ECON 490 Course Descriptions

Economists study both human behaviour and the institutions and social norms that have evolved to regulate that behaviour. This section of Econ 490 will explore the analytical and statistical tools used by economists to examine human sexuality and mating behaviour as well as the role played by the state in regulating sexual behaviour. Topics will include markets for sex (including online markets), marriage and divorce, infidelity, evolutionary dominant sexual strategies and the relationship between sex and happiness.

In this section a major project will be produced using a staged process that begins in the first week of the term and culminates in a presentation (15-20 minutes) and research project submitted the last week of term. The stages of the project are intended to replicate the process followed by your professors in producing their own, publication quality, research and will be closely monitored by your instructor. Students should arrive in September with a general idea of the research area that interests them as their topic will determined within the first two weeks and work on the project will begin immediately.

This section introduces students to research in health economics. The course will be divided into two parts. The first part will discuss basic theories and some interesting research done in health economics such as research on childhood obesity and review some statistical techniques students have learnt previously in Econ 325 and 326 which are important to the completion of a major research paper. In the second part, students will apply their knowledge acquired in previous econometrics courses and this section to a research paper related to health economics. Students will present their findings to the class in a 15-20 minute presentation during the final few weeks of the course. The final paper will be due at the end of term.

This section introduces students to research in health economics. The course will be divided into two parts. The first part will discuss basic theories and some interesting research done in health economics such as research on childhood obesity and review some statistical techniques students have learnt previously in Econ 325 and 326 which are important to the completion of a major research paper. In the second part, students will apply their knowledge acquired in previous econometrics courses and this section to a research paper related to health economics. Students will present their findings to the class in a 15-20 minute presentation during the final few weeks of the course. The final paper will be due at the end of term.

This seminar is an introduction to research methods in experimental economics. During the seminar students will be introduced to advanced topics in economic theory, as behavior in bargaining environment and choice under uncertainty. Following, participants will design, implement and analyze experiments involving real incentivized subjects to learn about their behavior in these environments.

Econ 303 or Econ 306 is recommended but not required

Introduction: There is hardly any form of learning that is more satisfying than researching, debating a topic and then corroborating your hypothesis with empirical evidence. In this section you are required to work on a research paper under the supervision of the instructor. The broad themes for this section of Econ 490 are Gender, Population and Health.

The course would require you to form a researchable question from topics like gender differences in decision-making, division of labor within the family, and public policies that affect the status and health of women and children. We will draw from various development and health literature from Africa, Asia and Latin America. This course emphasizes conceptual, modeling, and empirical skills widely used in economic analysis and its application to the data from developing world.

The first few sessions would be in a lecture format learning the recent theory and empirical evidence related to various topics in the field. The next few sessions would be in an interactive class setting where students will use STATA (econometric software) to formalize their research question.

This section of ECON 490 focuses on empirical economics. The goal is to use concepts studied in theory courses and econometric tools for investigation of interesting empirical questions, and finally produce a research paper. The lectures during the first few weeks of the course will cover steps of doing research such as reviewing literature, formulating a main research question, and obtaining data. Then we will have class discussions on examples of empirical research in various areas of economics such as labour, finance and macroeconomics, as a stepping stone toward independent yet guided research for each student. The major part of the course requirements include in-class presentations and a research paper.

One of the most pressing social problems facing the world as a whole is the fact that some countries are enormously rich while a much greater number are crushingly poor. About 60% of the world's population earns less than 20% of an average US worker's income. In addition to the direct human cost of large scale poverty, large disparities in levels of per capita income and wealth between rich and poor countries are a source of destabilization in the world, and potentially of conflict. A key concern of social scientists in general, and of economists in particular, is to understand why some countries are rich and others poor, and to understand further whether the poorer countries might eventually catch up to the rich ones, or whether they will fall increasingly behind.

By definition, countries that are rich have enjoyed strong economic growth, while countries that are poor have failed to grow. This section of Econ 490 will focus on the economic determinants of growth, looking at simple economic models of the growth process, and using these models to guide econometric analysis of the sources of economic growth in a cross-country perspective. Some individual countries, e.g. China and the former Soviet Union will also be considered. The hope is that such analysis can lead to a better understanding of the processes of growth, and the factors that help or hinder it, in a global perspective.

There will be no exam.  The emphasis will be on written work and student presentations. Each student will write an original term paper on a research project of their choosing and will be involved in oral presentations in class.  Attendance at EVERY class is mandatory. Anyone who misses more than one or two classes will fail. The course is about learning with and from your colleagues in class---you must all show up and support each other; no absences, and no excuses accepted.

Final Research Essay    70%

Class participation  20%

Oral Presentations  10%

Any form of plagiarism on the research project will be punished to the maximum extent possible. The official Faculty of Arts position on what plagiarism is and how to avoid it is found in

Plagiarism Avoided: Taking Responsibility For Your Work. Knowledge of the content of these documents is assumed of anyone taking this course.

This section of Econ 490 will focus on the Economics of Migration which, as a subfield of Labour Economics, follows a long tradition based on empirical analysis.

The course will begin by discussing the important questions in the Economics of Immigration: the economic integration of immigrants to their host country, the impact of immigration on outcomes in the host country, and the decision to migrate (immigrant self-selection), among other topics. These questions will be discussed in relation to the data bases used to answer these questions and to the relevant econometric techniques learnt previously in Econ 325 and 326. The discussions of the substantive issues will feature both lectures and seminar-style interactive learning. The applications of the econometric techniques will involve a hand-on approach in the computer lab. The students will then undertake their own research project on a migration topic and at the end of the course present their findings in both a research paper and an in-class presentation.

The theme for this section of ECON 490 is "Personal Income Taxation: Theory and Evidence." The course will proceed in two stages. First, a base of skills and knowledge about taxation and empirical analysis will be constructed. Second, the skills and knowledge will be applied through the production of a major research paper. Students will draw on their previous study of econometrics and statistics (in ECON 325 and 326) and intermediate microeconomics. No previous knowledge of the Canadian tax system is assumed, and it is not necessary to have previously studied public economics.

The course will be taught in the classroom and in the computer lab. The in-class time will feature both lectures and seminar-style interactive learning. In order to gain the full benefit of the lectures and seminars, students must arrive prepared to discuss the day's topic. The computer lab time is critical for building the skills necessary to produce the major research paper.

The general theme for this group of Econ 490 is Economics and Happiness. The Statistics Canada Time Use Survey collected information from a sample of Canadians on perceptions of happiness as well as many socio-economic characteristics. Class lectures will discuss methodology for working with this data set. Students will prepare a research paper under the supervision of the instructor.

This section of Econ 490 will cover various theories of economic growth with a special focus on the financial markets as the source of growth. The goal of the course is to introduce the students to the workhorse models used to study economic growth and show how to use these models in order to test various economic theories. The emphasis will be put on explaining how theoretical and empirical work can be used together to help us understand important economic questions.

Introduction: There is hardly any form of learning that is more satisfying than researching, debating a topic and then corroborating your hypothesis with empirical evidence. In this section you are required to work on a research paper under the supervision of the instructor. The broad themes for this section of Econ 490 are Gender, Population and Health.

The course would require you to form a researchable question from topics like gender differences in decision-making, division of labor within the family, and public policies that affect the status and health of women and children. We will draw from various development and health literature from Africa, Asia and Latin America. This course emphasizes conceptual, modeling, and empirical skills widely used in economic analysis and its application to the data from developing world.

The first few sessions would be in a lecture format learning the recent theory and empirical evidence related to various topics in the field. The next few sessions would be in an interactive class setting where students will use STATA (econometric software) to formalize their research question

The general theme for this group of Econ 490 is Economics and Happiness. The Statistics Canada Time Use Survey collected information from a sample of Canadians on perceptions of happiness as well as many socio-economic characteristics. Class lectures will discuss methodology for working with this data set. Students will prepare a research paper under the supervision of the instructor.

In this section, we will focus on topics related to the economics of immigration. Canada’s economy has been, and continues to be, shaped by immigration. Given this, it is interesting to know both about the impact of immigrants on the Canadian labour market and about how immigrants themselves fare in the Canadian economy. The first part of the course will consist of lectures and discussions about the economics of immigration, drawing on what you have learned in other courses. We will also review key statistics and econometrics tools from Economics 325 and 326. The ultimate goal of the course is for the students to write research papers on an immigration related topic of their choosing. The grade will be primarily based on this paper and on a presentation to the class of the key findings in the paper.