Economics Course Descriptions

ECN 221: Principles of Microeconomics, 4 credits

An examination of general microeconomic theory with an emphasis on supply and demand, opportunity cost, consumer choice, the firm, the market structure(s) and regulation, allocation of resources, capital, interest, profit, labor unions, income analysis, energy, national resource economics, and public policy.

Goals and Objectives
By the end of this course, Northwood wants students to:

1. Understand the organization of markets and the functioning of business firms under various market conditions.
2. Understand the role of private property, individual initiative and responsibility, entrepreneurship, ethical behavior, and a free society.
3. Understand the significance of basic economic concepts and the economic solutions generated by market processes.
4. Understand the phenomenon of scarcity, the necessity of economizing behavior of individuals, and the process of choice making.
5. Understand public choice theory and the role of government in economic systems.
6. Understand monopoly, cartels, pure competition, monopolistic competition, and oligopoly.
7. Understand the role of the price process of resource allocation.
8. Understand the value of economic productivity as a measure of economic welfare.
9. Understand that wealth is created through private enterprise.
10. Understand the value of economic productivity as a measure of economic welfare.
11. Understand that trade creates wealth.

ECN 222: Principles of Macroeconomics, 4 credits

An examination of general macroeconomics theory with an emphasis on government spending and taxation, national income accounting, economic fluctuations, macroeconomics theory, fiscal policy, monetary policy, the banking system, economic stabilization, international trade, economic growth, and comparative economic systems.

Goals and Objectives
By the end of this course, Northwood wants students to:

1. Be able to recognize and define specialized terminology as it is generally used in macroeconomic analysis.
2. Be able to distinguish between classical, Keynesian, and monetarist theories, and explain how they relate to the federal government's use of macroeconomic policy.
3. Be able to explain fiscal and monetary policy tools of government, the rationale for their use, and their principal effects.
4. Be able to identify leading economic indicators, and explain how they may be used in making business and government policy decisions.
5. Be able to explain macroeconomic measures of aggregate output, income, savings, demand, price levels, employment, money supply, interest, investment, exports and imports, inflation, and the business cycle.
6. Understand the principal features of the nation's monetary system.
7. Be able to explain significant relationships between international trade and monetary exchange systems.
8. Be able to identify the effects of currency appreciation and depreciation upon import and export industries, international travel, international investment, and recent trends in the world trade system.
9. Be able to explain the relative advantages of free market (vs. socialistic) economic systems.

ECN 301: Intermediate Microeconomics, 4 credits

A study of resource allocation, scarcity, income distribution, consumer choice; theory of the firm, market structures, factor markets, welfare economics, and general equilibrium.
Prerequisite: ECN 221, 222 and MTH 221

Goals and Objectives
By the end of this course, Northwood wants students to:

1. Understand the methodology of economic science and the study of the market process.
2. Understand the theory of consumer behavior and will be able to apply ordinal and cardinal utility analyses to practical situations.
3. Understand the theory of production and long-run and short-run cost analyses.
4. Understand market structures and will be able to analyze profit maximizing behavior of a firm in perfectly competitive markets, imperfectly competitive markets, oligopoly markets, and monopoly markets.
5. Be able to evaluate the effects of government regulations on the markets and appreciate the antitrust laws.
6. Be able to analyze resource markets and determine wage rates, interest rates, rent of land, and profits under conditions of perfectly and imperfectly competitive markets.
7. Be familiar with the general equilibrium analysis and welfare economics.
8. Understand the concepts of externalities, public goods and market failure.

ECN 302: Intermediate Macroeconomics, 4 credits

A study of income theory, employment, interest rates, and price level determination. The role of government and its influence on these variables via monetary and fiscal policies.
Prerequisite: ECN 221, 222 and MTH 221

Goals and Objectives
By the end of this course, Northwood wants students to:

1. Understand the macroeconomic goals of a society and will be able to appreciate the national income accounts and the macroeconomic measurements.
2. Understand the functions and interactions of the major macroeconomic markets.
3. Understand and appreciate the theories of business cycles (Austrian, Keynesian, Monetarist, Neoclassical and Real Business).
4. Be able to analyze output (employment) and price level with the aid of the aggregate supply and aggregate demand model.
5. Be able to evaluate the Phillips Curve in the short-run and in the long-run.
6. Be able to evaluate supply-side and demand-side macroeconomic stabilization policies and their long-run and short-run effects on the economy.
7. Understand the most recent developments in the classical macroeconomics (i.e., the theory of rational expectations).
8. Be able to appreciate the interrelatedness of macroeconomic goals such as price stability, full-employment, economic growth and foreign sector stability.
9. Understand the relationship between the national budget deficits and the balance of payments deficits.
10. Understand the theories of demand for money, supply of money, and the rates of interests in the short-run and in the long-run.
11. Understand macroeconomics of an open economy and the significance of the foreign sector.
12. Understand the theories of consumption and their relevance in macroeconomic analysis.
13. Understand the theories of investment.

ECN 311: Economic History, 4 credits

A study of significant periods and development in the evolution of economic activity in the U.S. with special emphasis on the place of the American business community and its relationship to the world economy from 1067 to date.
Prerequisites: ECN 221, 222

Goals and Objectives
By the end of this course, Northwood wants students to:

1. Possess a contextual framework of U.S. history into which they will be able to place specific points of economic history.
2. Possess an overview of the colonial economy, especially to compare and contrast mercantilism and free market economics.
3. Understand significant factors and events in our economy after independence such as the First and Second Banks of the United States, immigration, the westward migration, transportation, industrial and commercial growth, agriculture, and the business cycle.
4. Understand monetary matters and the developing conflict between governmental controls and free markets.
5. Possess a contextual framework for the Civil War and the economics of that event.
6. Understand the general impact of war on the U.S. economy from 1776 to 1945.
7. Understand the nature and causes of the Great Depression.
8. Possess the tools for analyzing government policy with regard to business cycle activity.

ECN 321: Mathematical Economics, 4 credits

This course Introduces students to  mathematical techniques widely used in economic modeling.  Familiarity with these  techniques is important for understanding the process and results of modern  economic analysis.  Students will learn mathematical techniques such as logarithmic and exponential functions, techniques of differentiation, curve sketching,  constrained and unconstrained optimization, and  multiple regression.   The course requires students to complete problem sets and tests which demonstrate ability to analyze economic problems using these techniques. 
Prerequisite: ECN 221, 222, MTH 115

Goals and Objectives
By the end of this course, Northwood wants students to:

1. Understand mathematical models of economic relationships commonly used in economic research.
2. Understand and interpret functions and graphs, including linear, quadratic, exponential and logarithmic functions, and their use in economic modeling.
3. Understand linear and nonlinear systems of equations, methods of finding simultaneous solutions.
4. Understand the concept of the derivative and rules for finding derivatives of functions.
5. Identify and interpret maxima and minima of functions using the derivative.
6. Identify and interpret maxima and minima of multivariate functions using partial derivatives and LaGrangian multipliers.
7. Perform multiple regression analysis using MS excel.

ECN 331: Monetary Theory, 4 credits

An analysis of monetary theory and policy through an examination of monetary institutions, financial intermediaries, markets, instruments and transactions, and their influences on the economy.
Prerequisites: ECN 221, 222

Goals and Objectives
By the end of this course, Northwood wants students to:

1. Be familiar with the complexities economic interaction and appreciate the role of money and credit, financial intermediaries, and financial products.
2. Understand how interest rates and exchange rates are determined.
3. Understand the efficient market hypothesis and its relationship to the flow of funds in and economy.
4. Understand financial institutions and the forces that shape them.
5. Be familiar with the financial markets including stock, debt, options, forward and futures markets.
6. Be familiar with concepts of money supply and demand, and their influences in an aggregate supply / aggregate demand framework.
7. Be familiar with the tools and procedure of monetary policy including its formulation and execution by central banks and the coordination of international monetary policy.

ECN 341: Comparative Economic Systems, 4 credits

An analysis of the various systems of economic organization; comparison of socialist methods of economic management with the operations of the market economy; overview of the current economics of several nations.
Prerequisite: ECN 221, 222

Goals and Objectives
By the end of this course, Northwood wants students to:

1. Be capable of reviewing economic organization and the makeup of an economy, as well as to compare and contrast economic systems.
2. Understand the range of economic systems, from collectivist to market based and explore benefits and drawbacks of each.
3. Address and explore the recent worldwide shift in economic priority toward enterprise based systems.
4. Be capable of outlining the economic organization of different countries.
5. Be aware of the trend of increased worker self management in productive economic systems.
6. Understand the ways economic systems affect economic growth, stability, efficiency, equality, and freedom.
7. Be capable of comparing the institutional structures of various economic systems.

ECN 351: Development of Economic Thought, 4 credits

An analysis of the theories advanced from the Greeks to the contemporary schools of economic thought and their effects on present-day economic policies; a study of pertinent recent publications and personalities in economics; includes regular round table discussions designed to improve each student’s ability to understand the market economy.
Prerequisite: ECN 221, 222

Goals and Objectives
By the end of this course, Northwood wants students to:

1. Have the ability to explain the origins of formal economic thought.
2. Know the contributions of Mercantilists and Physiocrats to the foundations of economic thought.
3. Know the major contributors to the classical economic ideas from Adam Smith to John Stuart Mill.
4. Be able to appreciate the scope and method of classical economics.
5. Know the economics of Karl Marx and appreciate its influence on social thought.
6. Know the theory of value and its evolution from the time of Adam Smith to the present.
7. Know the evolution of the theories of distribution, capital and interest, wealth, and welfare.
8. Understand the evolution of the Neoclassical economics.
9. Understand the contributions of J.M. Keynes and his followers to the evolution of macroeconomics.
10. Be able to explain the most recent developments in Neoclassical economic ideas and to evaluate the present state of macroeconomics.

ECN 371: Environmental Economics, 4 credits

This course  applies tools of economic analysis to issues of environmental pollution and resource depletion.  Students will learn techniques for evaluating current resource use, and compare various regulatory and incentive-based public policy alternatives for improvement.    Applications include solid waste management, air and water pollution, energy, wildlife habitat, population, and trans-boundary pollution. 
Prerequisite: ECN 321

Goals and Objectives
By the end of this course, Northwood wants students to: 

1. Be able to model environmental problems using economic theory.
2. Understand the various criteria by which resource use can be evaluated.
3. Be familiar with the techniques of cost benefit analysis and risk analysis and their application to environmental problems.
4. Understand the political economy of public choice as it relates to environmental regulation and risk assessment.
5. Appreciate the potential of private alternatives for protecting the environment and promoting social welfare.
6. Be familiar with  the scientific and economic  issues regarding air quality, water quality, land use, population growth, toxic substances, and climate    change. 
7.  Be able to research environmental issues and support recommendations for appropriate private and public responses to them.

ECN 381: Austrian Economic Theory, 4 credit

An overview of the deductive, subjective-psychological approach to economics that originated in 1870's Vienna and is still practiced today. Includes a discussion of decision making under uncertainty using the individual as the sole interpreter of value, the nature of goods, the equimarginal principle, and the positive rate of time preference as they relate to and influence the structure of production in the economy. The organic and inorganic composition of institutions, including central banking and legal systems, and their effects on the structure of production will be used to explain the Austrian theory of business cycles as put forward by Ludwig von Mises and F.A. von Hayek. The role of the market as the most efficient conduit of information and the consequences for non-market economies will be analyzed as well.
Prerequisites: ECN 221 and ECN 222

Goals and Objectives
By the end of this course, Northwood wants students to:

1. Understand economics as the study of human action directed towards the attainment of individual goals.
2. Understand how the subjective valuations of individuals determine both demand and supply.
3. Understand the temporal nature of economic activity.
4. Understand the relationship between knowledge and uncertainty.
5. Understand how time preference determines interest rates.
6. Understand the organic nature of institutions.
7. Understand Austrian business cycle theory.
8. Be able to discuss the differences in Austrian, Neoclassical, and Institutionalist methods of economics.
9. Understand and be able to discuss the “calculation debate”.

ECN 399: Advanced Topics - Political Economy, 4 credits

An analytical and critical paper written after attendance at the annual summer “Freedom Seminar” or through arranged independent study.
Prerequisites: ECN 221, 222

Goals and Objectives
By the end of this course, Northwood wants students to:

1. Demonstrate an ability to engage in secondary research on both theoretical and practical levels.
2. Show a competent understanding of the theoretical bases upon which an economic problem may be analyzed.
3. Demonstrate the ability to apply theoretical propositions to real-life problems.
4. Demonstrate the ability to write about economic issues in a thoughtful and engaging manner.

ECN 400: International Trade, 4 credits

Examines the bases of trading among nations with emphasis on resources, foreign exchange, balance of payments, investments, tariffs, import quotas, export controls, nationalism, free trade, protectionism, and the institutions aiding in world trade.
Prerequisites: ECN 221, 222

Goals and Objectives
By the end of this course, Northwood wants students to:

1. Understand why trade takes place.
2. Understand how trade creates wealth.
3. Understand international movement of goods services and finances.
4. Understand trade concepts including balance of payments, foreign exchange, productivity, and factors of production.
5. Understand international organizations, e.g., IMF, World Bank. WTO, trade blocs like NAFTA and the EU, and multinational corporations and their influence on international trade.
6. Understand the nature and purpose of foreign exchange markets.
7. Understand interest rate and purchasing power parity.
8. Understand international arbitrage, forward contracts, and currency option trading.

ECN 401: Economics of Public Policies, 4 credits

A study of both the short-term and long-term economic consequences of public policies as they relate to individuals and organizations.
Prerequisites: ECN 221, 222, LAW 301

Goals and Objectives
By the end of this course, Northwood wants students to:

1. Be able to explain the origins, perpetuation, and (in some cases) demise of public policies.
2. Be able trace the economic consequences (from #1) of public policies.
3. Be able to evaluate the consequences (from #2) using criteria such as efficiency, equality (of income and wealth) and liberty.
4. Be able to discuss the economics of many government-supplied services (e.g. mail delivery and fire protection).
5. Understand the development and current activities of various regulatory bodies.
6. Be able to provide free market alternatives to political responses to economic problems.

ECN 410: International Finance, 4 credits

A comprehensive overview of the international financial system. Considers foreign currency relationships as well as hedging and techniques in risk management. The course explores international banking, securities, and corporate finance with an emphasis on case studies and simulated market participation.
Prerequisite: FIN 301 and ECN 400

Goals and Objectives
By the end of this course, Northwood wants students to:

1. Understand the various banking systems in use world-wide.
2. Be able to apply the Purchasing Power Parity theory.
3. Be able to advance the use of Interest Rate Parity theory.
4. Be able to study the Fisher effect world-wide.
5. Develop an appreciation of the impact of inflation on International Finance and Banking.
6. Understand the role of the Central Banks throughout the world.
7. Understand the use of hedging instruments in the global economy.
8. Have a working knowledge of the various tax structures in place world-wide.
9. Understand the various international financial markets.
10. Understand the impact of currency translations on financial statements.
11. Appreciate the importance of wise financial planning prior to entering into a Foreign Direct Investment.
12. Have a complete understanding of the Eurodollar and Eurobond market.

ECN 425: Cases and Problems in Global Entrepreneurship, 4 credits

The case study method is used to analyze the global environment confronting the entrepreneur engaged in cross border enterprise. Important course components include public policy, markets, labor, and financial forces.
Prerequisite: ECN 400

Goals and Objectives
By the end of this course, Northwood wants students to:

1. Be knowledgeable in how to start a new international venture through and understanding of international market assessment, international sources of funds, and location analysis.
2. Know how to develop a complete new venture business plan.
3. Understand the complexities of market entry, e.g. exporting and importing, licensing, and investment controls.
4. Develop appreciation for problems and opportunities underlying cross-border alliances.
5. Understand management of international business expansion.
6. Understand the cultural, legal, and ethical issues pertaining to international business operations.
7. Develop an appreciation for human resource issues in cross –border business activities.

ECN 489 : Economic Forecasting and Research, 4 credits

A study of the theories and techniques of forecasting and their applications to business; use of official statistics and economic indicators; analysis of methods and materials for research and exposition in economics.
Prerequisites: Junior status and ECN 301, MTH 333

Goals and Objectives
By the end of this course, Northwood wants students to:

1. Develop familiarity and with major computer-based forecasting tools.
2. Develop skills in forecast process, data development and model selection.
3. Be able to use moving average and exponential smoothing techniques in correct situations.
4. Know how to develop multivariate forecasts using simple and multiple linear regression models.
5. Understand time series analysis and the use of the time-series decomposition model.
6. Be familiar with the ARIMA (Box-Jenkins) forecasting models and fuzzy logic.
7. Know the appropriate tests for accuracy and reliability.
8. Understand how to test economic hypotheses.
9. Be able to produce and economic research project by collecting data, developing forecasts, and recommending policy implementation procedures.