instability. Her dissertation area is in financial economics.

A Network of Support

Doctoral students at Booth have access to the resources of several interdisciplinary research centers that offer funding for student work, host workshops and conferences, and foster a strong research community.

Becker Friedman Institute for Economics Bringing together researchers from the entire Chicago economics community, the Becker Friedman Institute fosters novel insights on the world’s most difficult economic problems.

Center for Research in Security Prices CRSP maintains one of the world’s largest and most comprehensive stock market databases. Since 1963, it has been a valued resource for businesses, government, and scholars.

Fama-Miller Center for Research in Finance Tasked with pushing the boundaries of research in finance, the Fama-Miller Center provides institutional structure and support for researchers in the field.

George J. Stigler Center for the Study of the Economy and the State Dedicated to examining issues at the intersection of politics and the economy, the Stigler Center supports research by PhD students and others who are interested in the political, economic, and cultural obstacles to better working markets.

The Kent A. Clark Center for Global Markets Enhancing the understanding of business and financial market globalization, the Clark Center for Global Markets positions Chicago Booth as a thought leader in the understanding of ever-changing markets and improves financial and economic decision-making around the world.

Macro Finance Research Program The Macro Finance Research Program (MFR) expands our understanding of how financial markets affect the economy as a whole and, conversely, how the macroeconomy influences financial markets. It does so by bringing together a community of elite and emerging scholars and with common ambitions to tackle these important challenges. One of the important ambitions of this program is to provide intellectual and research support for advanced students in the joint PhD program in financial economics.

Rustandy Center for Social Sector Innovation Committed to making the world more equitable and sustainable, the Rustandy Center works to solve complex social and environmental problems. The center’s student support includes fellowships, research funding, and networking opportunities.

Spotlight on Research

Chicago Booth Review regularly highlights the research findings of Booth faculty and PhD students in financial economics.

Line of Inquiry: Amir Sufi on Household Debt and Business Cycles

Chicago Booth’s Amir Sufi explains how the financial sector's willingness to extend credit to households helps fuel booms and busts.

How is IT Spending Changing Banking?

According to researchers Zhiguo He (previous Booth prof.), Sheila Jiang and Douglas Xu (both Booth PhD graduates), and Xiao Yin, IT investment figures prominently in banking activities.

How Can We Calculate the US's Greatest Fortunes?

Chicago Booth’s Eric Zwick and his coauthors have devised a new way to gauge how much wealth the ultrawealthy have and what it’s composed of. Their results can help update and sharpen the picture of inequality in the US.

The PhD Experience at Booth

Maryam Farboodi, PhD ’14, talks about how the Booth faculty challenged her to focus her research on issues that are applicable to the current financial sector.

Video Transcript

Maryam Farboodi, ’14: 00:02 My work lies in the intersection of finance and economics, trying to apply theoretical models to think about broader questions in big data technology. I was doing extremely theoretical research and I was always interested in doing stuff which are more related to the real world, which led me to join Chicago econ and then the Joint Financial Economics Program at Chicago Booth.

Maryam Farboodi, ’14: 00:29 The faculty really helped me focus my research on issues that are relevant to the current financial climate. A lot of current policy focuses on how financial institutions intermediate for each other and that has been the focus of my research. The faculty at Chicago Booth challenged me in making sure that the insight is applicable to the current financial sector.

Maryam Farboodi, ’14: 00:52 What is really, really special about Booth is the really close interaction between the faculty here and the econ department. Chicago Booth, in particular the joint program, is the best place you can be in. It provides an environment where you can interact with people who are extremely deep in both finance and economics and not lose track of important issues. Chicago Booth and Econ has really being like home to me. That's the feeling that any student can get if they really engage themselves with faculty. 

Current Financial Economics Students

Students in Chicago Booth’s Joint Program in Financial Economics focus their PhD research on a vast array of issues, from state-government borrowing costs to wealth inequality to climate policy. They go on to positions at leading academic institutions and global financial organizations.

Current Students

Monica Barbosa

Filippo Cavaleri

Sixun Chang

Manav Chaudhary

Shirui (Suri) Chen Leo Aparisi De Lannoy

Laurenz De Rosa

Joanna Harris Jacob Hartwig

Lewei He Tanvi Jindal

Jingoo Kwon

Federico Mainardi

Benjamin Marrow

Sangmin (Simon) Oh

Michael Varley

Jingtao Zheng

See a list of the current students in our Finance PhD Program .

How to Apply

To join the Joint Program in Financial Economics, you will need to be admitted to both the doctoral program in the Department of Economics and the PhD Program in Finance at Chicago Booth. However, you need only apply to one or the other program. Learn more about applying to Chicago Booth or to the Department of Economics .

Program Requirements

Learn more about the Joint Program in Financial Economics at Chicago Booth on the website or by referencing the joint program-specific guidebook below. See Joint Program-Specific Guidebook

General Program Expectations and Requirements

The Stevens Program at Booth is a full-time program. Students generally complete the majority of coursework and examination requirements within the first two years of studies and begin work on their dissertation during the third year. For details, see General Examination Requirements by Area in the Stevens Program Guidebook below.

Download the 2023-2024 Guidebook!

PhD in Political Economy

The field of political economy applies tools such as game theory and empirical methods for causal inference to the study of political institutions and behavior. The University of Chicago’s new PhD program in political economy offers an extraordinary opportunity to develop these skills in preparation for a career in academia. Staffed by an outstanding group of  faculty  in the Department of Political Science and the Harris School of Public Policy, this program provides accelerated training in formal theory and statistical methods alongside deep engagement with political science. With a supportive faculty, a  curriculum  expressly tailored to questions in political economy, immersion in the  rich seminar culture  of the University of Chicago, and strong financial support, students in this select program get an early start on research and writing. There is no better place to study political economy.

Faculty in political economy at Chicago have research interests in a broad range of empirical and theoretical topics. We encourage students to pursue research wherever their intellectual interests lie, whether that means working within an established scholarly tradition or exploring new topics from the perspective of political economy. Prospective students submit a single  application  directly to the Ph.D. program in political economy.

In The Spotlight:

American Political Science Review (APSR)

Profs. Monika Nalepa and Andrew Eggers join editorial team for APSR.

Learn more about APSR here ...

Education and Resilience in Kyiv

Under siege, the Kyiv School of Economics has managed to expand, track Russia’s war debt, and build bomb shelters for schoolchildren. Two University of Chicago professors witnessed that resilience while teaching there this year.

Read more about Kyiv ...

Will Howell’s Guggenheim

Prof. William Howell is a leading political scientist who has written widely on separation-of-powers issues and American political institutions, especially the presidency.

Read more about Will Howell ...

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• Graduate Study
• Programs Overview
• Student Awards
• Graduate Student Resources
• Student Resources

The Kenneth C. Griffin Department of Economics at the University of Chicago has always ranked among the handful of leading departments in the world. It has claimed a disproportionate share of the honors the economics profession can bestow.

Within the area of Graduate Study are the following Programs: 

• Joint Finance PhD Program
• Master of Arts Program in the Social Sciences (MAPSS)
• Master of Arts in Computational Science (MACSS)

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Office of the provost, you are here, phd program data.

• Outcomes data is based on students who completed a PhD between academic years 2010-11 to 2014-15
• Student enrollments in and degrees conferred by the joint MD/PHD programs with the Pritzker School of Medicine are not included in these reports.
• Data in these charts follow U.S. reporting requirements, which currently allow only “male” and “female” as gender categories.
• International is defined by IPEDS as nonresident alien. View IPEDS'  Definitions for New Race and Ethnicity Categories .

Related Issues and Initiatives

• Graduate Education
• Graduate Education Working Groups and Committees

Beth Niestat

Questions about the MAPSS Economics concentration? Contact:

Emma Rubenstein Student Affairs Administrator The Kenneth C. Griffin Department of Economics 1126 E. 59th Street | Chicago, Illinois 60637 Email: [email protected] Phone: (773) 834-1972

Economics students must have prior exposure to real analysis, econometric theory, and advanced coursework in multivariable calculus, linear algebra, probability, and statistics. A solid foundation in calculus-based micro and macroeconomics is required. Students who are seeking graduate work with less mathematical orientation may find alternatives in the Harris School of Public Policy, the Booth School of Business, Political Science, and occasionally in Sociology, Law, or History.

Students admitted to MAPSS-Econ, the economics concentration in MAPSS, will receive an additional letter of admission alongside their formal offer. Only those students are eligible to work with a member of the Economics faculty on the MA thesis.

All MAPSS-Econ students must complete:

• Economics Math Camp (Econ 30400) the summer before they enter the MAPSS-Econ program
• Perspectives on Social Sciences Analysis (MAPS 30000)
• One methods course
• At least 3 master's level ECMA courses (or PhD-level economics courses if approved)
• 4 electives, selected in consultation with their advisor

All MAPSS-Econ students are required to complete an article-length MA thesis involving substantive economic references under the guidance of their advisor or another Economics PhD faculty at the University of Chicago. As preparation for developing the thesis, we strongly recommend that at least two of the 9 required courses have a paper-writing requirement. This will provide critical professional training and a key foundation for high-quality, graduate-level academic writing.

Students will be supported in their course selection, choice of faculty advisor, and MA thesis by the staff of Instructional Professors in the Griffin Department of Economics. Instructional Professors have expertise across the different fields within economic. They run reading groups by topic during the fall and winter quarters to support students in the development of the MA thesis proposal. Victor Lima , Senior Instructional Professor in Economics, and Min Sok Lee , Assistant Senior Instructional Professor in Economics, will match students to potential instructional professor advisors and reading groups based upon their respective fields of interest.

The Kenneth C. Griffin Department of Economics has a March 15 deadline for current MAPSS-Econ students to apply for UChicago’s PhD Program in Economics. If admitted, students begin their doctoral studies in the subsequent academic year.

International students on F-1 or J-1 student visas who complete the Master of Arts Program in the Social Sciences (MAPSS) with this concentration may be eligible for employment benefits associated with their respective visa type. The MAPSS–QMSA Concentration is listed as a STEM designated degree by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for the purposes of the STEM OPT extension allowing eligible students to apply. However, approval for STEM OPT is at the discretion of U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services. To learn more visit our Office of International Affairs website .

Graduates of MAPSS-Econ go on to doctoral programs in Economics and a range of careers in government, non-profit, and the private sector. MAPSS-Econ provides the opportunity to evaluate the prospect of continued doctoral study in Economics.

In a typical cohort, roughly 30% of MAPSS-Econ graduates pursue doctoral study, at UChicago and elsewhere. The remainder pursue professional careers, which are detailed here .  In recent years, our graduates have been admitted for the PhD in Economics at UChicago, LSE, Duke, Maryland, UPenn, Columbia, UCLA, Brown, Minnesota, Stanford, Northwestern, Texas-Austin, Erasmus University Rotterdam, UC-Davis, Simon Fraser, Boston University, Wisconsin-Madison, Princeton, Caltech, Cornell, and University College London.

Graduates have also been admitted for Business School PhDs at UChicago-Booth, London, Yale, Stanford, UCLA, INSEAD, Northwestern, UC-Berkeley, Illinois-Urbana Champaign, and UIC. They have gone on for PhD work in Public Policy at UChicago-Harris, Ohio State, Harvard, the University of Southern California, Colorado-Denver, and Duke.

Our MAPSS-Econ graduates have been admitted for Marketing/Behavioral Science PhDs at Toronto, Northwestern, UCLA, Hong Kong, NYU, UC-San Diego, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Colorado-Boulder, and Hong Kong Polytechnic.

Finally, many of our graduates have taken full-time research assistantships after graduating, at UChicago-Econ, UChicago-Booth, Duke-NUS, Yale, MIT, NYU, Princeton, Stanford, Wharton, UCLA, Columbia, and UC-Berkeley.

• Perspectives in Social Sciences Analysis (MAPS 30600)

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Ph.d. in economics.

Our doctoral program provides rigorous training in modern theory and data analysis. We are particularly strong in the fields of applied microeconomics, especially labor economics, education, economic development, public finance and health economics, and also international macroeconomics. Our graduates work as university professors, conduct policy analysis in government agencies and non-governmental organizations, and work in leading private sectors firms.

We enroll about 10 new doctoral students per year and the modest size of our program allows us to have small classes, provide support to our students, and have a lot of student-faculty interaction. About half of our students are from the United States and the other half come from all over the world.

We are particularly excited about the young faculty members who we were able to recruit to teach at UIC over the last few years. They, along with our senior faculty, help create a lively intellectual atmosphere and ensure our students have sufficient training and mentoring to do great work. A distinguishing feature of our department is a high level of faculty research collaboration with graduate students. Over the past three years graduate students have coauthored articles with faculty that have been published in the  Economic Journal , the  Journal of Labor Economics , the  Journal of Health Economics , and the  Economics of Education Review . We also have three weekly research seminars where external scholars and UIC faculty and students present and discuss their work.

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Becker Friedman Institute at UChicago Announces 2024 Cohort of the Price Theory Summer Camp

The Becker Friedman Institute for Economics (BFI) at The University of Chicago is pleased to announce the 2024 Price Theory Summer Camp cohort, consisting of 40 PhD students in economics from 27 institutions around the world. More information on the 2024 cohort is  available here.

A cornerstone of  BFI’s Price Theory Initiative , the Price Theory Summer Camp was created by Professors  Kevin Murphy , the George J. Stigler Distinguished Service Professor of Economics at the Booth School of Business, and  Steve Levitt , the William B. Ogden Distinguished Service Professor of Economics at the Kenneth C. Griffin Department of Economics. Its aim is to introduce PhD students from outside of The University of Chicago to price theory, which emphasizes the application of basic economic tools to problems.

“With each passing summer, the Price Theory Summer Camp continues to grow, and interest in the camp has reached an all-time high,” said Kevin Murphy. “This cohort was chosen from an incredibly competitive pool, and we look forward to having these talented scholars on campus to engage with price theory and to lay the foundations for thoughtful and rigorous future research in economics.”

During this intensive one-week program to be held from June 23 through June 27, 2024 at The University of Chicago, students will hear lectures from UChicago and visiting faculty and experience a series of “Chicago-style” seminars where faculty will present their research. Past faculty and regular speakers have included Steve Levitt and Robert Topel of UChicago; Dierdre Nansen McCloskey of the University of Illinois at Chicago; and Jesse Shapiro of Harvard University.

Participants will also work on problem sets in workshops and have opportunities to discuss their own work with some of the world’s leading economists.

Now in its fourteenth year, the Summer Camp boasts 418 alumni, approximately 300 of whom have completed their PhD and entered the workforce. 82 percent of alumni pursued careers in academia, while others work in the government or private sector. The 2024 cohort will join a robust network of working economists steeped in price theory.

Since its formation, the Price Theory Summer Camp has been generously supported by MarrGwen and Stuart Townsend.

For more information on the 2024 Price Theory Summer Camp, click here .

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Six uchicago scholars elected to american academy of arts and sciences in 2024, uchicago scholar wins national book critics circle award, ‘are we doomed’ class debates end of the world—and finds reason for hope.

Six members of the University of Chicago faculty have been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the nation’s oldest and most prestigious honorary societies. They include Profs. Diane Brentari, Bonnie T. Fleming, Chuan He, Erik Hurst, Deborah L. Nelson and Amir Sufi.

These scholars have made breakthroughs in fields ranging from linguistics to particle physics to fundamental biology. They join the 2024 class , announced April 24, which includes 250 artists, scholars, scientists, and leaders in the public, nonprofit and private sectors.

Diane Brentari is the Mary K. Werkman Professor in the Department of Linguistics and the College. Her interests address the sign language grammars of Deaf communities around the world—how these languages emerge, and the degree of variation that exists among them. Throughout her career she has analyzed the formal, cognitive, and cultural dimensions that motivate the similarities and differences among these languages.

Her work focuses on sign language structure as a way to better understand the flexibility of the human language capacity in constructing spoken and signed languages, as well as the effects of communication mode (or modality) on language. Her current research has expanded to conduct analyses on a new protactile language, which includes the modalities of proprioception and touch, that is emerging in DeafBlind communities in the U.S.

Brentari is one of three directors of the Center for Gesture, Sign and Language and is the director of the Sign Language Linguistics Lab .

Bonnie Fleming is an internationally recognized particle physicist with outstanding expertise and a world leader in neutrino physics. She serves as the Deputy Director for Science and Technology and Chief Research Officer at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, where she leads all areas of science and technology at Fermilab, and holds a joint appointment with the University of Chicago in the Enrico Fermi Institute within the Department of Physics.

From 2004 to 2022, Fleming led a research group studying neutrinos as a professor at Yale University while also performing research at Fermilab. She was the founding spokesperson for the two neutrino experiments, ArgoNeuT and MicroBooNE, focusing on studying neutrinos and developing the next generation of accelerator neutrino detectors using liquid argon, and was an early member of the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE). She is known for pioneering a class of detectors called Liquid Argon Time Projection Chambers, which provided a giant leap forward in how scientists may study the varying states of neutrinos and how the subatomic particles might interact with matter. These detectors are the core to Fermilab’s neutrino experiments, including the future international DUNE.

Fleming currently serves as a member of the National Academies Decadal Survey in particle physics.

Chuan He is the John T. Wilson Distinguished Service Professor in the Department of Chemistry and the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. He is an expert in the field of RNA modification biology and cancer epigenetics. He was the first to champion the idea that modifications to RNA are reversible and can control gene expression.

His work is foundational to developing potential therapies that target RNA methylation effectors against human diseases such as cancer. Prof. He’s team was the first to identify eraser proteins, which can undo changes made to RNA molecules, which sparked the emergence of epitranscriptome research. Prof. He's team explained how RNA methylation functions through characterizing reader proteins—processes that known to play critical roles in many types of cancer.

A Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator and fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, He’s many honors include the 2023 Wolf Prize in Chemistry, the 2023 Tetrahedron Prize, and the 2023 Falling Walls Science Breakthrough of the Year in Life Sciences.

Erik Hurst is the Frank P. and Marianne R. Diassi Distinguished Service Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and the director of the Becker Friedman Institute. He is an economist whose work lies at the intersection of macroeconomics, labor economics and urban economics. His research has addressed topics such as declining male participation rates, the determinants of U.S. wage growth, the welfare losses to society stemming from gender and racial discrimination, the causes and consequences of urban gentrification, the economics of time use, small business dynamics, life-cycle consumption profiles, the role of housing and mortgage markets in driving macroeconomic conditions, and the choice to invest in human capital. His research has been extensively covered in The New York Times , The Washington Post , The Wall Street Journal and the Economist .

Hurst has received numerous honors and awards including the TIAA-CREF Paul A. Samuelson Award for Outstanding Scholarly Writing on Lifelong Financial Security, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Prize Medal for Distinguished Research in Entrepreneurship, the Emory Williams Award for Outstanding MBA Teaching and the McKinsey Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Hurst is a member of the Economic Fluctuations Group, Aging Group, and Public Economics Group at the National Bureau of Economic Research. He is a member of the Econometrics Society and a Fellow of the IZA Institute of Labor Economics. Hurst was a former co-editor of the Journal of Political Economy, NBER’s Macroannual, and the Journal of Economic Perspectives.

Deborah Nelson is the Helen B. and Frank L. Sulzberger Professor of English and dean of the Division of the Humanities. Her book Tough Enough: Arbus, Arendt, Didion, McCarthy, Sontag, Weil won the Modern Language Association’s James Russell Lowell Prize for Best Book of 2017 and the Gordan Laing Prize in 2019 for the most distinguished contribution to the University of Chicago Press by a faculty member.

She is also the author of Pursuing Privacy in Cold War America and articles published in PMLA , American Literary History , Contemporary Literature , Feminist Studies and in several edited collections. Nelson led a Mellon-funded Sawyer Seminar called “@1948” and edited with Leela Gandhi a special issue of Critical Inquiry devoted to the topic. She is a founding member of the research collective, Post45.

She has been the deputy provost for Graduate Education (2011-2015), the director of the Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality (2006-2009) and chair of the Department of English (2017-2023). She has continued her work on graduate education with grants from the NEH (Next Generation Implementation Grant) in 2016 and the Mellon Foundation (Scholarly Careers Initiative) in 2018.

Amir Sufi is the Bruce Lindsay Distinguished Service Professor of Economics and Public Policy at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. His research fits within the broader fields of finance and macroeconomics. While he has researched a number of topics, his main contributions have been in two areas: the role of household debt in macroeconomic fluctuations and empirical financial contracting. He is the co-author of House of Debt: How They (and You) Caused the Great Recession and How We Can Prevent It from Happening Again (2014).

Sufi was awarded the 2017 Fischer Black Prize by the American Finance Association, given biennially to the top financial economics scholar under the age of 40. He was elected as a Fellow of the Econometric Society in 2022.

He is also a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, and co-director of the NBER Program on Corporate Finance. He serves as an associate editor for the American Economic Review. 

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Coase-sandor institute for law and economics celebrates ten-year milestone.

The Law School’s Coase-Sandor Institute for Law and Economics marked its ten-year anniversary this spring with an event that brought together faculty, students, and community members, as well as guests of honor Richard and Ellen Sandor. The celebration commenced at the Law School with a program featuring several faculty and student guest speakers who shared their insights on the transformative nature of the institute’s support of their research. The celebration continued with a post-event reception at the Sandor residence.

The institute first launched in 2011, as the Institute for Law and Economics, with two main goals: support faculty research in the field and provide a platform for disseminating that research to audiences beyond the legal academy. In 2013, the Sandors made an extraordinary $10 million gift in honor of Richard Sandor’s mentor, Nobel Laureate Ronald Coase. This transformative gift revitalized the institute’s efforts, propelling it to new heights over the last decade.

“We created something that never existed in a law school before, and that is a data analysis laboratory,” said Omri Ben-Shahar, the Leo and Eileen Herzel Distinguished Service Professor of Law and the faculty director of the institute. “We hired research assistants specially trained to help faculty working with large datasets. The lab really created the capacity to support faculty research in law and economics and the demand over time kept growing.”

Another cornerstone initiative of the institute has been the Summer Institute, a two-week-long crash course in law and economics for academics. Over the course of its eight-year run, the Summer Institute hosted 533 participants from 26 different countries, fostering a unique global exchange of ideas in law and economics.

Celebrating ten years of impact

Over the past decade, the Coase-Sandor Institute for Law and Economics has become a hub of scholarly productivity, with 34 UChicago faculty members affiliated, producing a staggering 1,262 publications, including books, book sections, and journal articles. The institute’s Law & Economics Working Paper Series on the Social Science Research Network boasts over 312 working papers with nearly 800,000 downloads.

“Everything we have achieved here as an institute is because of our faculty,” said Ben-Shahar. “Our faculty are the ones writing papers, engaging with scholars from all over the world, presenting workshops, and expanding on the law and economics topics that interest them.”

The institute’s data laboratory also saw a significant growth in tools and the hiring of more researchers with specific expertise in designing empirical studies to help faculty execute their research.

“We are now in an era where a lot of people who are studying law with the tools of social science are using more rigorous methods, and with the advent of AI and machine learning models, all of these tools have an enormous effect and potential in understanding laws,” said Ben-Shahar. “This increased support has increased the production of research—which has led us to focus on finding more audiences for the application of that research, particularly in the global scene where law and economics is still relatively new.”

Zhuang (John) Liu, an associate professor of law at Hong Kong University, who received his PhD from the University of Chicago, was one of the guest speakers at the Coase-Sandor Institute’s ten-year celebration. He shared, via Zoom, the global impact of the institute, explaining how his participation in the summer program as a young scholar a few years go not only changed the trajectory of his academic life, but has since influenced generations of young scholars and students in China.

“The practice of including young scholars and students in the summer program and also in the junior faculty workshop has proven to be immensely successful,” said Liu. “These young scholars trained at Chicago have brought about a wave of innovation and legal research in China. They have pioneered new research areas, which were previously nonexistent in the country. For example, they started using massive judicial decision data to study Chinese law and Chinese judiciary.”

The magnitude of Coase-Sandor’s impact on young scholars was echoed by Ana Vasilj, a JD and Economics PhD candidate, who was another guest speaker at the event. She had recently attended the American Association of Law Schools (AALS) conference in D.C. in January, where she presented her research, thanks to the support of Coase-Sandor.

“I feel like us really young researchers are viewed as a high-risk stock,” said Vasilj. “Very few people are willing to invest in us, so I was struck by how welcoming and enthusiastic the Coase-Sandor Institute was and how supportive they were in me going to present my research at AALS.”

Originally from Croatia, Vasilj came to UChicago from Cambridge University to pursue her master’s degree, which drew her to the Economics PhD, and subsequently, to the JD program. “I see the Law School as a place where you don’t just learn what the law is—you learn to recognize it as a set of logistical tools to achieve policy goals X, Y, and Z” she said.

The Sandors are very happy with the impact that their generous gift has made.

“Ellen and I are absolutely thrilled with the research you are doing,” said Richard Sandor at the ten-year celebration event. “It matches every expectation we had about a free market for ideas. This was the dream. All we wanted to do is to provide resources to students and faculty so they can choose whatever they want to do to advance knowledge and enrich humanity.”

As the institute looks to the future, its legacy of innovation and collaboration promises to help redefine the frontiers of law and economics. Ben-Shahar sees AI and machine learning as playing a key role in breaking these new frontiers.

“The question is, how will law professors who are not trained in computer science or statistics interact with the potential of research on how AI will affect the law?” he said. “We will need to enrich our data lab with trained statisticians, and it will be important to continue to support the collaboration of faculty here with faculty in other departments, especially those in computer science.”

Alumni Profile: Eloísa Ávila-Uribe, MACRM’23

Before embarking on the Master of Arts in Public Policy with a Certificate in Research Methods (MACRM) program at the Harris School of Public Policy, Eloísa Ávila-Uribe earned her undergraduate degree in international economics and business from Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Spain and started working as a Market Research Consultant focused on the African continent. “Doing research in African countries changed my perspective about the kind of work I wanted to do. I fell in love with the data, the conversations, and the insights I gained from surveys and talking to people.”

Ávila-Uribe’s initial experience with graduate education began in Pittsburgh. "I started an MPP program in 2019 but realized that I wanted a stronger focus on academic and research-oriented skills. That combined with the onset of COVID-19, and my work as a Government Policy Consultant through IDinsight in Senegal and Morocco, motivated me to seek a program that resonated more with my interests."

After one-and-a-half years of policy work, Ávila-Uribe chose the MACRM program because of its academic quantitative focus and the Harris faculty. “I also really appreciated that my areas of interest aligned with research being done by Harris faculty. After speaking with three MACRM students and Professor Raul Sanchez de la Sierra —whose research on corruption and conflict in Congo fascinated me —I knew the MACRM would be the experience I wanted.” Ávila-Uribe also noted that research by Professors Eduardo Montero and Luis Martinez played an important role her decision. 

Ávila-Uribe’s time at Harris, she said, pushed her boundaries and expanded her quantitative capabilities. "Econometrics III allowed me to independently understand the technicalities of the research frontier papers I learned about in Political Economy for Development, and my work as a Research Assistant allowed me to put some of those concepts in practice."

Ávila-Uribe said she especially appreciated the apprenticeship required by the MACRM program. “I identified a very data-intensive project about patronage within the Italian mafia that needed the exact tasks I wanted to work on, allowing me to work very autonomously on huge datasets. Then, in summer 2023, I worked with Professors Maria Angélica Bautista and James Robinson on projects that analyzed different forms of government in pre-colonial Nigeria, aiming to understand how institutions reacted to influences from more powerful kingdoms—and whether they adapted or innovated—depending on myriad cultural and socio-political factors.”

Currently, Ávila-Uribe works as a pre-doc for Professor Bautista and Professor Robinson, a role she will continue through the next academic year, and also as a preceptor for the Public Policy BA Thesis Seminar. "My preceptor work is extremely satisfying because I get to see how my advice impacts the new generation of students who transform their initial ideas into impressive research papers."

Looking further ahead, Ávila-Uribe will be applying for a PhD related to political economy, political science, and economics. "Professionally, research makes me happy. I want to contribute to this field academically, but also trying to find a way to promote collaboration and healthy work-life balances, which I think are not the norm yet. I want to focus on international development, promoting effective and efficient governments in Africa and Latin America.”

Ávila-Uribe’s advice to future Harris students is that they learn, as quickly as possible, to be comfortable asking for help. "If you don't know or can't figure something out, ask questions. Your classmates will learn by teaching. I was very fortunate to have an incredibly smart, kind, and supportive group of classmates, who are now really close friends. And at some point, when you get the chance to explain something to them, you'll put all your effort into it, because you'll know how hard it is to ask questions among a group of very smart peers. "

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50 Best Colleges for Mathematics – 2024

April 26, 2024

As a mathematics major, you’ll likely encounter coursework in areas such as linear algebra, discrete mathematics, combinatorics, number theory, algebraic geometry, set theory, multivariable analysis, statistics, probability, differential equations, and more. Studying mathematics in college is excellent preparation for a number of professional and graduate school pathways. Those with exceptional quantitative abilities and an inclination to teach sometimes pursue positions in public or private schools. Others elect to pursue work as an actuary or enter the world of high finance. Many math majors continue their education in graduate or professional programs in business, law, or medicine where they enjoy an admissions edge due to a documented advantage on the standardized tests required for various grad schools. Whatever direction you plan to take with your math degree, the schools that cracked our list of the Best Colleges for Mathematics will put you in the best position to excel.

Methodology 

Click here to read our methodology for the Best Colleges for Mathematics.

Best Colleges for Mathematics

Here’s a quick preview of the first ten mathematics institutions that made our list. Detailed profiles and stats can be found when you scroll below:

1) Massachusetts Institute of Technology

2) Yale University

3) University of Chicago

4) Harvard University

5) Johns Hopkins University

6) Stanford University

7) California Institute of Technology

8) Washington University in St Louis

9) Duke University

10) Princeton University

All of the schools profiled below have stellar reputations in the area of mathematics and commit substantial resources to undergraduate education. For each of the best mathematics colleges, College Transitions will provide you with—when available—the university’s:

• Cost of Attendance
• Acceptance Rate
• Median  SAT
• Median  ACT
• Retention Rate
• Graduation Rate

We will also include a longer write-up of each college’s:

• Academic Highlights – Includes facts like student-to-faculty ratio, average class size, number of majors offered, and most popular majors.
• Professional Outcomes – Includes info on the rate of positive outcomes, companies employing alumni, and graduate school acceptances.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

• Cambridge, MA

Academic Highlights: Undergraduates pursue one of 57 majors and 59 minors at this world-class research institution that continues to be one of the world’s most magnetic destinations for math and science geniuses.  The student-to-faculty ratio is an astonishing 3-to-1, and over two-fifths of all class sections have single-digit enrollments, and 70% of courses contain fewer than twenty students. The highest numbers of degrees conferred in 2022 were in the following majors: engineering (31%), computer science and engineering (28%), mathematics (10%), and the physical sciences (7%).

Professional Outcomes: The Class of 2023 saw 29% of its members enter the world of employment and 43% continue on their educational paths. The top employers included Accenture, Amazon, Microsoft, Goldman Sachs, Google, General Motors, the US Navy, Apple, Bain & Company, and McKinsey. The mean starting salary for an MIT bachelor’s degree holder was $95,000. The most frequently attended graduate schools are a who’s who of elite institutions including MIT itself, Stanford, Caltech, Harvard, and the University of Oxford.

• Enrollment: 4,657
• Cost of Attendance: $82,730
• Median SAT: 1550
• Median ACT: 35
• Acceptance Rate: 4%
• Retention Rate: 99%
• Graduation Rate: 95%

Yale University

• New Haven, CT

Academic Highlights: Yale offers 80 majors, most of which require a one- to two-semester senior capstone experience. Undergraduate research is a staple, and over 70% of classes—of which there are over 2,000 to choose from—have an enrollment of fewer than 20 students, making Yale a perfect environment for teaching and learning. Among the top departments are biology, economics, global affairs, engineering, history, and computer science. The social sciences (26%), biology (11%), mathematics (8%), and computer science (8%) are the most popular areas of concentration.

Professional Outcomes: Shortly after graduating, 73% of the Yale Class of 2022 had entered the world of employment and 18% matriculated into graduate programs. Hundreds of Yale alums can be found at each of the world’s top companies including Google, Goldman Sachs, McKinsey & Company, Morgan Stanley, and Microsoft. The most common industries entered by the newly hired were finance (20%), research/education (16%), technology (14%), and consulting (12%). The mean starting salary for last year’s grads was $81,769 ($120k for CS majors). Nearly one-fifth of students immediately pursue graduate school.

• Enrollment: 6,590 (undergraduate); 5,344 (graduate)
• Cost of Attendance: $87,705
• Median SAT: 1540
• Acceptance Rate: 5%
• Retention Rate: 98%
• Graduation Rate: 98%

University of Chicago

• Chicago, IL

Academic Highlights: There are 53 majors at UChicago, but close to half of all degrees conferred are in four majors: economics, biology, mathematics, and political science, all of which have particularly sterling reputations. Economics alone is the selection of roughly one-fifth of the undergraduate population. Over 75% of undergrad sections have an enrollment of nineteen or fewer students, and undergraduate research opportunities are ubiquitous as 80% of students end up working in a research capacity alongside a faculty member.

Professional Outcomes: On commencement day, 99% of the Class of 2023 were employed or continuing their education. Business and financial services (30%) and STEM (12%) were the two sectors that scooped up the most graduates, but public policy and consulting were also well-represented. The most popular employers of recent grads include Google, JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, McKinsey & Company, Bank of America, Citi, and Accenture. For those heading to grad school, the top seven destinations are Yale, Columbia, Penn, MIT, Stanford, UCLA, and Johns Hopkins.

• Enrollment: 7,653 (undergraduate); 10,870 (graduate)
• Cost of Attendance: $89,040
• Graduation Rate: 96%

Harvard University

Academic Highlights: There are 50 undergraduate fields of study referred to as concentrations; many are interdisciplinary. Even with a graduate population of over 14,000 to cater to, undergraduate class sizes still tend to be small, with 42% of sections having single-digit enrollments and 71% being capped at nineteen. Economics, government, and computer science are the three most popular areas of concentration at Harvard. Biology, chemistry, physics, math, statistics, sociology, history, English, and psychology all sit atop most departmental ranking lists.

Professional Outcomes: The Crimson Class of 2022 saw 15% of students head directly into graduate/professional school. Of the graduates entering the world of work (virtually everyone else), 58% were entering either the consulting, finance, or technology field. Over 1,000 Harvard alumni presently work for Google and over 500 for Microsoft, McKinsey & Company, and Goldman Sachs. Turning our attention to those moving on to graduate school, Harvard grads with at least a 3.5 GPA typically enjoy acceptance rates into medical school of 90% or greater.

• Enrollment: 7,240
• Cost of Attendance: $79,450
• Acceptance Rate: 3%

Johns Hopkins University

• Baltimore, MD

Academic Highlights: With 53 majors as well as 51 minors, JHU excels in everything from its bread-and-butter medical-related majors to international relations and dance. Boasting an enviable 6:1 student-to-faculty ratio and with 78% of course sections possessing an enrollment under 20, face time with professors is a reality. Many departments carry a high level of clout, including biomedical engineering, chemistry, English, and international studies. Biology, neuroscience, and computer science, which happen to be the three most popular majors, can also be found at the top of the national rankings.

Professional Outcomes: The Class of 2022 saw 94% of graduates successfully land at their next destination within six months of exiting the university; 66% of graduates entered the world of employment and a robust 19% went directly to graduate/professional school. The median starting salary across all majors was $80,000 for the Class of 2022. JHU itself is the most popular choice for graduate school. The next most frequently attended institutions included Columbia, Harvard, Yale, and MIT.

• Enrollment: 6,044
• Cost of Attendance: $86,065
• Acceptance Rate: 7%
• Retention Rate: 97%

Stanford University

• Palo Alto, CA

Academic Highlights: Stanford has three undergraduate schools: the School of Humanities & Sciences, the School of Engineering, and the School of Earth, Energy, and Environmental Sciences. 69% of classes have fewer than twenty students, and 34% have a single-digit enrollment. Programs in engineering, computer science, physics, mathematics, international relations, and economics are arguably the best anywhere. In terms of sheer volume, the greatest number of degrees are conferred in the social sciences (17%), computer science (16%), engineering (15%), and interdisciplinary studies (13%).

Professional Outcomes: Stanford grads entering the working world flock to three major industries in equal distribution: business/finance/consulting/retail (19%); computer, IT (19%); and public policy and service, international affairs (19%). Among the companies employing the largest number of recent grads are Accenture, Apple, Bain, Cisco, Meta, Goldman Sachs, Google, McKinsey, Microsoft, and SpaceX. Other companies that employ hundreds of Cardinal alums include LinkedIn, Salesforce, and Airbnb. Starting salaries for Stanford grads are among the highest in the country.

• Enrollment: 8,049 (undergraduate); 10,236 (graduate)
• Cost of Attendance: $87,833

California Institute of Technology

• Pasadena, CA

Academic Highlights: Across all divisions, there are 28 distinct majors. Possessing an absurdly favorable 3:1 student-to-faculty ratio, plenty of individualized attention is up for grabs. Class sizes are not quite as tiny as the student-to-faculty ratio might suggest, but 70% of courses enroll fewer than twenty students, and 28% enroll fewer than ten. Computer science is the most popular major, accounting for 38% of all degrees conferred. Engineering (30%), the physical sciences (20%), and mathematics (6%) also have strong representation.

Professional Outcomes: Caltech is a rare school that sees six-figure average starting salaries for its graduates; in 2022, the median figure was $120,000. Forty-three percent of recent grads went directly into the workforce and found homes at tech giants such as Google, Intel, Microsoft, Apple, and Meta. A healthy 46% of those receiving their diplomas in 2022 continued directly on the higher education path, immediately entering graduate school. Ninety-seven percent of these students were admitted to one of their top-choice schools.

• Enrollment: 982
• Cost of Attendance: $86,886
• Median SAT: Test Blind
• Median ACT: Test Blind
• Graduation Rate: 94%

Washington University in St. Louis

• St. Louis, MO

Academic Highlights : WashU admits students into five schools, many of which offer nationally recognized programs: Arts & Sciences, the Olin School of Business, the School of Engineering & Applied Sciences, and the Art of Architecture programs housed within the Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts. The most commonly conferred degrees are in engineering (13%), social sciences (13%), business (13%), biology (11%), and psychology (10%). 66% of classes have fewer than 20 students, and over one-quarter have single-digit enrollments. 65% double major or pursue a minor.

Professional Outcomes: The Class of 2022 sent 52% of grads into the workforce and 28% into graduate and professional schools. Companies employing the highest number of WashU grads feature sought-after employers such as Amazon, Bain, Boeing, Deloitte, Google, IBM, Goldman Sachs, and Microsoft. Of the employed members of the Class of 2022 who reported their starting salaries, 79% made more than $60k. The universities welcoming the largest number of Bears included the prestigious institutions of Caltech, Columbia, Harvard, Penn, Princeton, and Stanford.

• Enrollment: 8,132 (undergraduate); 8,880 (graduate)
• Cost of Attendance: $83,760
• Median SAT: 1530
• Median ACT: 34
• Acceptance Rate: 11%
• Retention Rate: 96%
• Graduation Rate: 93%

Duke University

Academic Highlights: The academic offerings at Duke include 53 majors, 52 minors, and 23 interdisciplinary certificates. Class sizes are on the small side—71% are nineteen or fewer, and almost one-quarter are less than ten. A stellar 5:1 student-to-faculty ratio helps keep classes so reasonable even while catering to five figures worth of graduate students. Computer Science is the most popular area of concentration (11%), followed by economics (10%), public policy (9%), biology (8%), and computer engineering (7%).

Professional Outcomes: At graduation, approximately 70% of Duke diploma-earners enter the world of work, 20% continue into graduate schools, and 2% start their own businesses. The industries that attract the largest percentage of Blue Devils are tech (21%), finance (15%), business (15%), healthcare (9%), and science/research (6%). Of the 20% headed into graduate school, a hefty 22% are attending medical school, 18% are in PhD programs, and 12% are entering law school. The med school acceptance rate is 85%, more than twice the national average.

• Enrollment: 6,640
• Cost of Attendance: $85,238
• SAT Range: 1490-1570
• ACT Range: 34-35
• Acceptance Rate: 6%
• Graduation Rate: 97%

Princeton University

• Princeton, NJ

Academic Highlights: 39 majors are available at Princeton. Just under three-quarters of class sections have an enrollment of 19 or fewer students, and 31% have fewer than ten students. Princeton is known for its commitment to undergraduate teaching, and students consistently rate professors as accessible and helpful. The Engineering Department is widely recognized as one of the country’s best, as is the School of Public and International Affairs.

Professional Highlights: Over 95% of a typical Tiger class finds their next destination within six months of graduating. Large numbers of recent grads flock to the fields of business and engineering, health/science, & tech. Companies presently employing hundreds of Tiger alumni include Google, Goldman Sachs, Microsoft, McKinsey & Company, Morgan Stanley, IBM, and Meta. The average salary ranges from $40k (education, health care, or social services) to $100k (computer/mathematical positions). Between 15-20% of graduating Tigers head directly to graduate/professional school.

• Enrollment: 5,604 (undergraduate); 3,238 (graduate)
• Cost of Attendance: $86,700

Carnegie Mellon University

• Pittsburgh, PA

Academic Highlights: There are a combined 80+ undergraduate majors and 90 minors available across the six schools. Impressively, particularly for a school with more graduate students than undergrads, CMU boasts a 6:1 student-to-faculty ratio and small class sizes, with 36% containing single digits. In a given school year, 800+ undergraduates conduct research through the University Research Office. The most commonly conferred degrees are in engineering (21%), computer science (16%), mathematics (12%), business (10%), and visual and performing arts (9%).

Professional Outcomes: By the end of the calendar year in which they received their diplomas, 66% of 2022 grads were employed, and 28% were continuing to graduate school. The companies that have routinely scooped up CMU grads include Google, Meta, Microsoft, Apple, Accenture, McKinsey, and Deloitte. With an average starting salary of $105,194, CMU grads outpace the average starting salary for a college grad nationally. Of those pursuing graduate education, around 20% typically enroll immediately in PhD programs.

• Enrollment: 7,509
• Cost of Attendance: $84,412
• Graduation Rate: 92%

Vanderbilt University

• Nashville, TN

Academic Highlights: Four of Vandy’s ten schools cater to undergrads: the College of Arts and Sciences, the Blair School of Music, the Peabody College of Education and Human Development, and the School of Engineering. In the 2022-23 school year, 87% of course sections contained 19 or fewer students. Of the 70 undergraduate majors, economics, politics and government, and neuroscience are the most popular. The School of Engineering has a strong national reputation as do offerings in biology, economics, education, and music.

Professional Outcomes: Six months after graduating, 96% of the Class of 2021 were employed or in graduate school. The most commonly entered industry was finance followed by technology, consulting, education, and engineering. Alumni can be found in droves at Capital One, Goldman Sachs, Bain & Company, JP Morgan Chase, Citi, and Meta. Among 2022 alumni who directly pursued advanced degrees, the majority enrolled at Vanderbilt followed by Columbia, Harvard, Penn, NYU, and Northwestern.

• Enrollment: 7,151 (undergraduate); 6,559 (graduate)
• Cost of Attendance: $89,590

Columbia University

• New York, NY

Academic Highlights: Columbia offers 100+ unique areas of undergraduate study as well as a number of pre-professional and accelerated graduate programs.  Class sizes at Columbia are reasonably small and the student-to-faculty ratio is favorable; however, in 2022, it was revealed that the university had been submitting faulty data in this area. It is presently believed that 58% of undergraduate courses enroll 19 or fewer students. The greatest number of degrees are conferred in the social sciences (22%), computer science (15%), engineering (14%), and biology (7%).

Professional Outcomes: Examining the most recent graduates from Columbia College and the Fu Foundation School of Engineering & Applied Science, 73% had found employment within six months, and 20% had entered graduate school. The median starting salary for graduates of Columbia College/Columbia Engineering is above $80,000. Many graduates get hired by the likes of Amazon, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Google, Citi, McKinsey, and Microsoft.

• Enrollment: 8,832
• Cost of Attendance: $89,587

Dartmouth College

• Hanover, NH

Academic Highlights: Dartmouth sports 60+ majors and a stunning breadth of course selections for an institution of its size. The learning environment at Dartmouth is extraordinarily intimate. Not only do 61% of course sections have under twenty students, but 18% have single-digit enrollments. The student-to-faculty ratio is an outstanding 7:1. Top programs offered by Big Green include biology, economics, neuroscience, and government. The social sciences are the most popular, accounting for 32% of degrees conferred, followed by computer science (10%), mathematics (9%), engineering (9%), and biology (7%).

Professional Outcomes: A great reputation along with a passionate alumni network that is 80,000 strong leads Dartmouth grads to successful transitions into graduate school and the world of work. Included in the top ten employers of Dartmouth grads are a number of investment banks including Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Bain & Company, Citibank, and Deutsche Bank. Right off the bat, 52% of graduates make more than $70,000 in salary. Those pursuing graduate degrees often flock to the likes of Harvard, Columbia, and Princeton.

• Enrollment: 4,458
• Cost of Attendance: $87,793

Williams College

• Williamstown, MA

Academic Highlights: The school’s 25 academic departments offer 36 majors and a number of concentrations rather than minors. An unparalleled 40% of courses have fewer than ten students enrolled; the median class size is 12 students. Programs in economics, English, history, math, and political science are especially renowned, and the greatest number of degrees are conferred in the social sciences (26%), the physical sciences (10%), math and statistics (9%), psychology (9%), and computer science (7%).

Professional Outcomes: Among the Class of 2022, 92% were employed or continuing their educational journey within six months of graduating. Business and education typically attract the most students, with popular companies/organizations including Apple, Google, Goldman Sachs, The New York Times Co., the Peace Corps, and Teach for America. The median annual income for 2022 grads was $75,000. 75% pursue an advanced degree within five years of leaving Williams, with the most frequently attended graduate programs being Harvard, Columbia, and Yale.

• Enrollment: 2,152 (undergraduate); 53 (graduate)
• Cost of Attendance: $81,160
• Median SAT: 1520
• Acceptance Rate: 8%

Northwestern University

• Evanston, IL

Academic Highlights : Northwestern is home to six undergraduate schools, including Medill, which is widely regarded as one of the country’s best journalism schools. The McCormick School of Engineering also achieves top rankings, along with programs in economics, social policy, and theatre. The social sciences account for the greatest number of degrees conferred (19%), followed by communications/journalism (13%), and engineering (11%). 45% of classes have nine or fewer students enrolled; 78% have fewer than twenty enrollees. 57% of recent grads had the chance to conduct undergraduate research.

Professional Outcomes: Six months after graduating, 69% of the Class of 2022 had found employment and 27% were in graduate school. The four most popular professional fields were consulting (18%), engineering (18%), business/finance (16%), and communications/marketing/media (13%). Employers included the BBC, NBC News, The Washington Post , NPR, Boeing, Google, IBM, Deloitte, PepsiCo, Northrop Grumman, and Goldman Sachs. Across all majors, the average starting salary was $73k. Of those headed straight to graduate school, engineering, medicine, and business were the three most popular areas of concentration.

• Enrollment: 8,659 (undergraduate); 14,073 (graduate)
• Cost of Attendance: $91,290

Cornell University

Academic Highlights: A diverse array of academic programs includes 80 majors and 120 minors spread across the university’s seven schools/colleges. Classes are a bit larger at Cornell than at many other elite institutions. Still, 55% of sections have fewer than 20 students. Most degrees conferred in 2022 were in computer science (17%), engineering (13%), business (13%), and biology (13%). The SC Johnson College of Business houses two undergraduate schools, both of which have phenomenal reputations.

Professional Outcomes: Breaking down the graduates of the College of Arts and Sciences, the largest school at Cornell, 68% entered the workforce, 28% entered graduate school, 1% pursued other endeavors such as travel or volunteer work, and the remaining 3% were still seeking employment six months after receiving their diplomas. The top sectors attracting campus-wide graduateswere financial services (18%), technology (17%), consulting (15%), and education (10%). Of the students from A&S going on to graduate school, 15% were pursuing JDs, 5% MDs, and 22% PhDs.

• Enrollment: 15,735
• Cost of Attendance: $88,150

United States Naval Academy

• Annapolis, MD

Academic Highlights: The Naval Academy has some of the top-ranked undergraduate engineering programs in the world with standout reputations in aerospace, computer, electrical, and mechanical engineering. 26 different undergraduate programs are offered in a variety of disciplines, but at least 65% of each class must complete degrees in a STEM discipline in order to meet the highly technological needs of the Navy. Close to three-quarters of course sections will contain fewer than 20 students, and the student-to-faculty ratio is a stellar 7:1.

Professional Outcomes: USNA midshipmen have a mandatory five-year military commitment upon graduating, so the vast majority immediately become ensigns in the Navy or second lieutenants in the Marine Corps. Very few are cleared to enter graduate school directly after receiving their bachelor’s. However, upon entering civilian employment/life, alumni flock to companies that include Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Booz Allen Hamilton, Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, and McKinsey and Co. They also enjoy some of the highest average salaries of any alumni group in the country.

• Enrollment: 1,175
• Cost of Attendance: $0
• Median SAT: 1330
• Median ACT: 30
• Acceptance Rate: 9%
• Retention Rate: 87%
• Graduation Rate: 86%

Amherst College

• Amherst, MA

Academic Highlights: A 7:1 student-to-faculty ratio allows for 66% of courses to have fewer than twenty students and 32% to have single-digit enrollments. By senior year, 98% of seniors report feeling close enough to a faculty member to ask for a letter of recommendation. Amherst possesses strong offerings across the board, most notably in economics, English, history, mathematics, and law The social sciences account for 22% of degrees conferred, while 14% are in mathematics, 11% in biology, and 7% in computer science

Professional Outcomes: Six months after graduation, 93% of the Class of 2022 had already found its way into the world of employment, graduate school, or a volunteer organization.  The largest employers of Amherst grads includes Google, Deloitte, Morgan Stanley, and Goldman Sachs. The schools where the highest number of Amherst grads can be found pursuing advanced degrees include MIT, Dartmouth, and the University of Pennsylvania. Fifty to sixty Amherst grads apply to medical school each year, and the acceptance rate hovers around 75-80%.

• Enrollment: 1,898
• Cost of Attendance: $84,840
• Retention Rate: 95%

University of Pennsylvania

• Philadelphia, PA

Academic Highlights : 90 distinct degrees are available across four schools: the College of Arts & Sciences, the College of Applied Science and Engineering, the College of Nursing, and the world-renowned Wharton School. The greatest number of students pursue degrees in business (19%), social sciences (14%), biology (11%), health sciences (9%), engineering (9%), and computer science (9%). The university boasts an exceptional 26% of courses with an enrollment under ten and 59% with an enrollment under twenty as well as multiple ways for undergrads to conduct research.

Professional Outcomes: 75% of Class of 2022 grads were employed within six months of graduating, and 18% were in graduate school. Finance attracted the highest percentage of grads (30%) followed by consulting (20%), technology (15%), and healthcare (10%). Employers hiring the greatest number of 2022 grads included JPMorgan, Boston Consulting Group, McKinsey, Bain & Company, Meta, and Goldman Sachs. The median starting salary for all graduates is $80,000. For those continuing their educational journeys, the most popular move is to remain at Penn, followed by Columbia and Harvard.

• Enrollment: 9,760 (undergraduate); 13,614 (graduate)
• Cost of Attendance: $89,028

Harvey Mudd College

• Claremont, CA

Academic Highlights: While 62% of courses have an enrollment under 20, another 32% enroll between 20 and 39 students. Regardless, Mudd prides itself on offering graduate-level research opportunities and experiential learning to all undergrads. Only six majors are offered: biology, chemistry, computer science, engineering, mathematics, and physics. All are incredibly strong. Students also have the option to combine certain disciplines into what amounts to a double major.

Professional Outcomes: Seventy-two percent of the Class of 2022 planned on entering a job right after receiving their bachelor’s degree. The highest number of recent Harvey Mudd graduates are scooped up by the following companies (in order of representation): Meta, Microsoft, and Caltech. Graduates average an impressive $117,500 starting salary, a phenomenal number even when accounting for the preponderance of STEM majors. Many Harvey Mudd grads—20% in 2022—go directly into graduate school programs.

• Enrollment: 906
• Cost of Attendance: $89,115
• Acceptance Rate: 13%

Swarthmore College

• Swarthmore, PA

Academic Highlights: Swarthmore offers forty undergraduate programs and runs 600+ courses each academic year. Small, seminar-style courses are the norm—an outstanding 33% of sections enroll fewer than ten students, and 70% contain a maximum of nineteen students. Social science degrees are the most commonly conferred, accounting for 24% of all 2022 graduates. Future businessmen/women, engineers, and techies are also well-positioned, given Swat’s incredibly strong offerings in economics, engineering, and computer science.

Professional Outcomes: 68% of Class of 2022 grads entered the workforce shortly after graduation. Popular industries included education (17%), consulting (16%), and financial services (13%); the median starting salary was $60,000. Google is a leading employer of Swarthmore grads followed by Amazon, Goldman Sachs, IBM, and a number of the top universities.  18% of 2022 grads pursued advanced degrees, with 35% pursuing a PhD, 35% entering master’s programs, 10% heading to law school, and 7% matriculating into medical school.

• Enrollment: 1,625
• Cost of Attendance: $81,376
• Median SAT: 1500
• Median ACT: 33

Rice University

• Houston, TX

Academic Highlights : Rice offers more than 50 majors across six broad disciplines: engineering, architecture, music, social science, humanities, and natural science. Programs in biology, biochemistry, cognitive science, and music are incredibly strong, while the School of Architecture and the George R. Brown School of Engineering are among the highest-ranking schools in their disciplines. One-third of computer science majors are female, almost twice the national average. Class sizes are ideally small with 66% containing fewer than 20 students and a median class size of only fourteen.

Professional Outcomes: Six months after graduation, 88% of Rice grads have found careers or a graduate school home. Companies that employ many recent grads include Deloitte, Capital One, JP Morgan Chase, Google, and Microsoft. Over one hundred alumni are also current employees of companies such as Shell, ExxonMobil, Chevron, Amazon, Accenture, and Meta. Across all majors, the average starting salary is $73k. One-third of graduates move directly into graduate or professional school, with Harvard, Yale, Stanford, MIT, Columbia, and Berkeley being the most popular destinations.

• Enrollment: 4,494 (undergraduate); 4,178 (graduate)
• Cost of Attendance: $78,278
• Median SAT: 35
• Retention Rate: 94%

Bowdoin College

• Brunswick, ME

Academic Highlights: Class sizes are small—64% contain fewer than twenty students—and 21% have fewer than ten students. The student-faculty ratio is 9:1. More than half of Bowdoin undergrads report interacting with a professor outside of regular class time at least once per week. The greatest percentage of degrees are conferred in the social sciences (30%), biology (13%), area/ethnic/gender studies (8%), computer science (7%), and mathematics (7%). Economics and government and legal studies are two of the more popular majors within the social sciences.

Professional Outcomes: An examination of three recent years’ worth of outcomes data reveals that one year after graduation, between 73 and 77% of recent grads have found full-time employment, and 15% have gone directly into graduate school. Of those entering graduate school, 48% were enrolled in master’s programs, 23% in PhD programs, 13% in law school, and 8% in med school. The top twenty graduate schools attended, by volume, in the last five years make an exclusive list including six Ivies along with Duke, MIT, Johns Hopkins, and Stanford.

• Enrollment: 1,915
• Cost of Attendance: $82,600
• Median SAT: 1510

University of California, Los Angeles

• Los Angeles, CA

Academic Highlights: UCLA offers 125 majors in 100+ academic departments, and more than 60 majors require a capstone experience that results in the creation of a tangible product under the mentorship of faculty members. The most commonly conferred degrees are in the social sciences (25%), biology (16%), psychology (11%), mathematics (8%), and engineering (7%). Departmental rankings are high across the board, especially in computer science, engineering, film, fine and performing arts, mathematics, and political science.

Professional Outcomes: UCLA grads flow most heavily into the research, finance, computer science, and engineering sectors. High numbers of recent grads can be found at Disney, Google, EY, Teach for America, Amazon, and Oracle. Hundreds also can be found at Bloomberg, Deloitte, Mattel, Oracle, and SpaceX. The average starting salary exceeds $55,000. 16% of recent grads enrolled directly in a graduate/professional school, with other CA-based institutions like Stanford, Pepperdine, USC, Berkeley, and Loyola Marymount being the most popular.

• Enrollment: 33,040 (undergraduate); 15,010 (graduate)
• Cost of Attendance: $38,517 (in-state); $71,091 (out-of-state)

Boston College

• Chestnut Hill, MA

Academic Highlights: The college offers roughly 60 majors across four schools that award undergraduate degrees. Approximately half of the college’s sections contain nineteen or fewer students. 95% of graduates reported learning how to think critically at BC, and 93% said they learned how to write clearly and effectively. BC offers highly respected programs in communications, psychology, and business through the renowned Carroll School of Management. Other popular and well-regarded majors include economics, biology, and chemistry.

Professional Outcomes: Within six months of graduation, 96% of the Class of 2022 had landed at their next destination. The most favored industries were financial services and real estate (26%), health care/science (20%), and business/consulting (16%). The median starting salary for a 2022 BC grad was $67,000. Eighteen percent of the Class of 2022 entered graduate schools including Brown, Columbia, the University of Chicago, and Yale. Examining the Class of 2022 data, 16% entered law school, and 14% pursued some other type of doctoral degree.

• Enrollment: 9,484
• Cost of Attendance: $86,155
• Average SAT: 1482
• Average ACT: 34
• Acceptance Rate: 17%

Georgetown University

• Washington, D.C.

Academic Highlights: The student-faculty ratio is 11:1, and 60% of classes enroll fewer than 20 students. While some classes are a bit larger, only 7% cross the 50-student threshold. Those desiring to join the world of politics or diplomacy are in the right place. The Government and International Affairs programs are among the best in the country. The greatest number of degrees are conferred in the social sciences (38%) followed by business (20%), interdisciplinary studies (8%), and biology (7%).

Professional Outcomes: Within six months of graduating, 75% of members of the Class of 2022 entered the workforce, 19% went directly into a graduate or professional program of study, and 3% were still seeking employment. The Class of 2022 sent massive numbers of graduates to a number of major corporations including JPMorgan Chase (22), Citi (21), BOA (18), Morgan Stanley (16), and EY (10). Those attending grad school stay at Georgetown or flock to other elite schools like Columbia and Harvard.

• Enrollment: 7,900
• Cost of Attendance: $85,000
• Acceptance Rate: 12%

Wake Forest University

• Winston-Salem, NC

Academic Highlights: All freshmen enter the Undergraduate College, which offers 45 majors and 60 minors. Sporting a student-to-faculty ratio of 10:1, classes are kept on the small side with 59% of sections enrolling fewer than 20 students. 60% of students engage in hands-on research for academic credit. Wake Forest is strong across myriad disciplines, most notably chemistry, communication, accounting, finance, and international affairs. The most frequently conferred degrees are in business (22%), the social sciences (20%), journalism (8%), and biology (8%).

Professional Outcomes: Within six months of graduation, 97% of the Class of 2022 had found their next destination, with 71% starting their first professional job and 26% matriculating into a graduate program. Management/consulting, investment banking, and healthcare were the top three industries. Employers landing the highest numbers of alumni included national and multinational corporations IBM, Siemens, Volvo, Goldman Sachs, Disney, Deloitte, Dell, Gucci, PepsiCo, EY, and Nike. By the start of mid-career, Wake Forest alumni earn the second-highest median salary of any school in North Carolina.

• Enrollment: 5,447 (undergraduate); 3,516 (graduate)
• Cost of Attendance: $87,622
• Median SAT: 1450
• Acceptance Rate: 21%
• Graduation Rate: 90%

Carleton College

• Northfield, MN

Academic Highlights: Students work closely with their professors, and the college is routinely rated atop lists of best undergraduate teaching institutions. Small classes are the norm with the average being only sixteen students. It offers 33 majors, the most popular of which are within the disciplines of the social sciences (19%), the physical sciences (14%), biology (11%), computer science (11%), mathematics (10%), and psychology (8%).

Professional Outcomes: Target, Epic Systems, Google, Wells Fargo, and Amazon all employ large numbers of graduates. Carleton is a breeding ground for future scholars as a ridiculously high number of graduates go on to earn PhDs. In fact, by percentage, Carleton is one of the top five producers in the country of future PhDs. They produce an incredible number of doctoral degree holders in the areas of economics, math, political science, sociology, chemistry, physics, biology, and history.

• Enrollment: 2,034
• Cost of Attendance: $82,167
• Median SAT: 1490
• Graduation Rate: 91%

Claremont McKenna College

Academic Highlights: CMC offers 33 majors and 11 “sequences,” series of courses that can be completed across the neighboring schools in addition to one’s major. The college boasts an average class size of eighteen, and 82% of course sections have fewer than twenty students. Economics, government, international relations, biology, and psychology are the most popular majors, and among the strongest. Interdisciplinary majors such as Environment, Economics, and Politics (EEP) and Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) also carry outstanding reputations.

Professional Outcomes: Eighty-eight percent of 2022 graduates found employment within six months of graduation, and only 4% were still looking for work. The median starting salary for a 2022 Claremont grad is $87,000. You name the prestigious graduate/professional program and, chances are, a recent CMC grad (or two or three) is presently studying there. Since 2001, more than 120 alumni have enrolled at USC and UCLA. More than 60 grads have headed to UChicago, Columbia, and Stanford.

• Enrollment: 1,386
• Cost of Attendance: $86,500
• Acceptance Rate: 10%

Hamilton College

• Clinton, NY

Academic Highlights: The student-to-faculty ratio is 9:1, and without any pesky graduate students to get in the way, face time with professors is a regular occurrence. In fact, 28% of all classes have nine or fewer students; 72% have nineteen or fewer. Economics, government, and biology are among the strongest and most popular majors; other standout programs include public policy, mathematics, and environmental studies. Thirty percent of students earn social science degrees, with biology (13%), visual and performing arts (9%), physical science (7%), and foreign languages (7%) next in line.

Professional Outcomes: Examining the 491 graduates in Hamilton’s Class of 2022, an enviable 97% wasted no time landing jobs, graduate school acceptances, or fellowships. The most commonly entered industries were finance (17%), education (13%), business (12%), and science/tech (11%). Only 17% of 2022 graduates went directly into an advanced degree program. In one recent year, 33% of Hamilton grads were studying a STEM field, 22% were in the social sciences, 17% pursued a health care degree, and 5% went to law school.

• Enrollment: 2,075
• Cost of Attendance: $82,430

Pomona College

Academic Highlights: There are 48 majors and minors to select from with the most popular being social sciences (23%), biology (13%), and computer science (12%). Majors in economics, international relations, chemistry, and mathematics receive especially high marks. More than 600 courses are on the menu at Pomona alone, but students can access any of the Claremont Consortium’s 2,700 courses. Pomona’s 8:1 student-to-teacher ratio leads to an average class size of only 15 students, and over 50% of the undergraduate population conduct research alongside a faculty member.

Professional Outcomes: 71% of the Class of 2022 were employed within six months of graduating. Overall, the largest number of alumni can be found at Google, Kaiser Permanente, Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta. Recently, economics degree-earners have landed jobs at Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley, or Accenture. Majors in the hard sciences frequently landed at top research laboratories and hospitals. Of the 21% of 2022 grads who were accepted directly into graduate school, the most frequently attended institutions included the University of Cambridge, Duke, Harvard, Caltech, UChicago, and Stanford.

• Enrollment: 1,761
• Cost of Attendance: $88,296

University of Virginia

• Charlottesville, VA

Academic Highlights: Undergrads can study within one of seven colleges/schools, which all offer many small classes; 15% boast single-digit enrollment and 48% contain 19 or fewer students. The McIntire School of Commerce and the School of Engineering and Applied Science have glowing reputations. Other notable strengths include computer science, economics, and political philosophy, policy, and law. The most popular degree areas are liberal arts/general studies (22%), the social sciences (14%), engineering (11%), business/marketing (8%), and biology (7%).

Professional Outcomes:  Upon receiving their degree, 95% of the Class of 2022 immediately joined the workforce–with an average starting salary of $90k–or headed directly to graduate school. The most popular industries were internet & software, higher education, and management consulting. Capital One (85), Deloitte (46), Amazon (38), and Bain & Co. (26) scooped up the greatest number of 2022 grads. UVA itself was the most popular grad school destination followed by Columbia, Virginia Commonwealth University, and Johns Hopkins.

• Enrollment: 17,496 (undergraduate); 8,653 (graduate)
• Cost of Attendance: $39,494-49,874 (in-state); $78,214-90,378 (out-of-state)
• Median SAT: 1470
• Acceptance Rate: 19%

University of Notre Dame

• Notre Dame, IN

Academic Highlights: 75 majors are offered across six undergraduate colleges: the School of Architecture, the College of Arts and Letters, the Mendoza School of Business (one of the country’s best business schools), the College of Engineering, the Keough School of Global Affairs, and the College of Science. In 2022, the most degrees were conferred in business (20%), the social sciences (18%), engineering (12%), and biology (8%). A solid 60% of courses enroll fewer than 20 students, and 15% have single-digit numbers. 75% of Notre Dame undergrads study abroad.

Professional Outcomes: 69% of 2022 grads directly entered the world of employment, with the most common industries being financial services (21%), consulting (17%), technology (12%), and health services (9%). Massive numbers of alumni can be found at Deloitte, EY, PwC, IBM, Accenture, Booz Allen Hamilton, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, and McKinsey & Co. The median early-career salary was $76,000. Of the 20% of grads who went directly into their graduate/professional studies, 18% were pursuing medical degrees and 9% were studying law.

• Enrollment: 8,971 (undergraduate); 4,134 (graduate)
• Cost of Attendance: $86,125

University of Michigan

• Ann Arbor, MI

Academic Highlights: There are 280+ undergraduate degree programs across fourteen schools and colleges, and the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts (LSA) enrolls the majority of students. The Ross School of Business offers highly rated programs in entrepreneurship, management, accounting, and finance. The College of Engineering is also one of the best in the country. By degrees conferred, engineering (15%), computer science (14%), and the social sciences (11%) are most popular. A solid 56% of classes have fewer than 20 students.

Professional Outcomes: Within three months of graduating, 89% of LSA grads are employed full-time or in graduate school, with healthcare, education, law, banking, research, nonprofit work, and consulting being the most popular sectors. Within three months, 99% of Ross grads are employed with a median salary of $90k. Top employers include Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, EY, Morgan Stanley, PwC, Deloitte, and Amazon.  Within six months, 96% of engineering grads are employed (average salary of $84k) or in grad school. General Motors, Ford, Google, Microsoft, Apple, and Meta employ the greatest number of alumni.

• Enrollment: 32,695 (undergraduate); 18,530 (graduate)
• Cost of Attendance: $35,450 (in-state); $76,294 (out-of-state)
• Acceptance Rate: 18%

Wesleyan University

• Middletown, CT

Academic Highlights: With 45 majors and 32 minors, Wes truly has something for everyone. The academic requirements are relatively minimal, giving undergrads a high degree of intellectual freedom. Under 75% of class sections have fewer than twenty students; students rave about the accessible faculty. Research opportunities with professors are plentiful. Offerings in economics, English, film studies, and neuroscience typically receive the most praise from employers/grad schools; accordingly, the social sciences (24%), psychology (17%), and the visual and performing arts (12%) are the most popular.

Professional Outcomes: Within six months of graduating, 66% of 2022 grads had entered employment, with tech/engineering/sciences, education, and arts/entertainment being the three top sectors. The companies employing the highest numbers of recent Wesleyan grads included Google, Epic, Analysis Group, Boston Medical Center, Booz Allen Hamilton, Accenture, and Apple. Graduate school was the next stop for 18% of new alums; enrolling institutions included MIT, Stanford, Berkeley, Yale, Harvard, Temple, and UMass.

• Enrollment: 3,069 (undergraduate); 184 (graduate)
• Cost of Attendance: $89,094
• Median SAT: 1430
• Median ACT: 32
• Acceptance Rate: 14%

Wellesley College

• Wellesley, MA

Academic Highlights: There are 50+ departmental and interdisciplinary majors. Thirty-six percent of course sections have single-digit enrollments while 77% have 19 or fewer students. In addition, opportunities for participation in research with faculty members abound. Most programs possess sterling reputations, including chemistry, computer science, neuroscience, and political science, but the Department of Economics shines most brightly, leading many into PhD programs and high-profile careers. Economics, biology, and computer science are the most frequently conferred degrees.

Professional Outcomes : Six months after graduating, 97% of the Class of 2022 had achieved positive outcomes. Of the 76% of grads who were employed, 24% were working in the finance/consulting/business fields, 17% in education, 17% in internet and technology & engineering, and 15% in healthcare/life sciences. Top employers included JPMorgan Chase, Google, Boston Children’s Hospital, and Goldman Sachs. The average starting salary for one recent cohort was a solid $63k. Of the 20% of 2022 grads who directly entered an advanced degree program, common schools attended included Harvard, Columbia, Brown, Stanford, MIT, and Emory.

• Enrollment: 2,447
• Cost of Attendance: $84,240

College of the Holy Cross

• Worcester, MA

Academic Highlights: The college offers thirty traditional majors as well as additional subjects in which one can pursue a student-designed major. The average class size is a manageable 19 students, and 62% of courses have enrollments lower than that. There are no majors that undergrads flock to in overwhelming numbers, but the most popular are the social sciences (29%), psychology (14%), history (7%), and biology (6%). All of those popular departments also rank well nationally.

Professional Outcomes: Six months after moving their tassels to the left, 68% of the Class of 2021 (most recent stats available) were employed, 19% were in graduate school, and only 3% were still seeking full-time employment. Organizations employing more than one recent graduate include Fidelity Investments, JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Massachusetts General Hospital, Deloitte, EY, PwC, Oracle, and Dell. Among those enrolled in graduate school, 14% were in law school, 14% were pursuing degrees in a health profession, and 6% were in PhD programs.

• Enrollment: 3,233
• Cost of Attendance: $78,600
• Median SAT: 1360
• Acceptance Rate: 36%

Boston University

Academic Highlights: In total, the university offers more than 300 programs of study, 100+ of which are distinct undergraduate degrees spread across ten schools/colleges. Many classes at BU are reasonably small—60% contain fewer than twenty students; only 19% contain more than forty. The student-to-faculty ratio is 11:1. The greatest number of degrees are conferred in social sciences (16%), business/marketing (15%), communications and journalism (15%), biology (11%), engineering (9%), and health professions/related sciences (7%).

Professional Outcomes: Six months after graduation, 90% of BU grads have found their way into the world of employment or full-time graduate study. Across all graduating years, companies employing more than 350 BU alums include Google, Oracle, Accenture, IBM, and Amazon Web Services. Of the one-quarter of grads who move directly into graduate school, many are welcomed onto the campuses of elite graduate programs. For example, engineering students found new academic homes at MIT, Stanford, Carnegie Mellon, and Columbia.

• Enrollment: 18,459
• Cost of Attendance: $86,363
• Graduation Rate: 89%

Haverford College

• Haverford, PA

Academic Highlights: Haverford offers 31 majors, 32 minors, 12 concentrations, and eleven consortium programs—areas of study that can be pursued at partner campuses. The school’s 9:1 student-to-faculty ratio and exclusive emphasis on undergraduate education lead to exceptionally intimate classes, 33% of which have fewer than 10 students, and 72% have fewer than 20. The most popular areas of study at Haverford include the social sciences (24%), biology (14%), psychology (11%), physical sciences (10%), computer science (9%), and mathematics (7%).

Professional Outcomes: Six months after leaving Haverford, 63% of the Class of 2022 had found employment, 19% had enrolled in graduate school, and 9% were still job hunting. Employers hiring multiple recent Haverford grads include Epic, JP Morgan Chase Bank, Boston Consulting Group, Goldman Sachs, the National Institutes of Health, and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Of the 19% of 2022 grads who elected to continue their education, the most commonly entered fields of study were STEM (51%) and medicine/health (15%).

• Enrollment: 1,421
• Cost of Attendance: $87,180

University of California, San Diego

• San Diego, CA

Academic Highlights: There are 140+ undergraduate majors offered at UCSD, and all students join one of eight undergraduate colleges meant to forge flourishing communities within the larger university. Biology has the highest representation of all majors (19%) followed by engineering (12%), the social sciences (11%), and computer science (9%). UCSD’s computer science and engineering programs have stellar reputations in the corporate and tech communities, and programs in biology, economics, and political science are among the best anywhere.

Professional Outcomes: Employers of recent graduates included the Walt Disney Company, Tesla, NBC Universal, PwC, Northrop Grumman, and EY. More than 1,000 current Google employees are UC San Diego alumni, and Qualcomm, Amazon, and Apple all employ 500+ each. The median early career salary is $65,000 across all majors, placing the university in the top 10 public universities in the country. UCSD also fares well in measures of its return-on-investment potential.

• Enrollment: 33,096 (undergraduate); 8,386 (graduate)
• Cost of Attendance: $31,830 (in-state); $64,404 (out-of-state)
• Acceptance Rate: 25%
• Retention Rate: 93%
• Graduation Rate: 88%

Colby College

• Waterville, ME

Academic Highlights: Offering 56 majors and 35 minors, Colby provides a classic liberal arts education with a high degree of flexibility and room for independent intellectual pursuits. A 10:1 student-to-faculty ratio is put to good instructional use as roughly two-thirds of courses have fewer than 19 students. Being a true liberal arts school, Colby has strengths across many disciplines, but biology, economics, and global studies draw especially high praise. These programs along with government and environmental science attract the highest number of students.

Professional Outcomes: Within six months of graduation, 93% of the Class of 2022 had either obtained jobs or were enrolled full-time in a graduate program. Eighteen percent of graduates enter the financial industry and large numbers also start careers in education, with government/nonprofit, STEM, and healthcare next in popularity. The Medical school acceptance rate over the past five years is 68%, nearly double the national average.

• Enrollment: 2,299
• Cost of Attendance: $86,720
• Average SAT: 1485
• Average ACT: 33
• Graduation Rate: 87%

Macalester College

• St. Paul, MN

Academic Highlights: Students can choose from roughly 40 majors and over 800 courses that are offered each academic year . Being an undergraduate-only institution, Macalester students enjoy the full benefits of the school’s 10:1 student-to-faculty ratio. The average class size is only 17 students, and 14% of class sections have single-digit enrollments. Macalester possesses strong offerings across many different disciplines. Programs in economics, international studies, and mathematics are among the best anywhere.

Professional Outcomes: Six months after graduating, 95% of the Macalester Class of 2022 had found employment, graduate school, or a fellowship. Employers of recent grads include ABC News, Google, Goldman Sachs, Dow Chemical Company, McKinsey & Company, the ACLU, the National Cancer Institute, and National Geographic . Across all sectors, the average starting salary for recent grads was above $62k. Sixty percent of Mac grads pursue an advanced degree within six years of earning their bachelor’s.

• Enrollment: 2,175
• Cost of Attendance: $79,890
• Acceptance Rate: 28%
• Retention Rate: 88%

Tufts University

• Medford, MA

Academic Highlights: Three schools serve Tufts’ undergraduate population: the College of Arts & Sciences, the College of Engineering, and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts. The three schools combined offer more than 90 majors and minors; approximately one-third of all students double major, and half declare a minor. 15% of all courses see fewer than ten students enrolled, and 60% have sub-twenty enrollments. The most popular majors include international relations, economics, computer science, political science, and biology—all of which receive very high marks.

Professional Outcomes: Six months after earning their diplomas, 97% of 2022 graduates were employed or attending graduate school. The most commonly entered fields were finance, consulting, real estate (23%); engineering and technology (22%); health, life sciences, environmental (21%); and education, advocacy, social services (11%). Prolific employers of Tufts alums include Booz Allen Hamilton, JPMorgan, MITRE, Google, Deloitte, Amazon, Raytheon, Morgan Stanley, and BlackRock. Of the 21% of 2022 grads who went directly to graduate school, 85% were accepted into their first-choice institution.

• Enrollment: 6,815 (undergraduate); 6,616 (graduate)
• Cost of Attendance: $88,300

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

• Chapel Hill, NC

Academic Highlights: Undergraduates can choose from 74 bachelor’s degree programs in a number of schools and colleges, the largest of which is the College of Arts & Sciences. 44% of classes have a student enrollment under 20. The social sciences (15%), biology (12%), media/journalism (9%), computer science (8%), and business (6%) are the areas in which the most degrees are conferred. The Kenan-Flager Business School is internationally renowned and requires separate admission. Other strong programs include those in chemistry, journalism, psychology, and political science.

Professional Outcomes: Six months after leaving Chapel Hill, 97% of 2022 grads had entered employment, military service, or graduate school. Among the for-profit companies that hire the most graduates are Wells Fargo, IBM, Cisco, Deloitte, EY, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Oracle, McKinsey & Company, and Goldman Sachs. In the nonprofit sector, a large number of alumni are employed by AmeriCorps, NIH, Teach for America, and the Peace Corps. The average starting salary is $70,619. 18% of 2022 grads enrolled directly in graduate/professional school.

• Enrollment: 20,210 (undergraduate); 11,739 (graduate)
• Cost of Attendance: $27,036 (in-state); $60,040 (out-of-state)

Bates College

• Lewiston, ME

Academic Highlights: Thirty-four percent of courses at Bates have a single-digit enrollment, and 63% of classrooms contain nineteen or fewer students. The student-to-faculty ratio is 10:1, and not a single graduate student is present to vacuum up professorial attention. Twenty-eight percent of all degrees earned at Bates are in the social sciences, and psychology (14%), biology (13%), and the physical sciences (7%) are next in popularity. Though strong across many disciplines, Bates boasts exemplary programs in political science, art, philosophy, economics, and psychology.

Professional Outcomes: Within six months of graduation, 99% of the Class of 2022 were either employed, enrolled in graduate school, or otherwise meaningfully engaged in a fellowship or internship. The most frequently entered fields were healthcare (17%), education (16%), finance/banking (14%), and technology (7%). Within ten years of graduation, approximately 13% of Bates graduates are in, or have completed, law school whereas 7% enroll in medical school.

• Enrollment: 1,790
• Cost of Attendance: $81,382

Washington and Lee University

• Lexington, VA

Academic Highlights: The university offers 36 majors and 29 minors. With an exceptionally low 7:1 student-to-faculty ratio, over 80% of class sections contain 19 or fewer students. Instructors earn rave reviews. The renowned Williams School of Commerce, Politics, and Economics offers outstanding programs, as do the Journalism and Mass Communication, English, and History Departments. Altogether, business accounts for 23% of the degrees conferred; the social sciences (25%), biology (9%), and foreign language (6%) are also popular.

Professional Outcomes: Last year, 69% of recent graduates found employment within six months of leaving Lexington; the most frequently entered industries were financial services, economics/finance, education, consulting, and real estate. Companies presently employing more than two dozen Generals including EY, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, PwC, JPMorgan, Capital One, and Morgan Stanley. Starting salaries are solid with the majority of the cohort being paid $55,000 or more while 18% brought home in excess of $75,000.

• Enrollment: 1,867 (undergraduate); 376 (graduate)
• Cost of Attendance: $87,000
• Median SAT: 1480

Vassar College

• Poughkeepsie, NY

Academic Highlights: Vassar students have the choice of 50 majors and only three foundational curricular mandates, which means that there is plenty of room to explore electives and intellectual passions. A 7:1 student-to-faculty ratio leads to an average class size of 17 students, and 23% of all sections have an enrollment of nine or fewer. Professors are extremely available outside the classroom. The most popular majors are in the social sciences, biology, the visual and performing arts, foreign languages, and psychology.

Professional Outcomes: 93% of alums enjoy positive outcomes within six months of graduation, with 20% enrolling directly in a graduate or professional degree program. A solid number land at competitive companies like Google, Meta, EY, Deloitte, Microsoft, Citi, and Amazon. Elite universities such as Harvard, Penn, NYU, and Columbia are also among the top employers of former students, many of whom earn advanced degrees and enter academia. The school is one of the top 15 PhD producers.

• Enrollment: 2,459
• Cost of Attendance: $85,220

Brown University

• Providence, RI

Academic Highlights: Students must choose one of 80+ “concentration programs,” but there are no required courses. Class sizes tend to be small—68% have fewer than twenty students—and 35% are comprised of nine or fewer students. Biology, economics, computer science, mathematics, and engineering are among the most popular areas of concentration at Brown; however, it is hard to distinguish any one program, because Brown possesses outstanding offerings across so many disciplines.

Professional Outcomes: Soon after receiving their Brown diplomas, 69% of graduates enter the world of employment. Companies employing the greatest number of Brown alums include Google, Microsoft, Goldman Sachs, Amazon, Morgan Stanley, Apple, McKinsey & Company, and Bain & Company. The Class of 2022 saw 27% of graduates go directly into graduate/professional school. Right out of undergrad, Brown students boasted an exceptional 81% admission rate to med school and an 81% admission rate to law school.

• Enrollment: 7,639
• Cost of Attendance: $84,828

University of Rochester

• Rochester, NY

Academic Highlights: U of R’s 160 undergraduate programs offer a rigorous yet flexible educational experience at a small liberal arts college within a renowned research institution. 66% of sections enroll fewer than 20 students, and an impressive 77% of students are involved in undergraduate research. The Eastman School of Music is one of the best music conservatories in the United States, and the Hajim School of Engineering & Applied Sciences is a top 50 institution. Other strong majors include mathematics, economics, and political science.

Professional Outcomes: Six months after receiving their diplomas, 97% of Class of 2022 grads had achieved positive outcomes with 57% employed and a notably high 38% already pursuing an advanced degree. Popular industries included internet and software (14%), healthcare (14%), and investment banking (6%). Top employers of 2022 grads included Google, Goldman Sachs, Epic Systems, and Deloitte. The average starting salary for the most recent cohort of grads was an impressive $82,325; that figure was over $105k for graduates of the Hajim School of Engineering.

• Enrollment: 6,767 (undergraduate); 5,430 (graduate)
• Cost of Attendance: $85,858
• Median SAT: 1460
• Acceptance Rate: 39%
• Retention Rate: 92%

We hope you have found our list of the Best Colleges for Mathematics to be useful and informative as you continue your college search process. We also invite you to check out some of our other resources and tools including:

• AP Score Calculators 
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• Best Summer Programs 
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• Best Colleges by Major

Andrew Belasco

A licensed counselor and published researcher, Andrew's experience in the field of college admissions and transition spans two decades. He has previously served as a high school counselor, consultant and author for Kaplan Test Prep, and advisor to U.S. Congress, reporting on issues related to college admissions and financial aid.

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