Global climate change is considered by many to be the most significant environmental challenge of the 21st century. Unchecked, the continued accumulation of greenhouse gases over this century is projected to eventually warm the planet by about 6 to 14 °F, with associated impacts on the environment, economy, and society. This course explores the economic characteristics of the climate change problem, assesses national and international policy design and implementation issues, and provides a survey of the economic tools necessary to evaluate climate change policies.

This course introduces economic perspectives on modern environmental issues. Students study economic theories related to natural resources and the environment. The first half of the course focuses on general concepts and theory, including markets and market failures, non-market valuation, benefit-cost analysis, and dynamic optimization of resource use over time. The second half shifts to applications including renewable and non-renewable resources, pollution, global climate change, fisheries, water, and concepts of sustainability.

The tools of microeconomics are applied to understand the theoretical and empirical topics in urban and regional economics. The course begins with a discussion about the different definitions of regions, followed by topics on location theory of firms, labor markets, and household migration decisions. The second part of the course focuses on the urban sector of the economy exploring urban growth, land-use patterns, and externalities associated with urban areas. The final section of the course includes a discussion on regional economic policies and its implications on economic growth.

This course utilizes the tools of elementary economic analysis to explain basic issues in American economic history. In general, the course is organized chronologically. The course begins with discussions of the colonial and revolutionary periods, then continues with analysis of banking development, slavery, the Civil War, and industrial and labor market changes in the later nineteenth century. The course concludes with an analysis of the causes and effects of the Great Depression.

The discipline of economics focuses on decision-making and problem-solving, concerning itself with making intelligent individual and social choices in a world of scarcity.